IV PREFACE. 



and the task of making the arrangements was undertaken by 

 myself. The two gun trials of 1858 and 1859 were carried 

 out with great care and trouble, and the real pretensions of 

 muzzle-loaders and breech-loaders have been settled for the 

 present to the satisfaction of all reasonable men. 



As a natural result I have been brought into contact with 

 guns and gunmakers in an unusual degree, and have had far 

 greater opportunities of seeing varieties of principle and 

 workmanship in this department of art than any other 

 person out of the trade. Of course I do not claim to be 

 acquainted with the details of the workmanship of guns and 

 rifles to the extent which ought to pertain to the working 

 gunmaker, whose life has been engaged in the mastery of 

 them. The view which I have taken is that of the sports- 

 man ; but having been all my life of a somewhat mechanical 

 turn, I may perhaps have been more capable of fathoming 

 the secrets of the trade than others who have no taste that 

 way. Where those secrets have been openly and fairly 

 obtained by my own resources, I have not hesitated to lay 

 them before my readers; but there are many others which 

 have been communicated freely to me by gunmakers, with- 

 out the slightest idea on their part of having them published, 

 and these I have thought myself compelled to confine to 

 my own breast. They are chiefly, however, connected with 

 matters of no practical interest to the sportsman, and can 

 only be useful to the actual makers of the gun. 



For the opinions which are freely expressed throughout 

 the book in reference to the various inventions I am alone 

 responsible, no person connected with the gun trade having 

 had the remotest influence upon them. Indeed, I have so 



