438 TJPLAXD SHOOTIX6. 



wadding, and one and a quarter of 4' s, reaches ducks at 

 such tremendous heights, kills them so dead — stone dead in 

 the air— that it seems sacrilegious to even mention one of 

 different dimensions. It may be that greater experience 

 in this, the most difficult of all shooting, would teach me 

 that longer barrels are of benefit. 



Of one thing there can be no doubt; a well-bored 

 ten-gauge gun, with thirty-inch barrels, can be made to 

 shoot so compactly that it will be a sui-e killer, if prop- 

 erly held and loaded, up to fifty-five yards, nearly 

 always reliable at sixty, and generally good up to sixty- 

 five or seventy. Xow, in order to folly understand this 

 part of the question, it is essential to clearly understand 

 the pace at which a duck flies. It is far easier to obtain 

 a gun that vdll kill at sixty yards seven times out of ten, 

 than it is to find a man capable of doing the steering 

 three times out of as many shots; in fact, it takes a 

 remarkably good marksman to kill and bag two ducks in 

 five shots in flight-shooting, even if shooting inside of 

 forty-five yards, while most men who are considered 

 good wild-fowl shots are content with bagging one duck 

 for every three shells. Up to forty yards, a charge of 

 loose shot does not lose much of its highest velocity; but 

 after going fifty yards, it commences to slacken to such 

 an extent that the holding ahead on all cross-shots is a 

 matter of great consideration. For instance, the lead 

 allowed on a duck flying across at forty yards should be 

 doubled if the bird is at sixty ; and even then, unless a 

 good double allowance is given, the chances are the load 

 will get where the bird was — " too late."" 



It would be absurd to lay down any given rule by 

 which this leading on cross-shots could be measured. 

 One man throws his gun to his shoulder, swings well 

 ahead, and pnlls; another deliberately catches up to his 

 bird, leads it far more than the other, draws just a frac- 



