GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 171 



heavier than he can conveniently manage, for if he becomes 

 overpowered with weight or fatigue, I think he will shoot well 

 no more that day. If the weight is limited, the shorter your 

 gun is, the stronger it must be ; and there is no weight that a gen- 

 tleman will carry, that will, in the least be any improvement to the 

 shooting of barrels above 2 feet 5 inches, or 2 feet 6 inches long ; 

 and although many sportsmen will scarcely admit that a barrel 

 2 feet 2 inches, or 2 feet 4 inches, will kill equal to one of 2 feet 

 6, or 2 feet 7 inches, yet a short gun (well manufactured ) will 

 certainly shoot equally well, or perhaps better: I agree that all 

 short guns do not shoot as well as long ones : because there is 

 more judgment required in making a gun under 2 feet 5 inches, 

 to shoot properly, and few gunmakers understand the method. 

 For my own part, I shoot with one made by Gill, of Richmond, 

 only 2 feet 2 inches in barrel, the shooting of which has surprised 

 some of my sporting friends : it fires by percussion, and according 

 to my own judgment on the most simple and best principle* of 

 any I have yet seen : it may be properly cleaned by almost any 

 person in three or four minutes. Of the Locks, I think nothing 

 more need be said than to have them as well made as possible, 

 as much depends on the good workmanship of a gun lock, let the 

 principle of it be what it may ; and, a real good lock will be as 

 perfect with proper care, after twenty years' wear as it was the 

 first hour; while a bad one will w6ar out the first season, and 

 probably cost the owner the price of a good lock in repairs. 

 The next essential points about a gun, are the bend, length, and 

 mounting of the Stock : if the gun is in every respect a piece 

 of superior workmanship, and shoots in a superior manner, it is of 

 little service if it be not stocked exactly to suit the person who 

 uses it ; it is therefore not only a most material thing to have the 

 gun stocked the exact bend and length to suit the owner, but to 



* It is the copper cap plan, with the locks of a peculiar construction. 



