48 FIELD SHOOTING. 



with him. The effectual thing is to show him 

 that he is in error by actual demonstration of the 

 facts in his presence. Nothing but actual experi- 

 ence would have convinced me at one time that a 

 breech-loader would shoot as well as, or better than, 

 a first-rate muzzle-loader. Now I know the fact. 

 I convinced Abraham Kleinman, of Calumet, Illi- 

 nois, in the same practical manner. He is, in my 

 opinion, the best duck-shooter in the country, and 

 one of the best at pigeons from the trap. His 

 brothers, John and Henry, are also good shots. 

 They had used muzzle-loaders all their lives, and 

 could not be persuaded that breech loaders were 

 good until Abraham found that I could beat him 

 and use one. He then got one himself, and John 

 and Henry soon followed his example. Nearly 

 all the good shots in Illinois now prefer the 

 breech-loading gun. Some held out against it for 

 a long time on the ground that it was new — as if 

 every good thing which is old had not been new 

 itself one time. Not very long ago the pereussion- 

 lock was new. Again, some people have a pre- 

 judice as to breechloaders, believing them to be 

 defective in the very points wherein they excel. 

 On the seventh and eighth of last April I shot at 

 Frankfort, Kentucky, for sweepstakes. All the 



