NOTES 



on Sporting Cartridges 



IN the days of black gunpowder, the production of a 

 sporting cartridge was entrusted to many hands. 

 There was the case manufacturer, who made the case 

 and the cap ; there was the wad manufacturer, who pro- 

 duced the various quahties of wads required ; there was the 

 powder manufacturer, who made the black gunpowder ; 

 and, finally, there was the gunmaker, who bought these 

 components from their various manufacturers, and then 

 either assembled them himself, or set his assistants to do 

 so under his supervision. The subsequent sale to the 

 shooter, doubtless, brought satisfaction both to himself 

 and the sportsman, for the regularity of black shot gun 

 cartridges has never been excelled, if indeed it has been 

 equalled, by the newer smokeless powders ; although the 

 other advantages to be derived from smokeless powder 

 are such as to many times outweigh this slight failing in 

 regularity. 



Black gunpowder is not a chemical compound, but is 

 a mixture of three materials, which, however well m.ixed, 

 never combine or change their original properties. Con- 

 sequently the manufacture, though dangerous, is simple, 

 as is shown many times in history; the Chinese, the 

 Spaniards in Peru, the Arabs in Morocco to-day, all 



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