54 DIRECTIONS FOR 



gun may be scoured with it, after having been washed 

 with cold. 



Some have their guns, occasionally, only dry wiped, 

 which is not so well, as the introduction of the clean- 

 ing rod drives the dirt into the chamber, from whence 

 it becomes difficult to remove it without water. 



The tow proper for cleaning guns is that fine sort, 

 which is called surgeons' toiv, and sold by the che- 

 mists: but, for cleaning barrels, the breeching* of 

 which cannot be readily seen through, I should re- 

 commend using nothing but cloth, which answers 

 nearly or quite as well, and by which means you are 

 not liable to the serious accident that might happen 

 from having tow left in the chamber ; and this you 

 cannot always guard against in guns which have not 

 the inverted breeching. 



Cloth is also more portable for travelling, as the 

 same pieces of it may, by being washed, serve for 

 several times. 



Some of our moderns recommend a sponge ! fitted 

 to the end of the cleaning-rod. Let us have a receipt 

 to kill birds without shot, and this will do vastly well ; 

 but unfortunately guns, after being fired, become 

 leaded, and then of what avail is a sponge ? 



We are told, that a barrel should be cleaned after 

 having been fired about twenty rounds ; but, as it is 

 not every manor that will now afford so many shots 

 in a day, it becomes a query, how often we may 

 venture to put away a gun which has been used. I 

 think, that if eight or ten shots have been fired from 



