GUNS. 423 



calculates tlie amount of leading required for every shot. 

 Beware of any gun that is nearly a fit; for with one 

 that is clearly a misfit one will take more pains, and 

 be sure to, at any rate, try to direct it, whereas the gun 

 that seemingly is pointed right, but in reality is a little 

 high or low, right or left — why, this kind of gun is a 

 nuisance, and has made many an otherwise good shot 

 give up wing-shooting in despair. Standing opposite a 

 mirror, placed perpendicularly in front of the shooter, may 

 help him to know where the muzzle and breech of his gun 

 are the instant he mounts it; so, also, will this be discovered 

 by standing in a dark room, and sighting quickly at a 

 light, when wheeling about, in some other room or hall- 

 way as far distant as possible. These are make-shifts, 

 and may teach the rudiments, as it were; but actual cer- 

 tainty can only be reached by frequent trials at moving 

 objects — birds flying in all directions, inanimate targets 

 going high or low, swift or slow, and particularly all 

 shots going fast and low to the right (these, to the 

 right-handed man, are hardest of all). 



A gun should never be boughl;, out and out, in a gun- 

 store without the privilege of trying it on game or at the 

 trap; for, be it ever so good a shooter according to its 

 tag, or even its tested performance before the intending 

 purchaser, yet there is always a much more important 

 point to decide, and one that can only be settled by a 

 real test, so that, to save much trouble and annoyance, 

 the gun should be taken to some shooting-ground, loaded 

 with smokeless powder, and then tried at all angles and 

 elevations obtainable; then, if foimd to come to place 

 without any adjustment after touching the shoulder, 

 that gun is a fit. 



I lay particular stress on using smokeless powder — 

 preferably Schultze — as when this kind, in light loads, is 

 used, the shooter can tell at once just where his gun is 



