GRAVITATING STOPS. 55 



GRAVITATING STOPS. 



An insurance from accidents, with a double gun, 

 is completely effected by Mr. Joseph Manton's gravi- 

 tating stops, which act of themselves, to remedy the 

 serious danger of loading with a barrel cocked ; and, 

 with these stops, you may, by holding the gun down- 

 wards, carry both barrels cocked, through a hedgerow, 

 with little or no danger, if any circumstance could 

 justify such determined preparation. 



The gravitating stops, I should not omit to mention, 

 require to be kept very clean, as, with rust or dirt 

 under them, they will not fall so readily, and thereby 

 prevent the gun from going off. This I name as a 

 caution to a slovenly shooter, and not as an imperfection 

 in the plan. It is much to be regretted that these 

 gravitating stops have gone out of fashion, when they 

 have been the means of preventing many serious acci- 

 dents to young sportsmen. / should still decidedly 

 recommend them to all beginners in the use of a double 

 gun. How Joe can reconcile himself to putting them 

 forth as indispensable, and then become the first to dis- 

 card them, is to be accounted for no other way, than 

 because they were, of necessity, superseded to admit of 

 a clap-trap-looking thing, called " the cover," which 

 receives and holds copper primers. 



