CHAPTER n. 



GUNNEBT — MUZZLE-LOADERS AND BEEECH-LOADBES. 



To the young sportsman, armed with the finest of 

 implements, and trusting much to them for his suc- 

 cess, it is a matter of mortification«and surprise how 

 well a bad gun will shoot in good hands ; never- 

 theless, no true sportsman ever lived but, if he 

 were able by any self-denial to scrape the means 

 together, would purchase a valuable and necessarily 

 expensive fowling-piece. N ot only is a well made 

 and handsomely finished gun safer and lighter than 

 a cheap affair manufactured for the wholesale trade ; 

 not only does it ordinarily carry closer and recoil 

 less ; but it needs fewer repairs, lasts infinitely longer, 

 and is always a matter of pride and delight to its 

 owner. 



Many guns of inferior workmanship throw shot 

 as strongly as those turned out by the best makers — 

 although this is not the fact in general — but greater 

 weight has to be given to insure tolerable safety, 

 and the locks, if not the barrels, are sure to give 

 out in a few years ; whereas the high-priced article 

 Avill be as perfect at the end of a dozen years — 

 which have accustomed its owner to its easy, rapid, 

 and effective management — as it was in the begin- 

 ning, and will endure until failing sight, wasting 



