ON THE CHOICE OF SHOT GUNS 29 



at all when the pace of the game makes great allowances in 

 front necessary. 



This may be said : that 3 inches of inaccuracy is not much 

 when many feet have to be judged, and that is perfectly 

 true, and if the gun's 3 inches of inaccuracy were always in 

 the same direction as the game is going that is, 3 inches too 

 forward or too backward there would be nothing in it to 

 trouble about ; but it is just as likely to be an error at right 

 angles with the line of flight of the game, and then it does 

 matter very much indeed. Even if a miss does not result, 

 but if the aim is true, the game will then be made to fly 

 through the thin part of the circumference of the shot column. 

 For instance, if game is coming directly over the shooter, and 

 a gun inaccuracy of 3 inches makes him shoot to right or left 

 of the line of flight, that error is increased by his own inaccuracy 

 or the " curl " of the game, which together may easily accom- 

 plish the other 12 inches, and then the game would be outside 

 of the column of shot of a choke bore at 40 yards. A full 

 choke has not a killing circle for straight going-away game 

 of more than 26 or 28 inch diameter at that distance. On 

 the contrary, a true cylinder has a killing circle of 40 inches. 



This appears at first glance to be a very great advantage 

 to the cylinder user, but in practice there is not much in it, 

 provided the choke bore shoots truly to centre. If it does not, 

 it is absolutely worthless, whereas the cylinder, with an equal 

 fault, is a bad gun but not worthless. The reason of this is 

 that the cylinder spreads more than the choke. The "full 

 choke " always clusters its shot in the centre, and although the 

 aim of gun-makers may be to get an even pattern, it cannot 

 be done with a full choke gun, and would not suit everybody 

 if it were done. 



The author is inclined to think that a cylinder, or modified 

 choke bore, is better than a full choke for any distance or 

 purpose for which a full choke bore, with an even distribution 

 of pellets, is better than another with a central clustering of 

 pattern. Possibly pigeon shooting is an exception; because 

 there is no use in killing outside the boundary, so that very 



