882 lewis' AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



GUN-LOCKS. 



Wifbout a good locic, a stub and twist barrel of the finest 

 worlvmansbip will be of little avail, and the oiie is quite as 

 difficult to be obtained as the other. 



Since the introduction of detonators, however, Sportsmen pay 

 far less attention to the workmanship of their gun-locks than 

 they did when flint guns were alone in vogue, for then it was 

 absolutely necessary to have the finest finished and best 

 tempered locks that could be manufactured by experienced 

 artists, to insure that rapidity and quickness in shooting that 

 was so desirable. 



This quickness could not of course be attained with the old- 

 fashioned flint or steel lock, without the various portions of the 

 lock were of the most perfect construction, and put together in 

 the most artist-like manner. This, however, is not the case 

 with the detonator ; a far inferior lock to those that were then 

 manufactured with so much care and skill, will answer an 

 equally good purpose. Nevertheless, they require a consider- 

 able deal of care in their construction to make them agreeable 

 and serviceable to the Sportsman. 



Gun-locks should be manufactured from the hardest metal, 

 and all their parts filed and fitted in the most beautiful manner, 

 with springs of the best construction and suitable strength ; 

 every portion of the machinery should work in perfect unison, 

 and, when set in motion, should glide over each other with the 

 same smoothness and evenness observable in the most elaborate 

 pieces of mechanism. 



Greener remarks on the subject in the following words, and 

 we are sure that every Sportsman will heartily respond to such 

 sentiments : — 



"I have always felt as great pleasure in handling a gun with 

 a pair of good locks as some would experience in listening to 

 the musical productions of the great Handel. There is to me a 

 superior music in the tack of the scear on the tumbler, and the 

 fine elasticity of the mainsprings, moving with a sort of fine, 

 oily feel, though light, as sharp as the lightning playing in the 

 heavens," 



