132 TESTING. 



TheTestin Nothing can be easier than to test 

 the powers of a gun, which is the 

 affair of a few minutes. Three things have to 

 be considered, viz.: the correctness of shooting ; 

 the penetration; and the regular distribution of 

 the charge. 



The correctness of shooting is easily ascer- 

 tained by firing at a small mark on the bull's 

 eye of a target, and observing whether the bar- 

 rels are so put together as to deliver the body 

 of the charge fairly upon the point aimed at. 

 If barrels are carelessly bored they often throw 

 to the right or the left, high or low. 



Guns also vary in throwing the charge, as more 

 or less elevation is given to the muzzle of the 

 barrels. In my opinion the elevated rib ought 

 to be so regulated as to make the point-blank 

 range forty or forty-five yards, as the generality 

 of sportsmen often er shoot under than over their 

 game. 



The best mode of testing the penetration of a 

 gun is by firing at fifty sheets of brown paper, 



