THE GUN.] 



SHOOTING, 



[the gun. 



"Without aiming, however, at a scientific 

 knowledge of iron or of gun-making, a sports- 

 man should, nevertheless, be acquainted with a 

 few plain principles respecting the quality of the 

 materials of which his instrument is made, as 

 well as of its adaptability to the purposes for 

 which it is designed. Spanish gun-barrels 

 have long been highly prized, and generally 

 very justly. They are made of a species of 

 iron remarkably well hammered, and which 

 has received the technical name of scraps, 

 being chiefly composed of the old nails taken 

 from the shoes of horses, mules, and asses, 

 used as beasts of burden in Spain. The Da- 

 mascus barrels were once more highly esteemed 

 than they are now. They were made of highly- 

 tempered iron and steel, hammered with 

 extraordinary labour, and polished to the 

 highest perfection. There are several kinds of 

 iron which are now generally used for fowling- 

 pieces ; such as loire-tivist iron, Wisivould' s 

 iron, charcoal iron, stuh-twist iron, twopenny, 

 and threepenny sJcelp iron, and sham-dam sJcelp. 

 Among all these varieties, the stub-twist is con- 

 sidered the best ; but it is high-priced, and, 

 like most other things of value, liable to con- 

 siderable adulteration. When it can be ob- 

 tained pure, most gun-makers are inclined to 

 give it a decided prefereuca, both for shooting 

 purposes and safety. 



A military treatise, written upwards of 240 

 years ago, gives us what may be considered, even 

 in these advanced times, good advice as to the 

 choice of a gun. We will modernise the 

 spelling for the benefit of all our readers. 



"He that loveth the safety of his own per- 

 son, and delighteth in the goodness and beauty 

 of a piece, let him always make choice of one 

 that is double-breeched; and, if it be possible, 

 a Milan piece, for they be of tough and perfect 

 temper, light, square, and big of breech, and 

 very strong where the powder doth lie, and 

 where the violent force of the fire doth con- 

 sist, and, notwithstanding, thin at the end. 

 Our English pieces approach very nigh unto 

 them in goodness and beauty (their heaviness 

 only excepted), so that they be made on pur- 

 pose, and not one of those common sale pieces 

 with round barrels, whereunto a beaten soldier 

 will have great respect, and rather choose to 

 pay double money for a good piece, than to 

 spare his purse and endanger himself." 

 4D2 



The following is the test of Mr. Greener for 

 discovering difierent gun-metal from the real 

 stub-twist iron : — " Eequire the gun-maker to 

 stain the barrel under examination with the 

 smoTce-hrown (a staining composition, of which 

 he gives an account in his book), and he will 

 not be able to accomplish it if the barrel be 

 not genuine; whereas nothing is easier, if it 

 be really made of stubs twisted. The matter 

 may be thus explained-, hydrogen gas acts 

 only on iron ; steel resists its action ; so that, 

 when a barrel is properly finished, the steel 

 remains quite bright, while the iron has become 

 a beautiful jet-black, which will be easily recog- 

 nised by attention to the appearance." 



Testing gun-barrels is such an important 

 matter to all who have to use them, either for 

 amusement or war, that the legislature has 

 been obliged to step in, for the purpose of 

 endeavouring to save individuals from serious 

 injuries, and often from death itself. It is not 

 always from a defect of the metal of which a 

 fowling-piece is made, that danger arises, but 

 often from some defect in the workmanship, 

 whence danger, and often serious consequences 

 result. For a long time this country sufi'ered 

 severely from the want of proper attention to 

 this subject; but the gun-makers themselves 

 took the matter up, and established a proof- 

 house, by which barrels could be tested. In 

 1813, this trade was incorporated by act of 

 parliament ; and by the powers granted to it, 

 it was made penal to sell any gun without its 

 being first proved at one of the proof-houses, 

 established by the company in London and 

 Birmingham. These enactments, however, were 

 evaded ; and such numbers of spurious instru- 

 ments were thrown into the market, that the 

 legislature had again to come to the rescue, 

 and pass, in 1815, another more stringent 

 enactment. "It was enacted that no barrel 

 should be received by any person to rib, stock, 

 or finish, that had not been duly proved, under 

 a penalty of £20.'' It was also enacted that 

 all barrels should be immediately dispatched, 

 by the maker, to the proof-house beiore the 

 same shall be sold, or transmitted for sale to 

 any person whatever. A penalty of d620 ia 

 attached to the breach of this clause ; and it 

 further visits, with the like penalty, any one 

 receiving such barrel to make up. The act 

 also imposed the same penalty upon the forger 



