MISCELLANEOUS HINTS. 347 



ing an excursion ; they are made large for the bore of the 

 barrel, for which they are intended to be employed, and as 

 they fit very tight, are rammed home with some degree of force. 

 As they are pushed down the barrel, they necessarily scrape 

 from the inside all the dirt and leading before them, which being 

 thus collected together in a mass on the top of the powder, is 

 expelled at the next discharge of the piece. These wads will 

 be found very useful under some circumstances, and will pre- 

 vent in some degree the barrels from becoming uncomfortably 

 clogged or leaded, although they cannot relieve the chambers 

 at al], which, by the by, is the most important point to be 

 cleansed. Nothing, however, will effectually do this, save the 

 free use of water. 



There are various other kinds of wadding to be obtained at 

 the Gunsmith's, all of which, however, we consider inferior ; at 

 all events, no better than the common patent paper wads in 

 general use ; which are cheap, convenient, and safe. 



The wadding over the powder should be forced down with 

 considerably more violence than the one placed over the shot, 

 so as to drive the powder into the chambers and nipple-hole and 

 mould it into a compact form. If the wadding over the shot 

 be forced down too hard, there will be a considerable recoil when 

 the piece is discharged ; this of itself will soon teach the novice 

 better. When loading one barrel, never put the ramrod into 

 the other, for if a shot or two by chance should slip down on 

 the side of the rod, it will be very apt to become wedged in 

 when we attempt to withdraw it. We have known this acci- 

 dent to happen more than once, and we can assure our friends 

 that if it should occur with them they will be bothered no little, 

 more particularly if they did not know the proper plan to be 

 pursued in the dilemma. As soon as we discover that a ramrod 

 is thus wedged in the barrel, we must arrest our efforts to draw 

 it out by main force, as this is impossible ; we should rather 

 turn the muzzle downwards and press the rod on the 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, provided we have been tugging and pulling at the rod 

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

 even then it is the only plan to be pursued. It will be neces- 



