324 MODERN TRAINING. 



in respect to price ; but in the high grades, from three hun- 

 dred dollars up, the foreign made gun is the best. 



From fifty dollars to one hundred and fifty to two hun- 

 dred dollars, the quality of the gun rapidly improves, but 

 not in a regular ratio; for instance, there is a vast differ- 

 ence between the material, workmanship and finish of a 

 fifty dollar gun and a one hundred dollar gun, but there may 

 be only finer grades of the same material in a one hundred 

 and a one hundred and fifty dollar gun, and the latter may 

 have a better finish. Beyond the latter price, the value is 

 chiefly in fine engraving, rare wood in the stock, and costly 

 finish and hand labor. As serviceable and handsome a gun 

 as a sportsman needs can now be bought of American make 

 from several prominent manufacturers, for one hundred 

 and fifty dollars or even less. They are quite as nicely bal- 

 anced as the English high grade guns, and there is not the 

 extreme difference that is commonly ascribed to them. A 

 very small part is fact and a very large part is imagination. 

 If a number of the higher grades of American guns and a 

 like number of foreign guns were placed in a dark room so 

 that the eye would not assist, it is doubtful whether any man 

 is expert enough to determine the difference in them if re- 

 stricted to determining by the balance alone. The Ameri- 

 can made guns in the higher grades are constructed of fine 

 material, are finely fitted, artistically finished, nicely propor- 

 tioned, and shoot equal to the best. If two guns, of eqnal 

 weights and measurements, balance alike at or near the 

 hinge, there cannot be a great difference in the handling 

 of them even if one bears the name of an English maker, 

 the other an American. While a nicely balanced gun is 

 necessary, the exquisite, poetical, ethereal, dreamy balance 

 is unnecessary for good shooting, particularly if it is neces- 

 sary to pay two or three hundred dollars extra to secure it. 

 The extra price is sure to react on the imagination of the 



