6 BARBELS. 



BARRELS. 



I SHALL now proceed to the particulars of what a 

 gun should be, and begin with the barrels. 



The usual method of trying a barrel is to fire at 

 a single sheet of paper, and pronounce, at once, that 

 the one which puts in the most shot is the best, 

 without considering any other circumstance. 



Such a mistake is excusable in those, who merely 

 take up a gun for exercise, or, at times, when they 

 cannot hunt ; but, that a person, who wishes to excel 

 in shooting, and even a London gunmaker, should 

 fall into the same error, argues as much against the 

 judgment of the one, as the qualification for his bu- 

 siness of the other. 



In throwing shot from a barrel, closeness and 

 strength cannot be combined beyond a certain pro- 

 portion of each, and as, in either extreme, the one 

 is incompatible with the other, the desideratum is 

 for a gun to partake as much as possible of both 

 advantages. 



Some, however, will persist, that guns cannot shoot 

 too close ; not recollecting, that, if we load with all 

 the powder that the shoulder can possibly bear, they 

 must shoot the slower, from the shot being too long 

 detained in the barrel. 



For example: how is the barrel made to throw 

 shot very close ? By a too long continued relief for- 

 ward, without a proportional opening behind : this 

 (from a want of that impetus, or friction, which the 



