THE BARREL. 223 



internal ones are not parallel. If, therefore, they were 

 soldered together in this form, and shot from a fixed rest, the 

 line of fire of the two would cross at a few yards from the 

 muzzle, varying in distance according to the thickness of the 

 breech. To avoid this objection, the iron of the opposite 

 sides of each barrel is cut away until they approximate suffi- 

 ciently, for an exact parallelism is to be avoided, because in 

 shooting from the shoulder, the weight of the other barrel 

 causes in each case a slight inclination in the opposite direc- 

 tion from the true axis. A rib of iron is introduced between 

 and above the two barrels, and this is slightly elevated, to 

 allow for the tendency to fall which shot has even at forty 

 yards' distance. Mr. Greener is of opinion that this dropping of 

 the shot is about twelve inches in forty yards, but it varies 

 considerably in different guns, and according to the charge. 

 This may, however, be taken as an approximation to the 

 truth, but for all practical purposes any very exact calculation 

 is useless, inasmuch as the shooting of guns will in great 

 measure depend upon the proportion of powder to shot, and 

 also in no slight degree upon the way in which they are 

 "stocked." Mr. Prince has proposed a plan for elevating 

 one barrel slightly more than the other before brazing them 

 together, so that one shall hit the mark exactly at 40 yards, 

 and the other at 60. This seems likely to be of service for 

 double guns, the objection that one barrel would be thereby 

 more frequently used than the other, being met by the ex- 

 planation that towards the end of the season long shots are 

 the rule, arid 40 yards the exception, and that " right and 

 left" being then unusual, the more elevated barrel may be 

 used for single shots. For pigeon-guns it is particularly 

 applicable, and I think also for general shooting. When the 

 two barrels and the rib are accurately fitted, they are soldered 

 permanently together. The usual practice is to braze four 

 or five inches with hard solder, but Mr. Greener shows the 

 impropriety of this plan, inasmuch as it requires a white 

 heat for its performance, which expands the iron again to the 

 state in which it was prior to the cold-hammering. He asserts, 

 and I believe with perfect truth, that soft-soldering, if pro- 

 perly done, is quite strong enough, and he declares that he 

 never uses any other method, which, as his guns are well 



