12 GUNS AND DOGS 



ago, when I purchased my first expensive gun, I 

 named the price I expected to pay and had the 

 dealer stand out some twenty or thirty guns of various 

 makes, all good ones, however, and taking these one 

 by one I aimed them suddenly at a small object of 

 some kind in the store with both eyes opened, then 

 closed one eye to see how accurate the instantaneous 

 aim was. Handling the guns one after another I dis- 

 carded those at once that did not come up well and 

 soon had but a half dozen left. Using these one after 

 another I soon found one which seemed to fit me exactly 

 and which had a fine balance and was in every way 

 satisfactory. With this gun I did excellent work the 

 first day I went into the field for partridges. I of 

 course obtained a gun by a good maker, since there 

 were no bad makers represented at the start. But I 

 preferred fit to maker. All the guns from which a 

 selection is to be made may of course be by a desired 

 maker, provided the stock be a large one ; or for that 

 matter, a gun is often made to order, the measure being 

 taken from a gun found to fit. The good points about 

 a gun are careful workmanship, strength, and fit. 



The gun being selected, the beginner will do well to 

 bring it up often unloaded, aiming it suddenly at small 

 objects about the room, and then use it much at the 

 inanimate targets, the clay pigeons, which are thrown 

 with great velocity from the spring-traps. Do not in 

 practice for field shooting stand with the gun at the 

 shoulder and say " pull " to the boy at the trap, but 

 hold the gun at any and all of the different positions 

 in which it may be held in the field either in the pres- 

 ence of game or when walking about. After giving 



