GUNS. 29 



but ducks, may require his to shoot very close. 

 It is obvious neither alone could be taken as a 

 fair sample of the gunmaker's abilities. 



As to factory guns in general, they are meant 

 to be made to shoot passably before leaving the 

 shop, and, where they fail to equal the ideal of 

 the purchaser, the dealer usually rebores them 

 to shoot as desired. Thus, again, as many guns 

 are rebored after leaving their makers, their good 

 or bad shooting qualities cannot with justice be 

 ascribed to them. Sportsmen's ideas, too, differ in 

 regard to shooting so frequently, that what one 

 might call an extra shooting gun, another would 

 consider as only ordinary. Nearly all our first- 

 class gunmakers understand boring fully, as an 

 essential part of their business ; so in ordering a 

 gun, if the sportsman will specify how he wants 

 the gun to shoot, he will nearly always be suited, 

 if his demands are at all reasonable. 



Before I go further, let me explode an- 

 other foolish notion entertained by many of the 

 thoughtless ones. Because game may be killed 

 with more certainty at short distances with small 

 shot than with too large a size, or because they 

 may sometimes happen to kill an extra long shot 

 when using them, they have concluded that small 



