192 GUN FOR SNIPE-SHOOTING 



much to do with It. It is, in fact, made on the same 

 principle as the percussion rifles formerly made by old 

 Mr. Purdey, and very similar to one which I had 

 constructed for me by Rigby. 



It is necessary for anyone who desires to go in 

 extensively for snipe-shooting to have a gun made 

 expressly for it. Winter snipe-shooting in Ireland is 

 a very different affair to snipe-shooting in Scotland, or 

 India, or any other place I know of, and the Irish 

 birds are far more difficult to shoot. They appear to 

 be more in their natural condition, and stronger on the 

 wing than elsewhere. If theory is of little use in 

 other shooting, it is especially so in snipe-shooting, 

 and a beginner will have quite enough to do to follow 

 out the few standard rules which I here give for his 

 benefit, and they are these : 



In addition to his gun suiting him, which latter is a 

 sine qua non, I recommend him not to use a hammer- 

 less gun, but to have the hammers made so as to be 

 straight up when at full cock, and not thrown back on 

 to the breech, and the rib well raised, so as to easily 

 catch the eye. If the gun suits him it will come up 

 truly and well ; and whilst waiting for the bird to stop 

 twisting and to steady down in its flight, he will have 

 plenty of time afforded him to lay it on properly ; and 

 let him remember that it takes but very little to kill a 

 snipe, even at a long distance ; one grain of shot only 

 will suffice to bring it down, especially out of a small- 

 bore gun. 



I cannot recommend the use of guns of smaller bore 

 than No. 16 for several reasons — one of which is, that 

 when shooting on a windy day a certain amount of 

 weight in a gun is necessary in order to keep it steady. 



