DETONATING SYSTEM. 65 



heavier to stand the recoil ; of a large-sized caliber, in 

 order not to have the powder too narrowly confined, 

 which is absolutely dangerous ; and the London gun- 

 makers will find out sooner or later that the barrel 

 should rather be 2 feet 10, than 2 feet 8, or the dispro- 

 portionate length of 2 feet 4, or 2 feet 6 ; unless abso- 

 lutely required to be short, for the convenience of 

 shooting in covert. The breeching should be made on 

 purpose ; and I therefore fully acquit the gunmaker of 

 any wish to impose on his customers, when he hesitates 

 to alter the average of flint-guns. A good heavy four- 

 teen gauge gun may be altered by means of a new 

 breeching, or (as a very inferior make-shift) with a 

 roller screwed into the touch-hole ; for either of which 

 you must of course alter your lock-plate, so that it can 

 no more be used with a flint. The way, however, to 

 use both flint and detonater on the same lock is very 

 simple, but so apt to break the hammer-bridle, that out 

 of six locks which I had altered, five of them were 

 spoiled by this means. Were the hammer-bridle forged 

 very strong, I have no doubt it would answer perfectly 

 well ; so that if you wished to use either flint or de- 

 tonater, a new lock-plate must be forged on purpose. 

 The hammers which I had put on in town were for ever 

 missing fire ; those by Mr. Parsons of Salisbury, by the 

 trifling alteration that I suggested, of placing the nipple 

 as near as possible to the touch-hole, and lining the pan 

 all through with platina, fired about eight hundred shots 

 with only about three misses fire, and were decidedly 

 the most certain of any detonating guns, or hammers, 

 I had ever used ; till at last, like all the rest, off flew 

 one of the hammers. I am ready to admit, that a nipple 



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