139 ) 



THE SINGLE-BARREL GUN. 



The single-barrel gun has passed out of modern sport; 

 but I remember mine with regret, and think I shall 

 some day buy another. I still find that the best 

 double-barrel seems top-heavy in comparison; in 

 poising it the barrels have a tendency to droop. 

 Guns, of course, are built to balance and lie level in 

 the hand, so as to almost aim themselves as they 

 come to the shoulder; and those who have always 

 shot with a double-barrel are probably quite satisfied 

 with the gun on that score. To me there seems too 

 much weight in the left hand and towards the end of 

 the gun. Quickness of firing keeps the double-barrel 

 to the front; but suppose a repeater were to be 

 invented, some day, capable of discharging two 

 cartridges in immediate succession? And if two 

 cartridges, why not three ? An easy thought, but a 

 very difficult one to realise. Something in the 'power 

 of the double-barrel — the overwhelming odds it affords 

 the sportsman over bird and animal — pleases. A 

 man feels master of the copse with a double-barrel ; 

 and such a sense of power, though only over feeble 

 creatures, is fascinating. Besides, there is the delight 

 of effect ; for a clever right and left is sure of applause. 



