STKONG SHOOTING. 253 



with considerable certainty at fifty yards was as near 

 perfection as obtainable. I do not mean to say that 

 occasionally a snipe, or even a duck, has not been turn- 

 ed over at seventy yards, still at such ranges I have 

 always thought the odds very much in favor of the 

 birds. As none of my old battery can accomplish 

 more than above stated, before I go abroad again it 

 would be desirable to obtain a modern gun, yet I 

 should not like to adopt a new favorite, which would 

 shelve an old, without first seeing him perform, but if 

 the novice will kill steadily at seventy with ordinary 

 gunpowder, such as Curtis and Harvey's, I shall not 

 have a moment's hesitation on the subject ; therefore 

 I ask, do modern guns shoot much better say thirty 

 per cent, better than those turned out ten years 

 ago? 



