30 STOCK. 



instance, examine a barrel of Mr. Lancaster, in this 

 manner, and the shade will run along it like the even 

 surface on a flow of smooth water. But take a barrel 

 of an inferior finisher, and you will perceive the iron 

 all in bumps, as if that flow of water was agitated by 

 wind. To the many, however, who fancy themselves 

 good judges of a gun, the one might appear as perfect 

 as the other ; and so indeed it would, to every person 

 who examined it in the ordinary way. To inspect the 

 inside of a barrel, raise it in like manner, and if the 

 stream of shade, as it were, flows true and steady, the 

 boring may be considered straight, and free from any 

 palpable defect. 



THE STOCK, 



To be neat in appearance, should be cut away, as close 

 as strength and safety will admit of, and well tapered 

 off at the locks. The but may be rather full. A 

 cheekpiece, however, is not only as frightful as its 

 usual companion, the scrollguard, but is sometimes apt 

 to give the very blow it is intended to save. 



The stocks of single guns are generally tipped, or 

 capped, with horn ; but some makers have discarded 

 this, through fear of its being split by the recoil, and 

 either leave a clumsy continuation of the wood, or tip 

 the stock with a gingerbread-looking piece of silver ; 

 whereas, if they would only leave a space about the 

 thickness of a shilling between the end of the rib and 

 the horn, the recoil, however great, could have no in- 

 fluence on that part. 



The length, betid, and casting off ot a stock, must, of 

 course, be fitted to the shooter, who should have his 



