422 THE FOWLER IN IRELAND. 



ball of oakum, tightly wound with string, once and 

 a half as long as the bore of the gun is wide. When 

 this is rammed home it is then reduced pretty con- 

 siderably. Balls of oakum sewn up in greased calico 

 do not answer well, as they are not so apt to fit the 

 shape of the barrel both before and after explosion. 

 If made round, they are then too small to act pro- 

 perly as wads when the gun is fired. If made elon- 

 gated, as they should be, they do better without the 

 canvas. It is always an object to obtain wads that 

 are flat at the ends ; they receive the shot and push 

 down the powder better. To do this, all you require 

 is a block of wood, say four inches square, with a 

 hole bored through it some sixteenth of an inch 

 smaller than the barrel. When the wad is bound 

 and formed, put it into this mould, and with a few 

 blows of a plug of wood (made to fit the mould) by 

 a heavy mallet, the ends are flattened. These wads 

 should be well greased save at one end that for 

 the powder. 



Shot. In the matter of shot, shooters are apt 

 to use it too large, thinking thereby that it will kill 

 better and farther. Now I put random shooting 

 out of argument at once, and say that, from my 

 experience, BB, unless birds are very wild, is large 

 enough. Then BBB may be used for anything 

 save Geese or Swans. Up to the middle of 

 November, when young Wigeon and Teal, as well 

 as Plover, are about, I use single B, and find just as 

 few cripples after a shot as are left by the larger 

 size ; and as there are more pellets to the ounce in 

 the smaller, it flies thicker into the birds and kills 

 more at a fair range. Of course it is a large size 



