HOW TO SELECT A GUN. 21 



clear of its mark altogether. A gun for brush-shoot- 

 ing, therefore, should throw its shot so that at a dis- 

 tance of 35 or 40 yards any bird coming within a cir- 

 cle of 30 square inches would not escape unhit by 

 some one of the pellets. 



In aiming at a bird on the wing, in the brush or 

 open field, we do not exactly cover him, or bring the 

 -sight of the gun into an exact line with him (as we 

 should do if using a rifle), but we are often an inch or 

 two wide of the mark, and cannot have time to do 

 better. In my own experience, when a bird at the 

 distance above mentioned has come within a circle 

 of about a barrel-head, and I have had no time for 

 improvement, I have always considered the game se- 

 cured. 



A gun must therefore scatter fairly and evenly at 

 the full average distance, in order to be serviceable 

 in brush-shooting. Some guns, undoubtedly, scatter 

 too widely, and these are not reliable. When I hear 

 a sportsman say that he likes a gun that scatters 

 well, I am apt to infer that he shoots indifferently, 

 depending too much upon the spread of his shot. 

 The best kind of gun for brush-shooting which will 

 not only shoot strongly, but will scatter its pellets 

 evenly is that above mentioned, with the 28-inch 

 barrel, the gauge 14, and a weight of from 6f to 7. 



I prefer laminated steel barrels (in which the iron 

 and steel are mixed together before welding), but 

 have used stub-twist iron barrels, which do their 

 work equally well. The former are a little stronger 

 and more elastic, and will endure rather more hard 



