420 THE FOWLER IN IRELAND. 



powder. Though their guns act undoubtedly first- 

 rate with this heavy measure, they would often 

 shoot as well with one and a half ounces less. 

 The old idea of equal measure for both powder and 

 shot has lost many a duck, and will probably lose 

 many more ; but it is a fallacy hard to dispel. No 

 punt-gun could or would shoot its best with such a 

 small proportion. In a shoulder-piece we seldom 

 think of using less than three drachms of powder 

 to the ounce, and sometimes more. To equal this 

 with a pound of shot, three ounces, or forty-eight 

 drachms, would have to be put in. Then the wads in 

 a big gun are far larger and heavier to the bore than 

 in a shoulder-gun. A gun loaded, as some are, with 

 two ounces of powder to a pound of shot can only 

 pelt the fowl and manufacture numerous cripples. 

 If you wish to obtain dead birds, the gun should be 

 charged so as to allow level aiming up to sixty yards. 

 Plenty of powder will cause the shot to travel high, 

 and then, when firing, the best part of a company 

 can be selected for the charge, instead of having 

 to aim slightly over them at that distance, and so 

 put them out of sight under the muzzle. This is 

 always the case with a light-charged gun. 



If the powder in a gun cannot safely be increased, 

 and it throws low, reduce the shot ; it won't be to a 

 disadvantage, or cause less fowl to be killed, but 

 quite the contrary. 



When within shot, the percentage of cripples 

 will best show how a gun performs ; nothing is a 

 better test. All the target practice in the world 

 would teach less about a gun than a few shots into 

 a number of well-placed fowl at fair range. You 



