HARD AND SOFT SHOT. 479 



slightly increased in hardness by the addition of 

 1 per cent, of antimony. But this small quantity 

 makes no difference in the specific gravity. In the 

 hard shot this is, though, apparent if the pellets 

 per ounce are counted "hard" versus "soft." As 

 Messrs. Walker, Parker and Co. are, perhaps, the 

 most reliable of shot-makers, I annex their London 

 and Newcastle sizes of patent shot, and have com- 

 pared those of other makers as well. As said, 

 London sizes contain from twenty to even forty 

 more pellets to the ounce than do those of New- 

 castle, London No. 6 having 272 pellets, and New- 

 castle No. 6 but 248 : * in the other numbers there 

 is not, excepting No. 5, much divergence. London 

 No. 6 is, without doubt, the best size for ordinary 

 game-shooting at fair ranges. Gunmakers are sup- 

 posed to know all about these differences, yet when 

 a shooter orders BB, SSG, or No. i to No. 6, they 

 send what they consider suitable, though their cus- 

 tomers may imagine that BB or No. 6 are the same 

 as to size all the world over. 



REMARKS ON HARD AND SOFT SHOT. 



The use of hard or chilled shot appears to be the fashion with 

 many sportsmen, but no real advantage can be claimed for it over 

 soft or patent shot. The use of hard shot, gunmakers assert, is the 

 reason of the greatly increased wear and tear of barrels now-a-days 

 to what was the case before its introduction. In a choked barrel 

 " hard " will wear the interior at the narrowest part far more than 

 soft shot does on passing through it in fact, take away the " choke," 



* MESSRS. WALKER'S LONDON SIZES. PATENT SHOT. 



