therefore, briefly to describe the usual bursts and the 

 causes most commonly responsible for them. 



The barils In guns may be divided into two groups : — 

 ! . Bursts at the muzzle end of the barrels. 

 2. Bursts at the breech end of the barrels ; these bursts 



often strain and sometimes crack the ac5tlon of the 



gun as well. 



No. 1 is invariably caused by an ob^ructlon in the 

 barrel at the muzzle end of the gun. Snow, mud and 

 bits of peat from a grouse butt, or turf from a ditch in the 

 case of partridge driving, are probably the commonest form 

 this obstruction takes. With snow on the ground and 

 hedges to climb over, or gates and fences to slip through, 

 it is very easy to allow the muzzle of the gun to dip a 

 little and catch a plug of snow. A burst muzzle is the 

 almo^ invariable result. The sudden check to the charge 

 of issuing shot causes a momentary increase of pressure 

 just where the gun is thinnest and least able to withstand 

 it, so that the barrel gives way.* 



Now, the only way in which a cartridge could cause 

 such a bur^ as this, is for one of the wads of the last 

 cartridge fired to have remained in the barrel. This could 

 only have happened if the cartridge gave a very poor 

 velocity, "squlbbed" off, in fadt, which again could only be 

 caused either by the cartridge having been allowed to get 

 very damp, which would affect the powder, (in which case, 

 obviously, the cartridge maker could not be blamed) or, 



■^Editor's note, — Some years ago, when shooting in deep snow, 

 I happened to notice a loader brush his master's gun against a 

 laurel bush, heavily laden with snow ; at the next shot, and before 

 I had time to warn him, the gun burst at the muzzle. 



87 



