88 VARIETIES OF SHOOTING. 



gun may be short, portable, and easily managed; and the 

 other, by increasing the length, by which you may kill 

 farther, and take more accurate aim. The former was the 

 plan of Mr. Joseph Manton, the latter that of the late Mr. 

 D. Egg ; and, in order to partake a little of both advantages, 

 I should steer between the two, and have barrels never less 

 than three feet eight inches, nor more than four feet four 

 inches, unless I used a rest. For pond and river shooting 

 these guns may be from 12 to IGlbs. ; but more than that 

 greatly fatigues the arm; and with a gun of this weight a 

 good charge is carried a very considerable distance. A broad 

 butt lessens the recoil, and a piece of sponge adapted to it 

 will still further diminish that unpleasant feeling." 



For marine shooting a punt-gun is employed, which is a 

 small cannon, and cannot be shot without an apparatus to 

 break the recoil. This is effected either by means of a rope, 

 or a spiral spring the latter being the invention of Colonel 

 Hawker. A single gun for this purpose weighs from 60 to 

 801bs., and a double as much as 1201bs. As, however, 

 this kind of sport is a speciality in itself, I shall refer my 

 readers to Colonel Hawker's book, which gives minute 

 directions for all its details. It may be mentioned, how- 

 ever, that since the colonel's time a great improvement has 

 been made in punt-guns, by the invention of the system of 

 loading at the breech, which considerably facilitates the 

 management of this otherwise unwieldy machine. One of 

 the chief difficulties in the way of the puntsman consists in 

 the necessity, under the old system, of running the gun in 

 before loading, and also in the exposure of the person and 

 ramrod to the view of the birds. This is done away with 

 by the breech loader, which merely requires to be opened by 

 one hand the other, if necessary, using the paddle, and 

 without altering the breech ropes at all. Hence a second 

 shot is sometimes practicable at the same flock before it has 

 got out of distance; but in any case much time is saved, 

 and the operation of loading is conducted without anything 

 likely to alarm the birds. Whether punt-guns made on this 

 principle perform as well as muzzle loaders I do not pretend 

 to say; but unless they are very inferior to them in strength 

 of shooting, their manifest advantages already described 



