22 THE COMPLETE SHOT 



The author has practised with both cross-bow and long-bow. 

 As a boy he has had many a shot at a flying pheasant with 

 the former, and although he never hit one, that was probably 

 only because the art of building cross-bows died with those 

 who had need of them. 



It is known as a matter of fact that gun metal was very poor 

 stuff when the early cannons were made, and it can be gathered 

 that powder was not of the best, as the proportions by weight 

 of shot to powder were for the biggest cannon as two of shot is 

 to one of powder, and for the smallest bores as | Ib. of shot is to 

 f Ib. of powder, and to shoot this 8 oz. of shot the weight of 

 gun required was 300 Ibs., and the bore i inch, or about five 

 times as much weight as we should require now for that weight 

 of shot, for which we should not use f Ib. of powder, but a couple 

 of ounces would be ample. The only proportions of powder and 

 shot at all like these that have been used in modern days are in 

 some of the gun-proving charges and loads, where there was a 

 good deal of windage between the ball and the walls of the barrel, 

 and this is a fault in economy that the Middle Age gunners were 

 compelled to adopt, and it probably accounts to some extent 

 for their amazing charges of powder for the weights of shot 

 employed, so that the powder was probably a good deal better 

 than these proportions suggest, and the metal of the guns a 

 good deal worse. 



