120 FRANK FOKESTKr's FIELD SPORTS. 



gun of tlie same or smaller calibre, with a weight of 20 pounds, 

 which is the greatest that can be used by a very strong man 

 handily, and which even then must necessarily be very inconve- 

 nient, owing to two causes : first, that a weight of 20 pounds is 

 insufficient to a piece of greater calibre than 10 pounds, with a 

 length of 38 inches for a double gun ; and second, that the 

 lighter single piece is far more manageable, as well as far more 

 effective. 



Now, having described all these various forces and forms of 

 guns, each most effective for some one kind of shooting, I will 

 simply add in conclusion, that, for all ordinary purposes, a man 

 is, to all intents and purposes, sufficiently well armed for every 

 kind of shooting, who carries the ordinary gun of 7| lbs. weight. 

 38 inches barrel, and 14 guage, and who has a single Duck 

 gun, such as I have described above ; or, still better, if he is an 

 eager and constant fowl shooter, two such exactly similar. 



For the former I would prefer, if the price were within my 

 means, the best English gun that could be furnished by Messrs. 

 William Moore and William Gray, No. 78 Edgeware Road, Lon- 

 don, whom I consider to be, all in all, at this moment, the best 

 makers in the world. Mr. Purday is undeniably a great and good 

 maker ; but of late, the guns of his make which I have seen in 

 this country, are inferior in power and solidity to his work, as I 

 remember it of old. This may arise, however, from som.e tem- 

 porary fashion of the market, or from some whim of the persons 

 for whom the pieces were built ; and there is no doubt that who- 

 ever orders a gun of any one of some half a dozen London 

 makers, will be thoroughly well suited and satisfied. 



Colonel Hawker has published in his gi-eat work a list of all 

 the London makers ; this, for many reasons, I consider wholly 

 unnecessary in such a book as this ; as few persons here are 

 likely to order guns, without some knowledge of whom they are 

 employing. 



I would, however, here especially advise any American sports- 

 man to avoid purchasing English guns through the medium of 

 American gunsmiths, and still more through American mercan- 



