1 90 ON THE WING. 



the cap, i. e. whether at the extreme base of the 

 charge, or from the top or centre, or from the forward 

 part of it. But from what I can learn from the expe- 

 rience of others who have tested the question, I think 

 the point of ignition makes no material difference as to 

 the recoil. I learn from a celebrated rifle-maker of 

 this country that he has experimented without finding 

 any perceptible difference. In this connection I will 

 give, from the " Essay on Shooting," the statement of 

 M. Le Clerc, gunsmith to the king of France in 1780, 

 who was well informed on all subjects relating to his 

 profession.- 



" These experiments," says M. Le Clerc, " were 

 made with a barrel (flint lock) nearly thirty-two inches 

 in length (English measurement), and weighed, with 

 the loaded plank upon which it was fixed, twenty- 

 eight pounds. The barrel had four touchholes, which 

 could be stopped with screws. The charge consisted 

 of one drachm and twelve grains of powder, from a 

 royal manufactory, and eight drachms eighteen grains 

 of shot, called small 4. The barrel was fired from 

 each touchhole at a sheet of paper, measuring twenty 

 by sixteen inches (French measure), placed at a dis- 

 tance of nearly forty-five ordinary paces." The only 

 difference in loading was that, in the first set of ex- 

 periments, the wads consisted of hat-felt, cut to fit 

 'the calibre, while in the latter paper wadding was 

 used. Had these trials been made with no other 

 motive than to determine- the degree of recoil pro- 

 duced by the situation of the touchhole, there would 

 have been no use in marking the size of the shot, the 



