79° 



The Shot- Gun. 



Thus, with the same charge of powder and shot, 4 drs. powder and 

 1% oz. shot, fired from the 10-gauge, gives a velocity of 100 feet 

 per second more than that given by the 12 -gauge. This fact is con- 

 clusively shown in the comparison of the figures in the two tables 

 headed " 10 Colt gun, 4 drs. C. & H. powder, and 1 % oz. shot" and "12 

 Colt gun, 4 drs. C. & H. powder, and 1 % oz. shot." The difference 

 in velocity was in favor of the 10-gauge in each of the sixty separate 

 experiments, which were made to get the numbers (contained in the 

 above-mentioned tables) on the lines of No. 8 and No. 10 shot. 



With No. 10 shot the mean velocity given by the 10-gauge gun 

 over the first 30 yards is 848 feet. With the same charge in the 

 1 2 -gauge the velocity is 748 feet, showing a difference of 100 feet in 

 favor of the 10-gauge. With No. 8 shot the difference amounts to 

 72 feet. The average difference in favor of the 10-gauge in the 

 flight of shot Nos. 8 and 10 over 40 yards amounts to 1 10 feet. 



If we assume, as we certainly may without grave error, that the 

 penetration of shot varies as the square of its velocity, these experi- 

 ments will give the relative penetrations of the 10 to the 12 gauge 

 about as 9 is to 7. These experiments show that the recent move- 

 ment in favor of small-bore guns is one in the wrong direction. It 

 appears that a 10-gauge gun, if of about 8 lbs. weight, would be the 

 best fowling-piece for upland shooting. 



That the 10-gauge shows such superiority over the 12 may be 

 accounted for by the fact that the same charge occupies less length in 

 a 10 than it does in a 1 2 bore, and hence there are fewer pellets in con- 

 tact with the barrel of the former than of the latter to oppose by their 

 friction the projectile force of the powder ; and secondly, the powder in 

 a 10-gauge is exploded nearer the center of its volume, and thus does 

 not have so much chance of blasting before it the unburnt powder con- 

 tained in the portion of the charge removed from the point of ignition. 



I also venture to predict that with the same weight of barrels the 

 10-gauge will not heat as much as the 12, because the motion of the 

 shot, lost by the greater resistance it opposes in a 1 2 -gauge cartridge, 

 must appear in the form of heat. 



The third fact which these experiments show is that with 1 % oz. 

 of shot and 3 % drs. of powder an average velocity is obtained which 

 requires 4 drs. of powder to give 1 % oz - °f snot: a velocity equal to that 

 given by 3 % drs. to 1 y& oz. Now, 4 drs. of powder, if not fired from 



