42 COCKS AND HAMMERS. 



Add to this, the solid cock is not apt to break like 

 the other, and is therefore not so good for trade. 

 With due submission, however, to the superior judg- 

 ment of those in the business, I must beg to observe, 

 that I have always found an old hammer new steeled 

 to fire better than a new hammer ; insomuch, that I 

 have even had new hammers new steeled before I 

 ever used them ; and surely an old hammer, if sound, 

 must go pleasanter than a new one, which has scarcely 

 been used enough to get rid of its harshness. The 

 reason why new facing does best is this : in making 

 new hammers, the steel is welded and incorporated 

 with the iron ; the process of which requires so much 

 heat, that it softens and reduces the quality of the 

 steel; whereas, by putting only new faces, this evil 

 is avoided, and the steel may be kept in the best 

 possible temper. Gunmakers know tins perfectly 

 well ; but, whatever may be their abuse of one an- 

 other, to customers in their shops, yet they have the 

 sense to agree on one point, namely, to keep among 

 themselves this, and other little secrets belonging to 

 the trade. 



On the other hand, I shall now recommend some- 

 thing to their advantage : which is, that every sports- 

 man be at first equipped with extra hammers and 

 extra springs to his gun ; so that, by being provided 

 with a spring cramp, and shown how to use it, he 

 may be able to remedy an accident with his own 

 hands, which might otherwise oblige him, from the 

 midst of good shooting, to send away his fowling- 



