MISCELLANEOUS HINTS. 415 



If the gun be overcharged, as is much too often the case both 

 with powder and shot, the whole load will be carried out of the 

 barrel with an unequal, unsteady, and wild impetuosity, very dif- 

 ferent from the regular, easy, and determined motion imparted to it 

 by a proper proportion of each. The gun, no matter how tightly 

 grasped, if overloaded, will spring from the hand, and a recoil 

 more or less severe will be felt at the shoulder. This should never 

 occur in small fire-arms. In large duck-guns a slight recoil is 

 excusable; but even in these pieces proper loading will almost 

 invariably remedy the evil if the gun is skilfully constructed; 

 and if after judicious management it still proves incorrigible, the 

 weapon had better be sold for want of use, or placed in the hands 

 of some one who cares but little for a bruised arm and a sore 

 shoulder. 



As before said, a series of experiments should be instituted to 

 find the exact charge that suits your gun best ; that is, what 

 proportion of powder and what proportion of shot will kill the 

 farthest with the greatest certainty. This can be accomplished 

 by firing at sheets of paper at a distance of forty yards with 

 different-sized loads, and marking down the result of each 

 discharge. 



To make this chapter more complete, we cannot do better than 

 introduce a few paragraphs from Greener on this subject, and at 

 the same time remark that every sportsman will derive abundance 

 of information appertaining to the gun by the perusal of that 

 writer's highly instructive work : 



"I have repeatedly stated that all guns will burn a certain 

 quantity of powder; you must, therefore, ascertain what that 

 quantity is, which can only be done by practice. Suppose you 

 begin with two drachms, and vary the charge one-eighth of a 

 drachm each shot up to three drachms and a half, or as may be 

 required, according to the length and bore of the gun, and, for 

 precision, taking three shots with each charge at a sufficient num- 

 ber of sheets of paper; whichever you find strongest with the 

 least quantity of powder, that is the best charge, as very likely 



