IGNITION FOR PUNT-GUNS. 411 



where most needed. On building a new gun the entire loop may be 

 made part of the barrel, so dispensing with the bands and mortice, 

 and giving a very neat and light appearance to the gun at this part. 

 I may add that gunmakers profess to be unable to procure good 

 springs, or ones that will stand : all that can be said is they ought, 

 and if they took pains to do so they would. 



Ignition is all-important in every description of 

 punt-gun ; it cannot be too certain. A miss or hang- 

 fire when game-shooting with a twelve-bore is of no 

 great moment, unless at a Cock ; even then consola- 

 tion may be obtained by a subsequent shot. In 

 fowling, a miss-fire may lose the well-earned reward 

 of a day's toil, perhaps fifty birds ; for not once in a 

 hundred times will fowl sit after a snap, and when 

 within shot the motion necessary for a fresh cartridge, 

 or another tube or cap, is sure to rise them. To 

 ignite a big charge properly you must fire a small 

 charge into it ; but whatever the ignition may be, let 

 it be infallible. All the trouble and care you may 

 take to secure this is a mere trifle when an absolute 

 certainty of explosion is thereby rendered, and 

 security from a miss-fire obtained, whether good or 

 bad chances occur. 



It is no such easy matter, as some would think, to 

 ignite a big gun without chance of failure. I give 

 two plans (see next page). I would not, however, 

 recommend the tube ignition for a charge of over 

 one pound and a half, as it causes rather too sudden 

 a recoil with a heavy dose of powder. The double 

 nipples are then the best, though they take a little 

 longer to get ready. This twin-cap plan never failed 

 me yet, and I never expect it to, though I have fired 

 near a thousand rounds by its means. The two 

 caps are of course exploded simultaneously by a 



