42 SPORTSMAN'S HAND BOOK. 



MISSFIRES, CAUSE AND CURE. 



The causes of missfires are numerous, prominent among 

 which are defective ammunition, weak mainsprings, defective 

 plungers, and defective rebounding locks. Rebounding locks 

 are made in various ways, yet all on the same principle; and 

 that is, the force of the blow of the hammer is given by the 

 mainspring for two-thirds or more of the distance it passes, 

 when, by various devices, the mainspring is released and 

 the stroke finished by acquired momentum. When this 

 momentum has to carry with it much back pressure, as in 

 common English guns, missfires often occur. 



The back pressure is the power that brings the hammer 

 back to a half-cock, called rebounding. The best rebound- 

 ing locks are those' that require the least back pressure* to 

 accomplish the object. This can be easily tested by hold- 

 ing the trigger back with the finger and observe the press- 

 ure required with the thumb on the hammer to shove the 

 hammer forward to the plunger. Plungers that strike ob- 

 liquely, or at quite an angle, or plungers that are too short, 

 blunt, or sharp, or don't work free; primers that are imper- 

 fectly seated in recapping, are among the causes of missfires. 



REMEDIES. Weak mainsprings suggest their own rem- 

 edy. Defective ammunition is, as a rule, rare. Defective 

 robounding locks can, in most cases, be remedied by a first- 

 class gunsmith. When the plungers strike at quite an angle 

 the plunges should be taken out and filed flat on the end, if 

 they are long enough. A plunger with a flat end being 

 sharp on the corners, will cut into the primer instead of 

 sliding down it, and in most cases remedy the defect; also 

 flattening the ends will remedy inclined plungers that strike 

 the primer too low down. Plungers that are sharp-pointed 

 are apt to cut through the primer; in this case the gun will 



