GUNS. 423 



calculates the amount of leading required for every shot. 

 Beware of any gun that is nearly a fit; for with one 

 that is clearly a misfit one will take more pains, and 

 be sure to, at any rate, try to direct it, whereas the gun 

 that seemingly is pointed right, but in reality is a little 

 high or low, right or left why, this kind of gun is a 

 nuisance, and has made many an otherwise good shot 

 give up wing-shooting in despair. Standing opposite a 

 mirror, placed perpendicularly in front of the shooter, may 

 help him to know where the muzzle and breech of his gun 

 are the instant he mounts it; so, also, will this be discovered 

 by standing in a dark room, and sighting quickly at a 

 light, when wheeling about, in some other room or hall- 

 way as far distant as possible. These are make-shifts, 

 and may teach the rudiments, as it were; but actual cer- 

 tainty can only be reached by frequent trials at moving 

 objects birds flying in all directions, inanimate targets 

 going high or low, swift or slow, and particularly all 

 shots going fast and low to the right (these, to the 

 right-handed man, are hardest of all). 



A gun should never be bought, out and out, in a gun- 

 store without the privilege of trying it on game or at the 

 trap; for, be it ever so good a shooter according to its 

 tag, or even its tested performance before the intending 

 purchaser, yet there is always a much more important 

 point to decide, and one that can only be settled by a 

 real test, so that, to save much trouble and annoyance, 

 the gun should be taken to some shooting-ground, loaded 

 with smokeless powder, and then tried at all angles and 

 elevations obtainable; then, if found to come to place 

 without any adjustment after touching the shoulder, 

 that gun is a fit. 



I lay particular stress on using smokeless powder- 

 preferably Schultze as when this kind, in light loads, is 

 used, the shooter can tell at once just where his gun is 



