LOADING. 107 



Gunmakers will obstinately dispute this method of 

 loading ; and for why ? Because they try their guns 

 in confined places, use larger shot than No. 7, and 

 look chiefly to the closeness of their shooting. But 

 we should remember, that if a gun is overloaded with 

 shot, a great part of it, at any distance, drops short 

 of the object ; and the remainder has not so much 

 strength left, as if that only had received the full 

 force of the powder. Try this on the water. I do 

 not, however, say, but, at even a little distance, some 

 shot must strike (not fall) short, if a bird is swim- 

 ming. These are the grains, which, in spreading, 

 would take the under part of any thing placed per- 

 pendicular. It should also be observed, that with 

 a small charge of shot you are not so liable to fire 

 behind an object crossing, or under a bird which is 

 rising, by reason that the less the weight of shot is 

 in proportion to the charge of powder, the shorter 

 time it requires to travel through the air. 



