ON GUN ACCIDENTS. 



IT is a curious fact, but one which daily experience proves to be 

 true, that in ordinary life we generally find the most serious warn- 

 ings pass unheeded ; and it always appears, when we hear or read 

 of any of the numerous accidents which are so constantly happening 

 through the incautious use of fire-arms, that if the very commonest 

 precaution had been used, the accident would never have occurred. 

 Strange to say, these accidents are not confined merely to the young 

 and inexperienced for during my career I have seen quite as many, 

 if not serious accidents, still, hairbreadth escapes, happen from 

 guns in the hands of old sportsmen who were well accustomed to 

 their use, as in those of the young and thoughtless ; and whenever 

 I look back upon the accidents and hairbreadth escapes which have 

 come under my personal notice (and these have not been few), it 

 appears almost certain that not a single one would have taken place 

 if the merest caution had been observed. It seems that neither 

 remonstrance nor experience will ever teach men to be as cautious 

 with guns a they ought to be ; and any invention which tends to 

 lessen the chance, or altogether prevent the possibility, of an acci- 

 dent happening with a gun, must be regarded as a great boon, not 

 only to every sportsman, but to mankind at large. 



A perusal of some excellent remarks in the Field newspaper on 

 the breech-loader dictated this chapter ; and if the invention 

 had no other recommendation than its safe manner of 

 loading, and the ease and quickness with which the cartridge 

 can be removed, for safety sake, when the gun is put away, or 

 about to be carried in a gig, boat, or on horseback, these alone 

 would warrant every prudent man in adopting it. 



