STANCHION, OR PUNT-GUN. 



the recoil ? I mentioned the experiment of the swivel 

 to several of the leading gunmakers, and, although 

 they had all plenty to say on the subject, I could not 

 meet with one who was able to do any thing towards 

 the proper attainment of the object. 



It would take pages to state their different plans. 

 But enough of them : a few lines are sufficient ; and 

 these to say that however plausible their inventions 

 may appear in a counting-house conversation, not 

 one of them would answer all purposes, when fairly 

 brought to trial. 



I was, therefore, notwithstanding all their con- 

 sultations, turned adrift to seek my own means of 

 accomplishing the object, and I shall therefore, under 

 the next head, give a sketch of the plan to which I 

 have had recourse. 



(I must crave the indulgence of nine-tenths of my 

 readers for having trespassed on them with this in- 

 sipid detail, as I have some few brother sportsmen in 

 this way, who would value it more than all the rest 

 of the book put together. Moreover, it may be 

 the means of preventing accidents, which frequently 

 happen to those who use swivels, and particularly if 

 they do not fix them with judgment). 



The barrel of a punt-gun, to be in good proportion, 

 should, I conceive (including the patent plug, of 

 about six pounds weight, and from two to three 

 inches in length), be about seventy or eighty pounds 

 weight, from seven to nine feet long, and from an 

 inch and a quarter to an inch and a half bore, 



