374 THE STILL-HUNTER. 



as the shoulder may strip or cut the patch. Care 

 must also be taken in carrying patched balls; for if 

 the patch runs outside of the shell, as it should do for 

 all long bullets or very accurate shooting, it will get 

 torn or frayed in carrying. It should be carried in a 

 belt that will protect it perfectly. A leather belt is 

 the surest for this purpose. But every few days the 

 cartridges should be taken out and wiped free from 

 the verdigris that accumulates on shells in a leather 

 belt. For other shells canvas makes a better belt. 



The cleaning of the rifle is a matter of much more 

 importance than is generally supposed. Because a 

 rifle may often shoot quite well when it is dirty many 

 suppose that it either needs no cleaning or else cleans 

 itself. All rifles need cleaning after every shot; that 

 is, to do their best work. No rifle cleans itself except 

 a muzzle-loader, and wiping will improve the shoot- 

 ing even of that. When shooting in damp air, clean- 

 ing is of less importance than in dry air, though its 

 neglect may at any moment cause even the best breech- 

 loader to throw a "wild " ball. But when shooting in 

 dry air, especially on a hot day, the dirt burns so dry 

 and hard that the bullet cannot push it out or slide 

 over it without being affected by the roughness. A 

 barrel containing such dirt is liable at any time to cut 

 or even strip a patch, and is quite sure to wipe off 

 lead from a naked ball. I have seen a Winchester of 

 1873 model shoot all over a two-foot candle-box at 

 thirty yards after firing six or seven shots from it; 

 and then after two or three good wipes shoot into a 

 two-inch ring on the same box. The more powder 

 you shoot, and the longer the barrel of the rifle, the 

 greater the necessity of cleaning. 



Of course no one can stop to clean when shooting 



