1-26 COLONEL HANGER TO 



than is used at present, I wili state to you 

 tvhat I have tried some hundreds of times. 

 Practice is every thijig : I detest theory ; it 

 has led hundreds into errors. 

 Howmanv After repeated trials with various rifle 



pounds a Kiile l 



4'i^hland"^'^ barrels of different weight, and different 

 balls to the caliber, / have fixed on one, the barrel of 



pound, for 



active service, -^yhicli weiglis six pouuds four or five ounces, 

 and it carries thirty balls to the pound. This 

 I have repeatedly fired, at long distances, 

 with one lialf of the weight of the ball in poiv- 

 der, and it recoils not in the least; the 

 length of it is two feet seven inches, and 

 the txvist ^)o\it \hvQQ quarters of a turn. I 

 would rather * it were three feet three 

 inches long, and that the barrel weighed a 

 very few ounces more than six pounds, — 

 three or four ounces is enough, — and that it 

 carried thirty balls to the pound ; as the 

 one I already have spoken of does ; and 

 the very fh'st time I can afford it, I will 



*. My reason for wishing it were three feet three 

 inches long, is, that the greater the distance is between 

 the sights, the more accurate your aim will be. 



