ALL SPORTING PROJECTILES MADE OF LEAD. 209 



sold is composed, depending a good deal on the quality of 

 the lead used, the specific gravity of which is scarcely ever 

 the same. I have counted the pellets in an ounce of shot 

 used at the recent gun trial, and find them to be 290. The 

 makes of other firms are also differently sized, as will appear 

 from the experiments of a writer in the Field, under the 

 signature " G.," who says : 



" Most people suppose that an ounce of No. 6 shot is the 

 same all over the world, and so did I until I had the curio- 

 sity to compare the contents of several bags of shot and car- 

 tridges by different makers. The following is the result : 



NUMBER OF SHOT CONTAINED IN ONE OUNCE. 



No. 5. No. 6. No. 7. No. 8. 



From Messrs. Parker and Co., London 326 537 



Messrs. Cox and Co., Derby 230 ... 335 



Messrs. George and Co., Bristol 219 ... 298 ... 421 



Eley's " Universal" Cartridge 180 



Joyce's " Universal" Cartridge 220 ... 326 



Eley's Patent Muzzle-loading Cartridge 249 



Hall's Patent Cartridge 270 



" The shot was very carefully weighed in a fine pair of scales 

 and counted, and in most instances an average of three ounces 

 taken. I have no doubt that my friends, the gunmakers in 

 London, make their trials with Parker's shot ; while I, living 

 in the West of England, made mine with the shot manufac- 

 tured at Bristol." 



There is evidently some mistake in some of these numbers, 

 as there is no make of No. 6 which will contain 326 pellets 

 in the ounce. Cartridge-makers all use the full size of shot, 

 because their object is to increase the distance at which they 

 can kill, and not so much to improve the pattern. I have 

 counted as few as 260 pellets in Eley's, and 270 in Joyce's 

 No. 6. I have also often found mistakes in the numbers 

 thus, cartridges marked No. 5, have contained No. 4 or 

 No. 6; and in this way it is easy to see that the error has 

 arisen in the instances where " G." has found 326 pellets in 

 an ounce of No. 6, which really was No. 7, though probably 

 marked No. 6. 



The best size for general use, and that almost universally 

 p 



