74 THE HUNTER AND TRAPPEE. 



tance of five or six rods, when the shot have flown eight 

 rods, they will scatter over a wide space. As the shot 

 leave the gun they hug the sides of the bore, and if this 

 is of equal size through its whole length, they will com- 

 mence to scatter as soon as they leave the muzzle, and the 

 gun will be of no use ; but if the bore gathers toward the 

 muzzle so that the charge is concentrated at the proper 

 distance, the gun will shoot well. 



If your gun scatters too much, it is because it is too 

 large or too small at the breech. This you can determine 

 by going to a gunsmith, who will cast lead in the barrel. 

 If this will push through the whole barrel with a uniform 

 pressure, it is of the same size throughout and must be 

 made larger at the breech; this is done by casting a 

 block of lead on the end of a rod near the breech, and 

 working it up and down with emory powder in such a 

 way as to grind it off more at the breech than toward the 

 muzzle. Try it occasionally until at a distance of eight 

 or nine rods it will plant six shot within the size of your 

 hand, placing them in threes, here and there. If it still 

 scatters too much, work out the breech a little more, until 

 it springs sharply in firing and throws the shot as you 

 want it to. 



The same principle holds true with regard to the rifle. 

 It will not shoot strongly, unless it is a little smaller at 

 the muzzle than at the breech. 



They make rifles in great perfection now-a-days, but they 

 are not all accurate shooters. Very many breech-loaders 



