118 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 



I speak positively, on conviction founded on long use, 

 frequent experiment, and most accurate examination. 



I have a rifle of this plan, carrying a ball of 80 to the 

 Ib. if round, of about double that weight, if acorn-shaped 

 which I have fired several hundred times, with my bare 

 hand exactly under the point of junction, and never have 

 been sensible of the least escape of gas ; nor are either of 

 the metallic faces in the slightest degree burnt, corroded, 

 or altered in appearance, by the sharp firing to which they 

 have been subjected. 



From forty to fifty shots have been fired in succession, 

 with cartridges made from Dupont's filthy gunpowder, 

 and, though the operation of opening and reclosing the 

 breech was, in a slight degree, checked, it was not seri- 

 ously impeded. With cartridges filled with good sporting 

 powder, I have fired thirty shots a day three days in suc- 

 cession, without cleaning, for the purpose of testing its 

 operation, and have found no difficulty with the arm. 



The military pieces, both carbines and pistols, have 

 the loading-breeches arranged to play somewhat more 

 easily than those of finer fabric ; and I prefer the former, 

 as equally free from the escape of the gas, and as more 

 convenient in service. 



The weapons are as will be seen at once from the fol- 

 lowing sketch, displaying, first, the rifle closed and ready for 

 firing ; second, the rifle with the trigger and trigger-guard 

 turned forward, and the orifice of the chamber thrown 

 upward, to receive the charge ; and third, the loading- 

 breech, taken out for the purpose of cleaning singularly 

 symmetrical, handy, and even elegant of form. 



