90 MANUAL FOE YOUNG SPOETSMEN. 



must never, under any possible circumstances, be let down, 

 much less carried down, on the caps. This is the more to 

 be observed, because it is by far the most common, and 

 commonly conceived to be the safest, way of carrying a 

 gun. I do not think I ever saw a countryman carry his 

 gun otherwise, until indoctrinated with much labor into 

 doing so. 



It is infinitely the most dangerous way in which a gun 

 can possibly be carried, for these reasons : First, any 

 blow on the back of the striker, while it is down, will ex- 

 plode the cap and discharge the gun, as may easily happen 

 from a fall on a stone or on hard ground, without either 

 raising the hammer or touching the trigger. Secondly, a 

 branch or brier catching the hook of the striker, drawing 

 it back any where short of the half-cock catch, and then 

 releasing it — as it will do twice out of three times — will 

 infallibly fire the gun. 



At half-cock, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, 

 the same brier or branch will bring the striker to full- 

 cock, and then no harm is done. In the hundredth instance 

 the piece would be fired. 



From personal experience I may say that I have, 

 probably, in the course of my shooting, had my locks full- 

 cocked from half-cock, from fifty to one hundred times — 

 fired from half-cock never. 



At full-cook, a gun can be discharged only by a branch 

 or brier catching the trigger ; then it must invariably be 

 discharged. No catch of the striker can do any mischief. 



Consequently, the comparative safety stands thus : 



There are two accidents, by which the locks with the 



