MISCELLANEOUS HINTS. 367 



charge as forcibly as possible, and the shot will disengage itself 

 from the sides of the barrel and roll out. This will not so easily 

 take place if we have been tugging and pulling at the rod suffi- 

 ciently long to mash the shot up into a flattened mass ; but even 

 then it is the only plan to be pursued. It will be necessary, in 

 some cases, to give the ramrod a few gentle taps with a small 

 stick of wood to make it go down far enough to disengage itself 

 from the shot. 



When one barrel is discharged, it will be more prudent when 

 loading again to try the ramrod on the wadding of the other bar- 

 rel, as the concussion of the first discharge is apt to loosen, if not 

 move, the wad a trifle from the shot ; and if this were the case 

 there would be a greater tendency in the barrel to burst at the 

 next fire. We have never found that the concussion from one 

 single discharge was sufficient to loosen and throw the wad off the 

 shot of the other barrel far enough to do any injury ; nor do we 

 think that such could be the case with a small fowling-piece, al- 

 though it might happen with a weapon of much larger calibre, a 

 duck-gun, for example, particularly if slightly rammed and heavily 

 charged. We, however, for prudence' sake, are in the habit of 

 sounding the loaded barrel after every discharge, provided the 

 two are not fired in rapid succession. 



I say that I am accustomed to sound the other barrel for pru- 

 dence sake, and would recommend all my friends to do the same, 

 as it is well to accustom one's self to this practice ; otherwise we 

 may not think of it, even after firing the right-hand barrel four or 

 five times before discharging the left, as all young shooters and 

 even old are too apt to do ; and in this case the repeated concussions 

 may have moved the wad up the barrel several inches, which cir- 

 cumstance might occasion the bursting of the gun, owing to the 

 thinness of the barrel as it nears the muzzle. At all events, as 

 said before, an "ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." 



This accident, however, is much less liable to occur than one 

 might at first suppose, more particularly after the barrel has been 

 used a few times, as the fouling and leading of the gun are always 



