CHAPTER III 
AMMUNITION 
THE sportsman of to-day is in a most fortunate position in 
regard to ammunition. He has, of course, his individual pre- 
ferences in regard to this or that powder, cartridge-cases, and 
shot. Experience determines them for him. But powder- 
makers and cartridge-loaders are now so highly trained, the 
work is carried out under such rigidly scientific conditions and 
with such an infinity of experiment, that an extraordinarily high 
average of excellence is obtained. 
It is, indeed, by no means necessary for the modern wild- 
fowler to be a scientific or trained expert in ammunition. 
The days when Colonel Hawker wrote : ‘‘ None are better 
than the most transparent of the common black flints. .. . 
They should be put in with the flat side upwards, stand well 
clear of the hammer, and yet be long enough to throw 
ibe ee 
Or, 4 propos of powder : ‘‘ Your powder should be always 
properly dried ; in order to do which, make two or three plates 
very hot—keep constantly shifting the powder from one to the 
other ’’—are fortunately gone for ever. 
The wildfowler at the present time has an enormous 
choice of powders offered to him, and, with the exception of 
powders for punt guns, which are treated of in another part of 
this book, all of them are nitro-compounds. 
These explosives have, more particularly during the last few ° 
years, been brought to such a state of perfection that it is diffi- 
cult to imagine any further improvements. Recoil has been 
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