262 VARIETIES OF SHOT-GUNS, ETC. 



The stock not being placed with the butt on the ground 

 when loading, does not require a heel-plate. In general 

 shape it resembles that of the ordinary gun, that is to say in 

 length and in the amount of bending and casting off. But 

 it is completely divided in the middle from the necessity for 

 an iron support for the false breech and bolt, which will be 

 presently described together. 



This false breech and bolt are so arranged as to connect 

 the stock with the barrels at the will of the shooter, and they 

 must be of sufficient strength to resist the strain which is 

 put upon this part. There are several modes of making the 

 connexion, but the most common is that represented in the 

 engraving at page 256. Here a lever is placed beneath the 

 stock, and by turning it to the right the wedge-shaped hook 

 is drawn out of the notch which it previously occupied in the 

 lower part of the barrels close to the breech end. Another 

 plan has recently been introduced in Belgium, and if it can 

 be kept dry it promises well. I have no means of knowing 

 how far it performs the promise held out by its inventor, 

 having only seen it in the rough. In this plan the barrels 

 are hinged in the same way as in the mode already described 

 against a corresponding false breech, but there is no bolt to 

 keep them in their places. This is effected by two screws of 

 a slightly larger diameter than the chamber, which are forced 

 into them from behind by turning a lever just in front of 

 the trigger guard, something in the same way as in ISfeed- 

 ham's needle gun. This lever moving a cogged wheel a 

 quarter of a circle, by its means turns both the screws, which 

 are thus projected forward into the chambers, and are said 

 to form a closer joint than in the ordinary plan of Lefau- 

 cheaux. In doing this the cartridge is driven forward to 

 the same extent, and the barrels require a deeper notch for 

 the pins; but as the chambers are made of a proportionate 

 length these are not thereby rendered more difficult of re- 

 moval. This closure completely does away with all possi- 

 bility of an opening occurring during the explosion, which is 

 asserted to take place by the opponents of Lefaucheaux's 

 gun. I do not myself believe in this weak point, but the 

 arguments in favour of it are maintained by some people ; 

 and if a plan can be discovered which will do away with the 



