POWDER 8 1 



It is essential that special caps should be used for 

 the ignition of Ballistite powder. With the exception 

 of Walsrode in certain forms of case, the rest of these 

 explosives ignite well with the cap termed " medium " 

 by the manufacturers. It is essential that Ballistite 

 should be used in cases specially coned or cupped in 

 their bases, as also must Shot-gun Rifleite. 



Since the foregoing list was compiled another new 

 powder has made its appearance. This is of the 33- 

 grain type, and the name " Smokeless Diamond " has 

 been given to it by the manufacturers, Messrs. Curtis 

 and Harvey. This title vividly recalls those good old 

 times when black powder alone served the sportsman's 

 purpose, and " Diamond grain " was, perhaps, the most 

 widely used of all. This new nitro has gone through 

 the ordeal of a series of trials by various experts in 

 shot-gun ballistics remarkably well, shooting up to a 

 high standard of excellence with regard to regularity 

 in the matters of breech-pressures, and shot-velocities 

 and patterns. 



It does not of necessity follow that because an ex- 

 plosive gives good results in game guns its shooting in 

 8-bores and 4-bores is thereby assured. For several 

 years now I have carried out experiments with a view 

 to determine the suitability or otherwise of the several 

 nitro-compounds for the purposes of the wild-fowler. 



Those I have so far tried, bulk or concentrated, have 

 on the whole acquitted themselves very creditably. 

 Some of these powders had not previously been fired 

 in duck-guns, and, naturally, at the outset there were 

 difficulties to surmount, chief among these being that 

 bugbear of all gunners, hang-fire, which was unpleasantly 

 rife in guns practically perfect in the matter of their 



