THE DESIDERATA IX THE SIIOT-GUX. 177 



essential to the safety of the sportsman that he should select 

 a tradesman who has a character to lose, and who is nob 

 driven by necessity to risk the lives of his customers by 

 underselling his rivals. On this point every man of any 

 prudence will take care to protect himself; but if he will 

 only be guided by the rules of common sense, and by his 

 practical knowledge of human nature, he is just as likely to 

 be furnished with a safe gun, and a good shooting one too, 

 at one-fourth below the top price, as if he paid that sum to 

 one of the most fashionable makers of the day. 



The final boring of a gun that is to say, the operation 

 which determines the exact shape of its interior, will vary 

 greatly according to the materials and shape of its breech, 

 and to the length of the barrel. None are made of a truly 

 cylindrical shape, and it is usual to " open" or " relieve" 

 them, or sometimes both processes are adopted. By opening 

 is to be understood the formation of a slight cone with its 

 base at the breech ; and by relieving, the production of a 

 cone with its base at the muzzle. The exact proportion of 

 these parts is, however, one of the secrets of trade, and 

 almost every gunmaker professes to have a plan of his own, 

 which he considers superior to all others. The old flint gun 

 was both opened and relieved ; the detonator is generally also 

 slightly opened ; but a considerable degree of this causes a 

 good deal of recoil, and some makers only relieve their guns. 

 I believe that there is no absolute certainty in the practice 

 of boring, and that in almost every case some attention will 

 be required after trial. This is what is called " regulating " 

 the gun, and hence we so constantly see gunmakers shooting 

 at an iron plate to enable them to ascertain what is to be 

 remedied. If the gun spreads too wide it is relieved, while if 

 it has not driving power enough, it is opened till it performs 

 to the satisfaction of the trier. 



The rifle consists of an iron or steel tube similar in its 

 external form to that of the shot-gun, but grooved internally 

 in a spiral direction, so as to make the ball which it carries 

 revolve or spin around the long axis of the barrel when 

 continued forwards. These grooves may be narrow or wide, 

 deep or shallow, and of any number from two upwards. In 

 the oval-bore, as it is called, the rifle appears at first sight to 



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