16 BARRELS. 



shoot quite so close as it might be made to do, yet, 

 taking every thing into consideration, it has the ten- 

 fold advantage of doing justice to a good shot, and even 

 assisting a bad one, by the irresistible force given, not 

 only to the body of the charge, but also to the pellets, 

 which fly wide of the mark. Let the sportsman, there- 

 fore, rest assured, that a gun, which will shoot sufficiently 

 close a surface to ensure two or three shot (of No. 7, at 

 forty yards) taking the body of a bird, and, at the same 

 time, distribute them in a regular manner, is better 

 than a very close shooting gun. It was formerly the 

 custom to make barrels, although so small as fourteen, 

 sixteen, or even two-and-twenty in the gauge, of three 

 or four feet in length ; and now, since it has been ascer- 

 tained that two feet six inches will shoot equally well, 

 at the short distance of a gunmaker's confined premises, 

 many have gone too much to the other extreme, and 

 cut them to two feet four inches, and less. The dis- 

 advantage of this is, that even the best shots are more 

 liable to miss ; for, although we allow, that a short gun, 

 at a short distance, will kill as well as a long one, yet 

 the latter gives you a more accurate aim, and consi- 

 derably lessens the recoil, by which you shoot to a 

 greater nicety, and with more steadiness. To avoid 

 all extremes, I should recommend small barrels, never 

 less than two feet eight, nor more than three feet in 

 length. My readers will observe that my remarks here 

 have been altered since publishing my earlier editions. 

 Mr. Joseph Manton, who knows, at all events, as much 

 as, if not more than, any man in Europe about a gun, 

 assured me, after innumerable experiments, he has 

 proved that two feet eight for a twenty-two gauge 

 barrel is the best proportion for a sporting-gun. Take 



