326 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



with them. Sometimes a pistol will also spring to 

 one side as well as up. A Wesson's .32 short- 

 barrel pistol springs to the side where there is the 

 least pressure of the hand on the stock shooting to 

 the left when fired from the right hand, and to the 

 right when fired from the left hand, and also jump- 

 ing upward in each case. 



A double gun will throw outward with each barrel, 

 or away from the direction of the other barrel. I have 

 a double rifle of which the axes of the barrels 

 converge at about twenty yards, and on looking 

 through them they can be plainly seen to cross. 

 With a moderate load a rifle so built will throw out 

 just about enough to carry the two balls on parallel 

 lines, so that only one sight is needed. But where a 

 heavy charge is used this convergence is not always 

 enough, and the rifle will require double sights. With 

 one sight my rifle will throw each ball outward six 

 inches at thirty yards, and the two sets of sights 

 diverge so as to converge the axes of the barrels still 

 more than they are set. When one barrel is sighted 

 it points across the line of the bore of the other at 

 about only five paces. And yet each barrel is per- 

 fectly accurate with its own sight. This gun also 

 throws down a little as well as outward. It shoots 

 a round ball with great accuracy, but it will go 

 higher and inside of the other ball, which is about 

 one third heavier. It will shoot round balls with a 

 single sight, and also the heavy ones with a small 

 charge. It is probable that any double rifle would, 

 for perfect accuracy, require double sights when large 

 charges were used with heavy balls, though the bar- 

 rels may be set sufficiently converging for light balls 



