34 



Popular Science Monthly 



Attaching and detaching 

 the adjustable gun-locks 



You Can Be Your 

 Own Gunsmith 



JUST about the time the 

 merry gunner is afar 

 from gunsmith and fac- 

 tory, and the ducks are 

 coming in, his old fowling piece decides to 

 take a vacation, and a lock quits. Maybe 

 it is rusty through long neglect, maybe a 

 firing pin has become gummed up, maybe 

 a mainspring breaks. A seance by marsh, 

 particularly salty marsh, or seashore, is 

 likely to start a coat of rust on the 

 damaskeened surface of the locks of a 

 fine gun; or a primer may leak and let in 

 gas, which starts rust also. 



A British maker has evolved easily- 



detachable locks for the hammerless gun. 

 Take off the fore-end, press back a catch, 

 •and the bottom plate in the frame of the 

 gun drops down on a hinge, exposing the 

 two fine locks of the hammerless gun, the 

 main and sear springs, the sear, and the 

 striker and tumbler of each 

 lock. Only a moment is re- 

 quired to wipe them off, oil 

 them and slip them back 

 into the gun. Or if new 

 parts are required, the maker 

 furnishes them in a neat 

 leather case. If anything 

 should break, merely take 

 out the old part and 

 slip in the new. 



Using Snow for Cement 

 and Ice for Windows 



F 



IFTY degrees below zero 

 is the average temper- 

 ature in the south of Siberia 

 during the winter months. 

 In the section of the country where the 

 house shown in the photograph was 

 located, the weather is comparatively 

 mild. In fact, although the logs of the 

 house were cemented together with snow, 

 there were times when repairs were neces- 

 sary on account of the snow melting from 

 the heat of the interior. The windows, 

 too, which were of sheets of ice, had to be 

 renewed at least once in every four 

 months. 



feiii 



A fashionable residence in Siberia. The roof is of mud, the windows of ice, and the logs 

 are cemented together with snow. If a sudden warm snap occurred the house would collapse 



