44 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
First, the gun must be a good one in itself, well built, 
of good materials, strong, sound, and safe by the excel- 
lence of metal and superiority of finish, which also produce 
efficient carrying of its charge, rapid firing, and clean 
killing. 
Secondly, the gun must particularly suit the indi- 
vidual owner; for one gun will no more suit all men, than 
one coat will fit all wearers; and no man can any more 
shoot well with 2 gun that does not come readily to his 
shoulder and fairly to his eye, than he can be at ease in a 
coat two sizes under his fit, or walk a foot-race in boots 
that pinch him. According to the length of the shooter’s 
arms and neck, must be the length and curvature of the 
stock, from the heel-plate to the breech; and that which 
constitutes a perfect fit, if I may use the word in reference 
to a gun, is this—that its weight being in due proportion 
to the size, strength, and comfort of the shooter, when it 
is raised deliberately to the shoulder, the right hand 
grasping the gripe, with its fore-finger on the trigger, and 
the left hand supporting the barrels immediately in front 
of the trigger guard, it shall come so justly and handily 
to the face, that, the cheek being naturally lowered, with- 
out consideration or adjustment, the eye may clear the 
level of the breech, and at once find the sight at the end 
of the barrels, precisely on its own level. If the eye, 
above the breech, find any part of the barrel in view 
between itself and the sight, the stock is certainly too 
straight ; and possibly too short also, If the sight appear 
sunk below the breech, and it be necessary to advance the 
left hand, and so elevate the muzzle, in order to bring it 
