50 THE GUN: AFIELD AND AFLOAT 



good examples of this class of powder, and I find that 

 in shoulder wild-fowl guns of suitable construction these 

 powders may be used with comfort and advantage. 

 Black powders were invariably measured, and so may also 

 the nitro-compounds specified above, provided always 

 that due care is taken to insure accuracy by first weigh- 

 ing a charge or two, to see that the powder-filler 

 measures the charge with exactitude. 



It will be observed that in the table referring to 

 shoulder wild-fowl guns already given, the powder 

 charges specified are expressed in drachms, they in that 

 case having reference only to black powder. Charges 

 of nitro-compounds are spoken of as so many grains, 

 and it is quite an easy matter to find the equivalent 

 charge for black powder in a bulk nitro if we base our 

 consideration on the fact that in 3 dr. of black powder 

 there are 82 gr. Thus, the equivalent for this in a bulk 

 nitro powder is 41 gr., and so it becomes patent that the 

 6 dr. black powder charge of an 8-bore is equalled by 

 82 gr., and the 9 dr. of the 4-bore by 123 gr. of a bulk 

 nitro. With nitro-compounds of the condensed or con- 

 centrated class Walsrode, Shot-Gun Rifleite, Ballistite, 

 etc. different conditions prevail, and here we must be 

 guided by the charges recommended by the manufacturers. 



One of the most satisfactory trials I have ever carried 

 out at the target with a bulk nitro in a wild-fowl gun 

 was with a heavy double 8-bore, in fact one of the new 

 series mentioned in the previous chapter as being made 

 by Messrs. Westley Richards. The results obtained 

 were published in The Field at the time of trial, and, 

 having the kind permission of the editor of that paper, 

 1 will reproduce them here as an excellent illustration 

 of the performance of a consistently good, although not 



