368 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



But where the ball is very long and heavy relatively 

 to its diameter it starts so much more slowly that if 

 soft it may be mashed out of shape before fairly 

 under way. This is the case with the breech-loader, 

 especially with a heavy charge of powder. This has 

 already been fully considered. The best remedy for 

 this is the admixture of tin with the lead. Five per 

 cent of tin or ten per cent of common solder will 

 improve the shooting of any ball from a breech- 

 loader, whether long or short, round or cylindrical, 

 and whether shot naked or patched. Double this 

 quantity is sometimes necessary for very long balls. 

 And even double that may be used. I once tried 

 some balls that were about forty per cent tin, so hard 

 I could hardly hammer them into the shell with the 

 loading-tools. I shot these naked from a Maynard 

 rifle, and they did the best work I have ever seen from 

 a breech-loader. Five of them in succession I placed 

 in a four-inch ring at two hundred yards, with globe- 

 sights and rest of course. Several more fired at 

 short distances cut into the same hole with almost 

 the regularity of a muzzle-loader. The same is the 

 case with round balls, which generally must be hard- 

 ened to work well in a breech-loader. It is possible 

 that a little tin in the ball might improve its accuracy 

 even when fired from a muzzle-loader, though I have 

 never tried it. 



The molds should be kept hot during the casting. 

 Wrap the handles well with buckskin and let the 

 molds get as hot as they please. Pour in only enough 

 for one bullet at a time, putting the dipper back into 

 the pot to keep hot. Pour in enough to fully fill the 

 entrance-hole, and jar the molds a bit so as to have 

 the metal well settled. In shaking balls out of the 



