CHARGES TO BE USED. 99 



think is time, but their plan of ejecting shells and 

 lock mechanism I will omit, for the reason that there 

 are in the market so many inventions many good of 

 their kind that to do so would only lead to contro- 

 versy, and possibly acrimonious bickering. 



Weight of gun, 7ilbs. ; length of barrels, 26in., 

 more or less choked according to the precision with 

 which the sportsman aims ; charge, 4 grain Curtis 

 and Harvey's gunpowder ; with an ounce of No. 9 

 shot for snipe, or i 1-8 ozs. of No. 5 shot for duck, 

 and the last quantity of No. 3 shot for geese, chilled 

 shot preferable for ducks and geese. 



I may here say that at Glasgow I had some cart- 

 ridges loaded with Messrs. Hall and Son's gunpowder, 

 manufactured, I am informed, in the Kyles of Bute, 

 than which nothing could be better. 



The two nationalities, English and American who, 

 after all, are the same race have some marked 

 peculiarities when following their fascinating and 

 popular pursuit. The latter invariably shoots with a 

 more crooked stock than does the former ; to that I 

 answer, use what you are most successful with. On 

 the other hand, I have observed that Englishmen 

 put larger charges of shot in their guns than do 

 American. To this I might give the answer that 

 I have in the other case, but it is not so applicable, 

 for the bend of a stock will not alter the range of a 

 gun, while a superfluous quantity of shot will. My 

 experience may be new to others. If so, so much 

 the better, but I have seen both on the moors when 

 grouse was the game, and in turnips, when partridges 

 were the birds sought for, gentlemen shooting an 

 ounce and a quarter, even an ounce and three-eighths 

 of shot from a 1 2-bore. This overcharge, slight as it 

 may appear, increases friction materially, and con- 

 sequently reduces range, and, nothing, of course, is so 

 fruitful of recoil. A gun that recoils sufficiently to 

 unpleasantly demonstrate the fact, will in spite of all 



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