22 THE GUN: AFIELD AND AFLOAT 



skill as does the game shot with 12-bores. The heavy- 

 weights are not raised so readily as are the lighter guns, 

 and the shooter has not the same power to shift head or 

 arm to accommodate himself to any defect in gun-fitting 

 when holding out the former as he has with the latter. 

 Stocks that are too thick in the grasp increase the diffi- 

 culty of shooting tenfold ; the slight increase in the 

 weight of a gun caused by undue thickness of stock is 

 not answerable for this so much as the fact that the gun 

 thereby becomes unmanageable through the hands of 

 the shooter being called upon to hold more than they 

 can well grasp. 



The sportsman accustomed to game guns possessing 

 perfect symmetry of form and adaptability to his needs, 

 with regard to the length, grasp, and shape of their 

 stocks, takes very badly to the increased weight of 8-bores 

 and 4-bores whenever these guns have ill-fitting and 

 clumsy stocks. Usually, a considerable amount of 

 practice is requisite in order to attain to the slightest 

 degree of proficiency with badly-stocked wild-fowl guns. 

 To the wild-fowler accustomed to use ill-fitting, awkward 

 weapons, a really well-stocked duck-gun comes as a 

 revelation. There is no gainsaying the fact that a 

 properly designed 4- bore of 18 Ib. weight is easier to 

 manipulate than a badly-balanced and ill-fitting one of 

 only 13 Ib. or 14 Ib. The one never appears to be its 

 full weight, the other always feels like a log in the hand. 

 Wild-fowlers themselves are too often to blame for 

 certain of the evils I have mentioned ; for how often do 

 they submit to be measured and properly fitted for their 

 duck-guns ? For this reason, possibly, it is too often the 

 case that duck-guns are built and stocked to one 

 common standard, and thus so often prove totally un- 



