MANAGEMENT OF THE GUN 139 



may be kept and occasionally used after a double 

 gun has been adopted. There are other guns, 

 single and double, suitable for beginners, of 

 various prices intermediate between the £^f i8s. 

 and the ;^i2 gun : one, for instance (hammerless 

 double), at ^^8, 8s.; another at ;£io, los. I am 

 inclined to think that a 12-bore is the most service- 

 able of these guns to start with, but am not at 

 all inclined to lay down the law in the matter. 

 With the smaller bores you will have to be more 

 accurate in your aim than with the 12-bore gun : 

 I do not describe this as a disadvantage though. 



After shooting is over for the day, you should 

 take your gun to pieces — I mean separate the stock 

 from the barrels, and clean it yourself. Tow is the 

 best material to pass through the barrels. After 

 you have done this two or three times you may 

 pass through the barrels the cleaning-brush, which 

 is attached to a rod or else to a string. Those 

 parts of the gun about the locks should be oiled a 

 little now and then, and always after a wet day's 

 shooting. And they should be kept clean and 

 bright. For my part I find the cleaning of my gun 

 after a day's shooting by no means a nuisance ; it 

 is a light and not at all an unpleasant labour. It 

 is better to take the gun to pieces after the day's 

 shooting and keep it in the case. A cartridge-bag 

 and a cartridge-extractor are indispensable. The 

 former will cost a little under half-a-guinea — I 

 do not recommend cheap bags, as the wet soon 

 destroys them — the latter a shilling or so. An 



