GUNS AND CHARGES 301 



The more plainly a gun is got up the better ; for the 

 more it is decorated the more easily it is damaged. 



Nowadays there is such a craze for light guns that I 

 may as well give what I consider to be suitable charges 

 for them. If a light 20-bore gun can be made to 

 shoot 3 drams of powder without recoil, then we must 

 give in to the small bores, but until this can be brought 

 about, the gain in lightness must be very doubtful, 

 when only 2\ drams can be used. At the end of 

 the season birds are wild, and their wings ten times 

 harder than in the earlier part of it, and consequently 

 greater penetration is required. This can only be 

 effected by the use of more powder and larger shot. 

 In order, therefore, to avoid recoil, a heavier gun must 

 be used ; and the test of a good gunmaker is now 

 apparent if he is able to turn out a pair of guns alike, 

 in every respect, saving that of weight. The load will 

 of course vary in proportion to the weight of the guns, 

 but nothing more than 7 lb. 2 oz. is necessary. Such 

 a gun will carry a charge of 3^ drams of powder and 

 i-g- oz. of shot without recoil. It should be impressed 

 upon all loaders of cartridges that a little more or a 

 little less will not do ; the charge must be accurately 

 balanced. If not, it is asking an impossibilty of the 

 gun, expecting it to kill at long range when powder 

 and shot are not equalized. Too much powder will 

 scatter too light a charge of shot to the winds. Again, 

 if the charge of shot is too heavy, penetration is lost. 

 Both powder and shot viust be proportionate to avoid 

 what the Irish bog-trotters call 'scatteration/ The re- 

 gular shooting of all guns demands that the charges used 

 for them must be suitable, and this can but be ascer- 

 tained by testing them at a moving target. Guns are 



