64 MUZZLE-LOADERS AND BREECH-LOADERS. 



kept for sale at our principal metropolitan shops, 

 and their mechanism is so simple that any accident 

 to it can be repaired ; but as they are not in general 

 demand, really fine articles are difficult to find, and 

 had better be purchased specially on the other side. 

 This can be done by the party himself, by sending 

 to any European maker the length from the fore- 

 most trigger to the heel-plate, and the drop from 

 the line of the barrels to the cheek-piece of the 

 stock — that exist in his present gun, and which he 

 wishes to retain. Or any of our dealers will take 

 the measure of his gun, and import him a breech- 

 loader that will " come up" like the old gun he has 

 handled for years. 



Much space has been devoted to the breech-load- 

 er, for the reason that the writer, while recognising 

 its adaptability to general use, has considered it 

 specially advantageous for the pursuit of the game 

 of which this work particularly treats ; that it has 

 defects is not denied, but these are vastly overborne 

 by its advantages. Prejudice is strong ; for twenty 

 years the Lefaucheux has been in common use 

 among the French, who had satisfied themselves of 

 its superiority ; and it required that time for an in- 

 vention so simple and easy to test, to cross the nar- 

 row channel between the continent and England. 

 Americans are always ready to try a new discovery 

 and judge of its advantages by their own experience ; 

 so that it is not probable that the breech-loader will be 

 as long in crossing the " broad Atlantic," and locat- 

 ing itself securely on our shores. 



