CHARGES TO BE USED, 



99 



ing 

 ing 

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think is time, but their plan of ejecting shells and 

 lock mechanism I will omit, for the reason that there 

 are in the market so many inventions— many good of 

 their kind — that to do so would only lead to contro- 

 versy, and possibly acrimonious bickering. 



Weight of gun, y\\hs. ; length of barrels, 26in., 

 more or less choked according to the precision with 

 which the sportsman aims ; charge, 4 grain Curtis 

 and Harvey's gunpowder ; with an ounce of No. 9 

 shot for snipe, or i 1-8 ozs. of No. 5 shot for duck, 

 and the last quantitv of No. 3 shot for geese, chilled 

 shot preferable for ducks and geese. 



I may here say that at Glasgow I had some cart- 

 ridges loaded with Messrs. Hall and Son's gunpowder, 

 manufactured, I am informed, in the Kyles of Bute, 

 than which nothing could be better. 



The two nationalities, English and American — who, 

 - ''ter all, are the same race — have some marked 

 peculiarities when following their fascinating and 

 popular pursuit. The latter invariably shoots with a 

 more crooked stock than does the former ; to that I 

 answer, use what you are most successful with. On 

 the other hand, I have observed that Englishmen 

 put larger charges of shot in their guns than do 

 American. To this I might give the answer that 

 I have in the other case, but it is not so applicable, 

 for the bend of a stock will not alter the range of a 

 gun, while a superfluous quantity of shot will. My 

 experience may be new to others. If so, so much 

 the better, but I have seen both on the moors when 

 grouse was the game, and in turnips, when partridges 

 were the birds sought for, gentlemen shooting an 

 ounce and a quarter, even an ounce and three-eighths 

 of shot from a 12-bore. This overcharge, slight as it 

 may appear, increases friction materially, and con- 

 sequently reduces range, and, nothing, of course, is so 

 fruitful of recoil. A gun that recoils sufficiently to 

 unpleasantly demonstrate the fact, will — in spite of all 



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