AMMUNITION 61 



can be had by using hard shot, it is so slight as to be scarcely 

 worth attention from the marksman's point of view, and those 

 who love not the dentist should at least refrain from breaking 

 their own teeth unnecessarily. 



Until something better is invented for the purpose of trying 

 guns and cartridges, strawboard racks and Pettitt pads are the 

 only means open to the shooter, and besides, when properly 

 used, are the best means. Both vary in thickness and hardness, 

 the latter according to the weather. But every shooter can 

 arrange for a trial against a gun he knows, and against hand- 

 filled black powder cartridges. Then, if he uses his "trial 

 horse" against the same pads and boards as the other gun, 

 or new cartridges, he will arrive at correct comparative results. 

 This is not only the most effective but the cheapest way. If 

 strawboards are used, the first and last boards can be renewed 

 for each shot. The chances of having a shot pass through an 

 already made shot hole are too remote and unimportant to 

 matter. Then the way to assess penetration is to count the 

 shot that struck the first board or sheet of paper, and the 

 number that pierced the last, arranging the last in such a 

 position that about one-half those pellets that hit the first paper 

 also go through the last. This takes the mean penetration of 

 the load, and was Colonel Hawker's method. The results will 

 then read something like this: .41, .50, .60, .55 of total shot 

 through, say, 20 sheets of brown paper Pettitt pad. 



The true way of testing the energy of the shot is by means 

 of the ballistic pendulum, but although the author has designed 

 a more simple apparatus than the usual device of this sort, it is 

 not yet sufficiently tried to warrant its description. 



To the very few who load their own cartridge-cases 

 the author can offer no advice beyond this : the best cases and 

 wadding, and the best powder, meaning the highest priced, are 

 necessary, and not merely luxuries. The amateur loader has 

 no means of testing powders to see if they fluctuate, and he 

 must rely, therefore, on the maker ; and that very careful person 

 will take the most trouble over that for which he charges most. 

 The shooter, in fact, is not buying raw material, but personal 



