SHOOTING THE GROUSE 



cleaned with anything but vaseline, which never cor- 

 rodes, and only a moderate quantity of that ; the 

 great secret being to keep all accessible parts of the 

 action as clean and dry as possible. A heavy-handed, 

 ignorant under-keeper, whether English or Scotch, is 

 rarely fit to be trusted with the handling or cleaning 

 of such valuable articles as the best breech-loaders of 

 to-day. 



Whatever may be said to the contrary, the general 

 verdict of those who have the best opportunities of 

 judging is in favour of the best guns by the best 

 makers. You will often hear it said that these 

 makers' charges for their best quality of guns are 

 ' outrageous,' and all sorts of ugly words applied to 

 those whose position in the trade enables them to set 

 the market price of these articles. I must put in a 

 plea for the good gunmaker. It would be invidious 

 to particularise, but there are several makers in Lon- 

 don whose names are in everybody's mouth, and who 

 turn out guns, undoubtedly high-priced, but which, 

 to my thinking, are well worth the money. Everyone 

 who knows anything at all of the subject, knows that 

 the profit on the best quality of gun is not heavy, 

 much smaller, in fact, than on cheaper articles 

 of all sorts supplied by the trade generally, while 

 most of the most valuable part of the work is not 



