BURSTING OF BARRELS. l6Q 



be fired and cleaned every week, for two reasons, to prevent mis- 

 sin o 1 fire, as well as to prevent the corrosion of the inner surface 

 of the barrel, which will take place from the action of the gun- 

 powder alone. No gun will burst, if properly loaded and kept 

 clean ; not even those African guns, which used to be sent out 

 of the country without proving. All fowling pieces, even the 

 most inferior, are now well proved ; indeed, a severe penalty 

 attaches to any person who sells a barrel which has not under- 

 gone the operation of proving. I am told, but I never tried the 

 experiment, that if clay be forced into a gun barrel, in any way 

 so as to leave a space between it and the charge, the barrel will 

 inevitably burst on firing : the same remark has been by some, ex- 

 tended to snow thus, if the muzzle of the fowling piece hap- 

 pens to fill with snow, in getting over a hedge, or by any other 

 accident to which sportsmen are liable, they say, that on firing, 

 the barrel would burst just under the snow : which will certainly 

 happen supposing the snow is air tight. However, there will 

 be no harm in the sportsman examining the muzzle of his fowl- 

 ing piece, after leaping a ditch, or under any other circumstance, 

 where it might be possible for snow, dirt, or any other matter, 

 to get into it. 



Shot getting loose may cause the barrel to bulge or burst. 



