THE THEORY OF SHOOTING 65 



brain at the instant of discharge. The quicker the perception 

 of things as they happen, the more space will be observed 

 between the muzzle and the crossing bird as the gun races 

 past the game. The slow perception will not observe that the 

 gun has passed the bird when the explosion occurs, and this 

 clearly accounts for some good shots declaring they never make 

 any allowance for crossing game, but shoot "pretty much at 

 'em." Of course they do nothing of the sort ; but they tell you 

 what they perceive. They do not observe that in the interval 

 between pulling trigger and the shot leaving the barrel the gun 

 has travelled past the game very considerably, and what they 

 have observed is the relative position of gun and game at the 

 time the trigger gave way. For their class of shooting, therefore, 

 they must look for less daylight between gun and game than 

 the person of quick perception, who sees most of what there is 

 to observe. 



The velocity of light is so much greater than the velocity 01 

 recoil, that it may be questioned, on that ground, whether this is 

 the right explanation, on the assumption that only recoil would 

 stop the perception of the relative positions of game and gun. 

 But were it so, it is necessary to remember that the velocity of 

 light has no relationship to the velocity of brain perception 

 through the eyes. 



But probably recoil has nothing to do with the matter for 

 the man of slow perception, and to him the discharge is done 

 with as soon as the trigger gives way. It appears, then, that the 

 slower brain perception is through the eyes, the less observed 

 allowance a swinging gun will require. 



Is it possible to shoot fast crossing game without a swinging 

 gun ? For an answer to this, the author has tried to come back 

 from the first shot to meet flying game behind with the second 

 barrel, but has found it impossible to kill. Here the swing is in 

 the opposite direction to the movement of the game, and it 

 invariably carries the shot behind the game. Assuming it to be 

 possible (as it is) to throw up the gun to a point of aim at which 

 game and shot will intercept each other, the gun is mostly, 

 possibly always, given a swing in the direction of the game's 

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