SHOT, POWDER, SHELLS, WADS AND LOADING. 329 



Large sized shot are but little used among experi- 

 enced shots at the present day, and it is seldom indeed 

 that any larger than 4's are used for ducks. For a 

 great many years this was my favorite size ; then I 

 drifted into using 5's, but becoming so much in love 

 with decoys, I allowed the current of experience to 

 carry me still farther toward the haven of success, and 

 there I am anchored, and have pinned my faith to No. 

 6. The reader must bear in mind, that the great im- 

 provement in the shooting powers of guns of the 

 present day allows us to decrease the quantity of shot, 

 thereby increasing the penetration, without sacrificing 

 the pattern. It is therefore unnecessary to load with 

 1 1-2 and 1 1-4 oz. shot as we did in muzzle-loading 

 days ; and we find we obtain better results with 1 oz. 

 and 1 1-8 in our choke bore guns. While the shooter 

 may at times make extraordinary long shots with 3's 

 and 4's, still, he wing tips so many that the delights of 

 the hunt are in a measure lost at sight of the birds 

 escaping crippled, only to perish in a lingering death. 

 This will not happen so often with 6's and with them 

 one can kill at any reasonable distance ; while shooting 

 over decoys they are all that could be desired. At such 

 a time close or high shots are equally within reach. 



Shot as manufactured at the present time is both soft 

 and hard, or, as it is called, " soft " and " chilled." 



For a number of years the impression was sown 

 broadcast that chilled shot was injurious to gun barrels. 

 Ever since its introduction I have shot it constantly 

 both in the field and at the trap, using sizes from 10's 

 to No. 2's and find nothing injurious about it. It is far 

 preferable to soft ; being hard, it retains its rotundity 

 better, and as a matter of course, penetrates farther 



