26 THE COMPLETE WILDFOWLER 



case. The recoil in such a gun is naturally heavy, and an 

 india-rubber heel-plate or recoil-pad, as it is called, is advisable. 

 When ordering a gun of this kind sportsmen should not forget 

 that they will in all probability be using it in much heavier 

 clothes than they ordinarily -wear in order to protect themselves 

 from intense cold. This means that the shoulder will be much 

 more thickly padded, and consequently the length of the gun- 

 stock must be adapted to these conditions. Again, unless 

 the stock is sufficiently short, the rubber recoil-pad will stick 

 against the coat when the gun is being brought up smartly 

 and the alignment will be spoilt. 



I may remark here that a vast number of sportsmen shoot 

 with stocks which are far too long for them, though they do 

 not realise it. A well-known gunmaker has given it as his 

 opinion that a sportsman, especially a wildfowler using a heavy 

 gun, shoots best with a gun which is quite a quarter-inch shorter 

 in the stock than a gun which he thinks suits him when trying 

 it in the shop. 



In regard to the shooting capacities of 8-bores, records 

 of actual experience form the only test. Below I give some 

 authenticated instances, the first concerning a double 8-bore 

 built by Messrs. Tolley ; the second, a gun by Mr. W. W. 

 Greener. The records appeared in the Field and Land and 

 Water respectively. 



Messrs. Tolley's gun : — 



"Six shots at single rooks, sitting on a stone wall, 83 yards' 

 distance from the hall door. First, one pellet passing through head 

 and one in back ; second shot, bird winged ; third shot, killed, one 

 pellet passing through neck, one in breast, and one leg broken ; fourth 

 shot, bird flew away, apparently not touched ; fifth shot, killed, one 

 pellet in breast, one wing and one leg broken ; sixth shot, killed, 

 one pellet through head, one under wing, and one near vent. 



"Six shots at single birds, 115 yards distant, killed second, 

 fourth, and fifth shots ; the fourth flew away for about thirty yards, and 

 then dropped dead. One shot at six pigeons, 137 yards distant, killed 



