376 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



new strong cloth be used for wiping there will be no 

 danger from water. It is a common idea that any old 

 rag will do to clean a gun with. On the contrary, to 

 clean a gun well requires good, strong, new, and 

 rough cloth. Nothing lighter than heavy unbleached 

 muslin can be relied on to bring all the dirt, lead, and 

 dampness from a rifle. 



For cleaning, a strong rod of the best hickory 

 should be used, notched and jagged instead of hav- 

 ing a miserable eye or hook at the end, so that a 

 heavy wad of cloth may be used without jamming. 

 And this wad of cloth should occasionally be made so 

 tight that the rod has to be driven against something 

 solid to force it through. Only in this way can you 

 be sure that your rifle is not leaded. The cloth thus 

 driven through will either bring out the lead or show 

 that it has passed lead. 



For greasing, .almost any animal or /^-vegetable 

 oil is good. Rattlesnake-oil has more body than al- 

 most any other oil and is often easy to make. An 

 excellent oil is made by cooking the marrow of a 

 deer's legs. Vaseline and cosmoline are also good. 

 But for a rust preventive scarcely anything excels 

 mercurial ointment. Too much grease, however, 

 may overshoot the mark. Enough is enough, and a 

 tight and well-greased rag or bit of buckskin forced 

 through the barrel once or twice is best. 



Should your rifle happen to get rusty inside it 

 should be attended to at once. This had better be 

 intrusted to a reliable gunsmith. But if none is at 

 hand you had better do it yourself than leave it so. 

 Very fine emery is safe enough for any one to use 

 who is careful, but the rag should be well oiled and 

 run back and forth through the barrel several times 



