84 THE GUN: AFIELD AND AFLOAT 



Messrs. Kynoch is a good example. These thin brass 

 cases have the same cap and anvil as the paper shot- 

 gun cases, and are largely in request by wild-fowlers 

 and others whose sport is followed amidst more or 

 less aqueous surroundings. 



An uninteresting subject, truly, is that of wadding 

 to the non-scientific gunner. All the same it is a 

 matter that none can afford to disregard. From earliest 

 times the careful sportsman has given much attention 

 to the form and material of his wadding, knowing so 

 well that thereon much of his success in shooting is 

 dependent. In those old days when newspapers were 

 not one-thousandth part so common as they are now, 

 the daily or the weekly papers were carefully treasured 

 up in the sportsman's establishment in anticipation of 

 the shooting season. Ultra-scientific gunners of the 

 flint-ignition era grew to discern betwixt the various 

 good qualities of the different papers as material for 

 gun-wadding; The Times (which, by the way, first 

 made an appearance in 1785, under the title of Daily 

 Universal Register) being held in great esteem for 

 the toughness and other good properties of its paper. 

 A carefully-rolled plug of paper, driven down the barrel 

 of the muzzle-loading gun by the heavy ramrod, formed 

 a much better wadding than might be supposed pos- 

 sible. Still, however careful the gunner might be, irregular 

 shooting resulted from such crude methods of loading 

 the shot-gun. Of course, irregularities were most ap- 

 parent whenever the loading was hurriedly performed ; 

 but whatever might be urged in its favour, in point 

 of handiness and so forth, paper formed anything but 

 an ideal wadding. Realizing this fact, gunners began to 

 cast about for some more suitable substance, and on steel 



