500 The Hunting Grounds 



initiated as " bargains." Young sportsmen, in select- 

 ing a gun, should always go to a maker of note, who, 

 for the sake of his own credit and reputation, would 

 not allow an arm that is unsound, or of inferior work- 

 manship, to leave his establishment bearing his name, 

 which, in first-class work, is always engraved in full, 

 with address. He may have to pay a long figure in 

 comparison with the cost of the inferior article, and, 

 perhaps, something for " the name ;" but he is sure of 

 a good weapon, which will prove far better worth the 

 money in the long run, and need not be apprehensive 

 of accidents from defective workmanship or unsound 

 material. Inferior guns, "made to sell," are no w-a- 

 days got up so well, that at first sight they resemble 

 A 1 guns of best material and first-class workmanship : 

 but the practical sportsman, on taking them in hand, 

 soon discovers the counterfeit. There is no "music " 

 in the locks ; the strength of the mainsprings, as well 

 as the pull of the triggers, is unequal ; the barrels are. 

 imperfectly bored, or rough and unpolished in the 

 interior, and perhaps the gauge shows that they are 

 not of exactly the same calibre. Again, the lock- 

 plate and mountings are not fitted and let in with 

 that peculiar nicety that distinguishes first-class 

 London work ; and the stock, in spite of a thick coat 

 of French polish and varnish, betrays "greenness" 

 being made of unseasoned wood. I have seen some 

 of these inferior guns throw shot pretty fairly to begin 



