PUNT-GUNS 173 



drawn to some large fowling-pieces which loaded at the 

 breech, and these dating back to almost the first days of 

 the gun. 



The professional fowlers who use large guns invariably 

 have muzzle-loading ones, no doubt well knowing that as punt- 

 guns they can have nothing better for their purpose as far as 

 shooting and a shot at fowl are concerned, and, moreover, they 

 are cheap compared with breech-loading guns and cost less to 

 use. These are advantages which for a poor fowler would 

 dispose of any argument to the contrary. 



Some of the many kinds of breech-loading guns on the 

 market we intend to deal with later ; also a few methods 

 of converting muzzle-loading guns to breech-loaders, chiefly 

 for the benefit of amateurs of moderate means and who wish to 

 be in a certain sense up to date. Ammunition for punt-guns 

 will also require dealing with in another chapter. 



The question of how to throw a large quantity of shot at 

 fowl to best advantage I have before remarked upon. It is 

 undoubted that 31b. of shot thrown from two tubes, i^^lb. 

 each, will generally do more execution than if all discharged 

 from one large tube. If the double gun be built so that 

 the barrels discharge quickly one after the other, and their 

 killing circles at a fair range eclipse each other, there should 

 be little trouble in seeing that such a discharge will be 

 more disastrous to fowl than if all thrown at once and in one 

 large circle. In the case of a shot with a double punt-gun 

 of such action as described, directed at sitting fowl, the result 

 will be that the first shot t^es them on the ground, and the 

 other the instant they spring. Also it may easily be seen that 

 where the gun is sighted (which should be at the densest part 

 of fowl) the shot will be thickest, since the killing circles 

 of shot from each barrel overlap. It may be needless to add 

 that large quantities of shot are required where fowl are very 

 plentiful. 



