320 MODERN TRAINING. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



With respect to guns, it can be set down as the soundest 

 of rules that it is always better to buy one manufactured by 

 a reputable maker. The thousands of cheap guns dis- 

 tributed throughout the country, every country hardware 

 store or general store having a stock with every imaginable 

 kind of a trade name, or names closely resembling those of 

 celebrated makers, evidently with the intention to defraud 

 the purchaser, are not worth the trouble of accepting as a 

 gift. They are made of poor material, badly fitted and 

 balanced, and soon become shaky and unsafe, if not so at 

 the beginning. These remarks, however, are intended to 

 give the tyro some general suggestions with reference to 

 the powder charges, gauges, etc., for different kinds of 

 shooting. The subject with respect to gauges, weights, 

 makes, etc., is in theory a most voluminous and diversified 

 one, there being no end to opinions and controversies. In 

 practice, there are certain data which afford ample informa- 

 tion on all points. Usually the most important cause of 

 failure to kill is that the gun is not held aright. 



For general shooting, that is quails, chickens, ducks, 

 snipes and woodcocks, the twelve gauge has the nearest 

 approach to the properties of an all round gun, namely, 

 weight, effectiveness and economy. To the sportsman who 

 indulges his fancy in a gun, with a limitation relating to 

 ways and means, the twelve gauge is the gun par excel- 



