THE Gxm. 9 



and vice versa. Both writers likemse maintain that the elevation of 

 rib commonly met with is not sufficient. The usual elevations do 

 not deliver the shot at the mark even at forty yards, with a usual 

 charge of powder, and where the shot are of more than average 

 size, there must be a great defalcation in the result. Mr. Greener 

 says that the experiments he has made ghow that in heavy charges 

 of shot the droop is f idl twelve inches in forty yards ; but that with 

 less charges of sliot the line of flight will be more direct. 



The great advanta<je of a double-barreUed gun over a single one 

 is now generally admitted by all sportsmen ; but we still find some 

 shooters prefer the latter, but this preference depends, in ahnost 

 all cases, upon some accidental circumstance or mdividual fancy. 

 The quantity of game to be obtained, especially in the earlier sec- 

 tions of the shooting season, is nmch greater with a double than 

 with a single gun. The weight is generally greater in the former 

 than in the latter, but habit and custom soon bring the matter to 

 an equality on this point. 



On the calibre or bore, the length and weight of barrels, their 

 killing ranj^e, their force, the regidarity of their effect, tlieir recoil, 

 their liability to burst, much might be written ; for on all these 

 several subjects there have been, and still are, considerable dif- 

 ferences of opinion. On these questions we shall be as brief as is 

 compatible with perspicuity. 



Calibre or Bore. — it is recommended on high authority that/m# 

 guns shoidd not be bored cylindrically through, but that a little 

 tightness or contraction just where the shot first moves should be 

 preserved. This suggestion has for many years been pretty gene- 

 rally attended to by gunsmiths. It is of importance that every 

 purchaser of a fowling-piece should ascertain by the gauge the 

 exact diameter of each portion of the bore of the piece, that he may 

 adapt his wadding accordingly. The proper wadding for these kind 

 of relieved barrels is that wnich has some considerable degree of 

 firmness, with a certain portion of elasticity. Beckworth's wadding 

 is of tliis kind. There are, however, many barrels now made which 

 sire bored cylindrically throughout ; and it is said by many com- 

 petent authorities that such pieces shoot remarkably well. 



Percussion-barrels are commoidy made heavier and stronger than 

 the barrels of the flint gun. It is now tlie practice to bore such 

 barrels with a little relief forward, which Colonel Hawker main- 

 tains has the eifect of making the gun shoot as close as it can do 

 compatible with the quickness and strength required. The in- 

 creased weight of the percussion-barrel has, however, been objected 

 to ; but to enter into the discussion would occupy too much of onr 

 space. We must leave the reader to obtain any further informa- 

 tion on the point from more voluminous treatises on the gnu. 



Length and zceight of Barrels. — There has been a great innovation 

 on former times as to the length of gun barrels. It was for lon^ 

 considered as an indisputable maxim, that the longer the barrek 

 and the smaller the bore, the farther a gun would kill, and send 



