108 WADDING. 



but I know that my friend has never used a cartridge 

 since. 



Nothing is better to punch your wadding on than a 

 round block, sawed out of some close-grained kind of 

 wood ; such as beech, chestnut, lime, sycamore, &c. 

 lead is improper, as it wears out the punch. 



Be careful not to let your wadding get damp, or, in 

 drying, it may shrink so much as to become too small 

 for the caliber of your gun. 



If you have a punch which is too large, and you have 

 consequently trouble in forcing down the wadding, just 

 bite it a little edgeways, and you will contract it so as 

 to load in a quarter of the time, without the risk of 

 either leaving a vacuum, or breaking your ramrod. 

 This, of course, I only name as an alternative, till you 

 can change your punch. If, on the other hand, the 

 punch is but a mere trifle too small, it may be enlarged 

 by being rubbed on a whetstone ; to do which, place it 

 flat, as you would on the pasteboard ; and, unless you 

 grind it too much, there will still remain a sufficient 

 edge, owing to the gritty substance in its composition. 



If you have separate wadding in two pockets, and 

 have that which covers the shot pierced with a small 

 hole (or, what is better, cut with Mr. Joseph Manton's 

 dented punch), you will load as quick again. I detest 

 all frivolous trouble, but you will here find great ad- 

 vantage in the saving of time. The pasteboard which 

 covers the powder should (as before observed) be kept 

 air-tight from the shot. This, indeed, seldom troubles 

 you, as the air that passes, more or less, through all 

 locks, will admit the first wadding to go down pretty 

 freely; but, after this and the shot are in the barrel, 

 the resistance, if the wadding fits tight, as it ought to 



