I? 



r 



16 BARRELS. 



barrels, never less than two feet eight, nor more than 

 three feet in length. My readers will observe that 

 my remarks here have been altered since publishing 

 my earlier editions. Mr. Joseph Manton, who knows, 

 at all events, as much as, if not more than, any man 

 in Europe about a gun, declared to me, very lately, 

 that, after innumerable experiments, he has proved 

 that two feet eight for a twenty-two gauge barrel is 

 the best proportion for a sporting-gn% Take there- 

 fore a fourteen gauge barrel, and see whether or mtt 

 I am right for recommending one of two feet te.n 

 inches, and three feet, where it can be used without 



inconvenience ! 



It may be thought a bold assertion, but I have 

 every reason to believe that we have all, to this very 

 day, been completely in the dark aboftt the length of 

 guns. Mr. Daniel (speaking of a duck gun) said 

 that a barrel, three feet eight inches, is " as capable, 

 or more so, of throwing shot sharp and distant, as a 

 barrel two feet longer." In my second edition (de- 

 ceived in the same manner that^all the gunmakers 

 have been, by not having made their trials on a sufc- 

 ficiently large scale) I gave ifl||^ an opinion, that, 

 except the aim being better, and the recoil less, a 

 long gun had no advantage over a short one. On 

 the contrary, I have now proved that a short gun 

 has no chance with a long .one, in keeping the shot 

 well together at long distajices. 



The experiment must not be tried with little pop 

 guns that are used for pigeons and partridges, but 



