RECOIL BREECHING TO STOCK. 403 



an attained object. Having to allow for the eccen- 

 tricities of a gun's shooting by reason of its 

 mounting or loading makes success very uncertain. 

 When the gun is fixed to a breeching rope by a 

 loop under the barrel, unless a very heavy weapon, 

 with a recoil spring as well, it is sure to bounce and 



SMALL SWIVEL-GUNS WITH BREECHING TO STOCK. 



shoot badly. It is as if a point were made with 

 a rapier at a wafer and some one knocked the arm 

 up on the thrust. When the breeching is thus 

 secured under the barrel to a single trunnion, as 

 many guns are, it must be led inside the fore-deck, 

 and is much more liable to rot in that position than 

 if exposed to the air. If the breeching be carried 



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