GUNS. 437 



difference should be. Then, again, a crooked stock is 

 apt to cause a gun to drop at the muzzle, which is a fatal 

 error where long shots are in vogue, as the tendency 

 will be for it to drop at extreme ranges, while a muzzle 

 that holds well up will, in a measure, rectify this depres- 

 sion by giving the charge a higher trajectory. 



In the matter of length of stock, duck-guns are best 

 made with rather shorter ones than those intended for 

 shooting in warm weather, when less and thinner clothing 

 is worn; for nothing is more aggravating than to be con- 

 tinually balked ,by having the heel chuck up against the 

 hunting-coat, and stay there fast as wax, just because an 

 extra flannel shirt may have been indispensable on a very 

 cold morning. 



Rubber pads and all such contrivances are useful 

 enough in their way, in that they check the recoil so far 

 as the shoulder is concerned; but nothing will make a 

 kicking gun pleasant to shoot, and nothing but weight 

 and proper boring (with rational loading) will take up the 

 recoil; for although these appliances may deaden the 

 severity of the blow, yet the whole system receives the 

 shock, which, when often repeated, jars the shooter to 

 such an extent that all pleasure is lost, fine shooting 

 impossible, voluntary flinching inevitable, headache most 

 probable then good-bye sport. 



My observation, covering, as it does, a good deal of 

 ground and a great many men, inclines me to the opinion 

 that a ten to ten and a half pound, thirty-inch barrel gun, 

 of ten bore, is about the very best gun for duck-shooting; 

 yet my good friend Fred. Kimble, of Peoria, 111., 

 reputed (and I declare I honestly believe it) the finest 

 shot at wild fowl in America, prefers a heavier and 

 much longer gun, his being one of eleven pounds in 

 weight, and barrels thirty-four inches long. That gun, 

 in his hands, with five drams of F. G. Dead Shot, good 



