MISCELLANEOUS HINTS. 417 



dozen in number ; and the charge that fires the strongest and keeps 

 the shot in the most compact round form is the one best adapted 

 for the gun. A most erroneous idea exists among young sports- 

 men as regards loading: many suppose that by increasing the 

 quantity of shot they also increase the chances of killing, because, 

 as they say, there is a much greater number of pellets to be driven 

 against the object fired at. This, however, is not the case, as the 

 shot, in the first place, being too heavy for the charge of powder, 

 does not receive the same degree of projectile force from its 

 explosion that it would if both were properly proportioned; 

 and, moreover, the quantity of shot being too great, the pellets 

 strike against each other in their course and become disarranged ; 

 the recoil is also considerably increased, and the gun may be 

 bursted. 



If, on the other hand, too much powder is used, it flies wildly 

 out of the barrel unconsumed, as may be seen by firing at a sheet 

 of paper at a distance of fifteen yards or so, wh«n the grains of 

 powder will be found forced into the paper instead of being con- 

 sumed by the explosion. 



In fact, the whole theory of loading and overloading guns may 

 be summed up in a few words. Every gun should be loaded in 

 accordance with its bore and weight, and the greater nicety that 

 the sportsman displays in arriving at these proportions, the more 

 beautiful will be his shooting; for it is well ascertained by the 

 numerous experiments of those well versed in the subject, and 

 may be laid down as an hypothesis, or rather axiom, that if the 

 quantity of shot be too great the elastic force of the discharge is 

 diminished and the recoil considerably increased ; and, if the charge 

 of powder be also increased in the same ratio with the shot, the 

 recoil will be doubly increased, perhaps to the bursting of the 

 barrels, and the pellets of shot will be expelled from the piece 

 helter-skelter, in any direction but a direct course. 



The larger the charge of powder, the more will the shot be 

 scattered, and we have but one alternative in making long shots, 

 and that is, to load with the usual quantity of powder, but make 



