36 LOCK. 



any other sort of breeching (provided the barrel was 

 worth something better than a chamber plug), as I 

 have proved, that it answers remarkably well. It 

 then becomes like the chamber plug, shoots about as 

 well, and will be safer and much more durable. 



TOUCHHOJLE. 



NOTHING contributes more to filling the bag than 

 the disposal of this apparently trifling concern ; inso- 

 much, that an old musket, with a touchhole put in 

 by a clever mechanic, would beat a gun, with all the 

 new improvements, if this important part of it were 

 left to the job of a bungler. 



Touchholes of platina are considered the best, as 

 those of steel are apt to collect rust, and one of gold 

 is more liable to blow out, and, therefore, will not 

 admit of being made so thin ; consequently (from re- 

 quiring to be thick}, does not shoot so sharp ; for the 

 thinner it is, the quicker will be the firing of the gun. 



The touchhole should be countersunk ; and, to get 

 at it, for this purpose, the solid breechings have a 

 screw directly opposite, which (although in those of 

 Mr. Manton scarcely visible) is easily taken out and 

 put in again. Vide Plate. 



LOCK. 



ANY comment on the perfection to which this part 

 of a gun is now brought would be quite redundant. 



