PUNT-GUNS. 389 



finished off to your liking. If this part of its con- 

 struction is left to the Birmingham folk they will 

 probably fit a stock some three or four feet long, 

 and shape it in ludicrous imitation of a shoulder- 

 gun. The barrels they can turn out, and know all 

 about, but the stock, fittings, use, and even the 

 ignition, they are most ignorant of. When an esti- 

 mate of the cost of a large barrel is given, it means 

 the plain tube and nothing more ; breech and 

 trunnions are extras. Punt-gun barrels should 

 taper greatly from the breech to the muzzle : it 

 is absurd to build a barrel with three-eighths of 

 an inch of metal at the muzzle ; a quarter-inch, 

 or even three-sixteenths, in a small weapon, is 

 plenty. Heavy at the breech, where substance 

 is wanted, and fairly light at the muzzle, enables 

 the balance for the crutch to come nearer the 

 stock, and gives less lumber inside the punt, where 

 every inch is valuable. A big gun run heavy 

 out to the muzzle adds greatly to its weight, to no 

 advantage.* 



But avoid the other extreme. A gun that runs 

 down too fine outwards, or has its balance very near 

 the breech, will surely pitch the muzzle, and conse- 

 quently the charge, when fired. Moderately heavy 

 by the muzzle, though the spur-balance be as light 

 as a feather, will always steady a big gun's shooting. 

 If a gun is heavy all through to the muzzle, the 



* Many punt-gun barrels are made -feths thick at the muzzle, and 

 few of as small as even a ^-inch substance. But no swivel-gun should 

 be lifted by the muzzle, or balanced across a rail or beam near the 

 muzzle, for, stout as they are, they will bend. Many large guns shoot 

 crooked for this reason, though the cause is probably unknown to the 

 gunner. 



