59 



CARE OF AND CLEANING GUNS. 



To prevent guns from rusting when duck shooting on 

 fresh or salt water, give the entire outside of gun, stock and 

 all, a coat or two of shelac varnish. Put on in this way: 

 take a piece of woolen cloth, dip your finger in linseed oil 

 and rub on the cloth; then put about a half teaspoonful of 

 best shelac varnish on where the oil was put; then rub the 

 gun briskly with two or three coats; there should be just 

 enough oil on the cloth to prevent the varnish working 

 sticky; this will give the gun a nice finish if properly done; 

 beyond a fine polish, no varnish will be noticed ; no better 

 rust preventive can be found. The gun will always look 

 new. So much for the outside. 



There are two ways to look after the inside of the barrels. 

 One is to clean thoroughly and oil well; in this case, the 

 oil should be renewed occasionally whether the gun is used 

 or not; any of the prepared oils called rust preventers are 

 the best to use. A sure preventive against spots in gun- 

 barrels has not yet been discovered. Gun barrels called 

 Damascus are the most liable to get spotted, stub twist the 

 least. 



The spots commence first at the breech end and on the 

 lower side, then gradually increase all around to\vard the 

 muzzle, but rarely entirely to the muzzle. It is claimed the 

 fulminate used in the primer is to the greatest degree inju- 

 rious. An unloaded shell should never be snapped in a gun 

 when it can be avoided. 



So long as the rust spots are confined to the breech end 

 of the barrels, it is very doubtful whether they effect the 

 good shooting qualities of the gun. The writer's experience 

 is, guns that are cleaned the least inside, spot the least; in 

 other words, if guns were not cleaned at all inside, they 

 would not spot at all. This experience is confirmed by over- 



