96 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 



Any of the anticorrosive English copper caps are good ; 

 I think Walker's the least so, and Starkey's central fire 

 water-proof the best. I have kept these a week in a tum- 

 bler of water, and known them to go off without a single 

 miss or long fire. Eley, celebrated for his famous car- 

 tridges, has invented a cap lined with India rubber, which 

 is said to be superlative, and to answer for punt guns, 

 over which the spray is continually falling so as to render 

 extra expedients necessary to secure sure firing; these, 

 however, I have never seen. All the good London makers 

 now manufacture their own caps, which to furnish to their 

 customers, and I have never used better than some from 

 the house of Moore & Gray, Edgeware Road. 



With regard to the sizes of shot, there is much differ- 

 ence of opinion. I consider No. 8 sufficiently heavy, 

 unless in case of birds being unusually wild, when I would 

 use No. 7, or what I greatly prefer, Eley's cartridges of 

 No. 8, for all upland game, all the year through. 



Even at fowl, I am convinced that most men err both 

 in loading too heavily and in firing too large shot. No. 4 

 is, in my judgment, as large shot as any fowling-piece can 

 ordinarily carry. No. 2 is large enough for any thing 

 except geese, out of any gun, but for them one may use 

 BB, or Eley's green cartridges with SSG. 



The farther rules for safety are these : never get into 

 a wagon without taking off your copper caps, even if it be 

 only for a drive of ten minutes ; and it is well also to 

 wipe or brush the nipples, after removing the caps; for 

 the percussion powder will occasionally adhere about the 



