SHOT-GUN PATTERNS 



49 



It must be said, however, that to judge as to the 

 weight and nature of recoil by one's feelings alone is 

 apt to prove somewhat misleading ; for in accordance 

 with the state of the bodily health will be the sensation 

 produced by a normal recoil. The man with a liver, or 

 the shooter of highly nervous temperament, will be 

 liable to suffer more discomfort from a moderate recoil 

 than would a more slightly-built sportsman in robust 

 health. On this head it may be mentioned that the 

 shooter standing unflinchingly and firmly to his gun 

 will suffer far less punishment from recoil than he who 

 grasps his gun falteringly and holds it loosely against 

 the shoulder. In the former case, man and gun, being, 

 so to speak, in one piece, go back together ; in the 

 latter case the gun, having room for play, hits a sharp 

 blow. All guns, too, it is well to observe, should be 

 firmly embedded in the hollow of the shoulder, not 

 against the arm, as one occasionally observes some 

 imperfectly instructed gunners holding their guns. 



For a number of years I have been carrying out 

 numerous experiments, both at the target and on wild- 

 fowl, with various nitro-compounds in shoulder wild-fowl 

 guns. At first my ardour was considerably damped by 

 serious irregularities of ignition, hang-fires being not 

 infrequent. In later years the cartridge manufacturers 

 have given increased attention to the ignition in 4-bore 

 and 8-bore cases, and, I am bound to say, with happiest 

 results. My trials have covered most varieties of the 

 earlier type of nitro, the so-called " bulk " powder, the 

 charge of which bulks the same, occupying the same 

 space in the cartridge as black gunpowder, whilst at 

 the same time weighing but half as much. Schultze, 

 Amberite, E.G. No. 2., S.S., and Kynoch smokeless are 



