TARGET RESULTS 41 



sistently remains a few inches to right or left, or high or 

 low, of the " bull," such persistence clearly points to the 

 fact that the gun is not shooting true. At the same 

 time it must be borne in mind that on unsheltered 

 ranges a strong cross wind will deflect the shot to a 

 considerable extent. 



Sportsmen who are aware of the time and labour 

 involved in the conduct of any extensive series of target 

 experiments, with the wearisome walking backward and 

 forward between the targets and the firing-point, and 

 the constant counting up of the pellet-marks, will as- 

 suredly feel grateful for anything which tends to lessen 

 the irksomeness and monotony of such occupation. The 

 task of many shooters who essay to test their own guns 

 may frequently be enormously lightened by consultation 

 of back numbers of The Field newspaper. For more 

 than a quarter of a century successive editors of that 

 journal have periodically carried out voluminous and 

 costly experiments with the shot-gun, with a view to 

 solve many vexed problems of the gunner or the gun- 

 maker. A reference to these reports will frequently 

 disperse a sportsman's doubts and answer several of his 

 queries as they arise. It is, however, a tedious business 

 wading through portly volumes of so bulky a paper as 

 The Field, and some six or seven years ago I suggested 

 to the then editor, the late Mr. Frederick Toms, the 

 expediency of republishing in book form those reports 

 likely to be of greatest and most permanent usefulness 

 to the shooting world at large. This suggestion was 

 acted upon, and thereafter appeared in two parts, "Sport- 

 ing Guns and Gunpowders," comprising a selection 

 from reports of experiments and other articles published 

 in The Field relative to fire-arms and explosives. The 



