CLEANING GUNS. 53 



never be left on, when the gun is put by for any length 

 of time. Should the gun have been in the damp, or 

 loaded some time, the more certain way is to fire it off; 

 then put in a fresh charge of powder, while the barrels 

 are warm, and afterwards take off your locks, and 

 wipe them, as well as the outside of the breechirigs and 

 touchholes, which may be warranted free again, by 

 being probed with the clipped end of a stiff feather : 

 and all this done in less time than it requires to ex- 

 plain it. 



When you put away your gun empty, you, of course, 

 always let down the springs of the locks ; and, as their 

 being kept long at the half-cock tends so much to 

 weaken them, it would even be advisable for those who 

 keep their guns loaded to do the same. A piece of tow 

 should be put in the pan (or on the nipple, if a de- 

 tonater) to prevent damp, and the ramrod left in, as a 

 caution to those who might otherwise take up the gun. 

 It is highly improper, however, under any circum- 

 stances, and particularly where there are children in a 

 house, ever to leave fire-arms about charged, unless 

 secured out of reach, or by lock and key. 



A little cleaning ought to be occasionally had recourse 

 to in the field. Were the pans of a flint-gun wiped 

 and the feather inserted in the touchholes after every 

 shot, your gun would scarcely ever be known to hang 

 fire, unless this precaution had been counteracted by 

 your forgetting to load it while warm, or some other 

 circumstance ; and I see nothing to justify your neglect 

 in this, except the incessant rising of birds, in which 

 case you may be permitted to await a leisure oppor- 

 tunity. Nothing is more absurd, if a gun has been 

 washed, than dirtying it, long before there is any occa- 

 sion for so doing, by what is called squibbing, which 



