398 lewis' AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



This position being true, the Gun would not be so readily 

 bursted from an explosion under these circumstances, as it 

 would if the whole force was exerted upon the one pointy as is 

 the case when the ball is rammed home upon the charge — and 

 consequently it would require a larger proportion of powder to 

 generate the same degree of force, without the immediate pres- 

 sure of the ball, as would be generated if the ball was rammed 

 tight upon the charge. 



This, however, would not be the case with a fowling-piece, 

 for the reason that the barrel being of unequal thickness, and 

 the breech four or five times as heavy as the muzzle, and in a 

 proportionate degree heavier than all other parts of the barrel, 

 as you advance towards the mouth ; if a ball therefore become 

 impacted in it, and should offer considerable resistance to the 

 escape of the powder, the lateral pressure created by this shock 

 might be over-sufficient to rend the gun in pieces at this point, 

 when three times the same force would have no effect upon the 

 hreecli end. 



From the foregoing remarks, therefore, it appears evident to 

 us that it would require far more powder to burst a small gun 

 with a regular home charge than it would to burst it if, when 

 set in motion, it should meet with a sudden or powerful resist- 

 ance any distance up the barrel, either in the shape of a wad, 

 ball, or any other accidental obstruction such as before men- 

 tioned. 



Although the internal pressure first produced at the moment 

 of ignition be not sufficient to burst the barrel asunder at the 

 breech, the sudden shock occasioned by the resistance of tlie 

 obstruction, although not equal to the first force generated at 

 the breech end, might be, however, quite sufficient to tear the 

 barrel all to pieces at the point of contact. 



RECOIL. 



The recoil — or, as it is vulgarly called, '■'the Icicle of a (jioi^ — 

 may be produced by several causes, all of which, however, have 

 their primary origin in the projectile force of the powder, or 

 rather in the resistance offered to the expansive fluid generated 

 by the ignition or explosion of a mass of powder. In all fire- 



