72 MANUAL FOK YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 



For rifle-shooting, especially in warfare, or in hunting 

 on horseback, where the loss of time, the labor and incon- 

 venience of forcing a patched ball down a tight, and, per- 

 haps foul, grooved barrel, is great, the case is quite differ- 

 ent. The gain is incredible, and the improvement, in fact, 

 tantamount to the creation of a new weapon. 



But, as applied to shot guns, I know but one case, in 

 which breech-loading is desirable ; namely, in very long, 

 ponderous and unmanageable duck guns, where it is diffi- 

 cult to reach the muzzle and insert, much more drive 

 home, the loading rod ; and most of all, in the stancheon 

 or punt gun, which is fired like a cannon from a carriage. 

 Here the breech-loading system would work admirably, 

 but it must be on Perry's patent-arm plan, of which I 

 shall have occasion to speak more anon, where the cham- 

 ber can be loaded with loose powder and shot as easily as 

 with the cartridge, and the nipples capped by hand, almost 

 as readily as by the self-priming apparatus connected 

 with it. 



With regard to the weight, length, and calibre of 

 double-barrelled fowling-pieces, there has always been and 

 continues to be much diversity of opinion. 



The sticklers for the old system adhere pertinaciously 

 to the long barrel and small bore, the length to be in- 

 creased as the calibre is enlarged. The upholders of the 

 extreme modern school insist on gauges, such as were 

 never heard of in the olden times, and barrels proportion- 

 ately short; maintaining that they will carry heavier 

 charges with equal execution, and vastly increased handi- 

 ness, especially in covert. 



