382 LEWIS'S AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



fore preface our remarks by stating that this cunning little 

 machine is intended to proportion the charge of powder to a cer- 

 tain measure or weight of shot. 



It is a general rule among sportsmen to use the same bulk of 

 powder as shot ; that is, to have the charger of the powder-flask so 

 graded that it will just hold the usual charge of shot. This, to-be- 

 sure, is very easily arranged ; but then it is often necessary, at all 

 events very satisfactory, to know the exact weight of both powder 

 and shot that a gun shoots well with ; all this, then, may be got at 

 in a moment of time by the use of this instrument. 



The gauge is formed of two brass cylinders eleven-sixteenths of 

 an inch in diameter and three and three-quarter inches in length, 

 one fitting or sliding within the other ; the inner one is solid at 

 each end, and has a gauge of weights cut on its surface, somewhat 

 similar to those seen on the glass measures used by apothecaries. 

 On one side, extending the whole length of the cylinder, is the 

 grading for weighing the shot, from one-fourth ounce to three 

 ounces ; on the other side is the grading for determining the weight 

 of like proportions of powder, from one-fourth drachm to seven 

 drachms. 



When we wish to ascertain the weight of a certain proportion of 

 shot, all that is necessary is to lay hold of the rim that encircles 

 the end of the inner cylinder and pull it (the cylinder) out suffi- 

 ciently to leave space enough between the top of the outer cylinder 

 and the end of .the inner cylinder, which is now withdrawn from 

 within the outer one, so as to create the requisite vacuum for the 

 shot to be measured or weighed. 



This being accomplished, the divisions of the grading cut on the 

 cylinder will show not only the required weight of the shot, but 

 also the exact weight of the same bulk of powder. 



This instrument is not, of course, as precise as a pair of fine 

 scales, but nevertheless is sufficiently correct for all ordinary pur- 

 poses. From the operations of this gauge we have ascertained 

 that one ounce of shot will fill the same space as two drachms and 

 three-eighths of powder; one ounce and a half of shot, within a 



