AMMUNITION 37 
I do not for a moment say that there are not other reliable and 
effective powders to be had. Amberite, for example, is highly 
spoken of. But fowlers can never go wrong in their choice 
of either of the two varieties dealt with above. I suppose it is 
hardly necessary to warn even the beginner against the use 
and purchase of inferior explosives. 
The question of shot is one of considerable importance, 
though here quality does not vary in nearly the same degree 
as it does in the case of powder. First of all let me most 
strongly advise that when ordering the season’s cartridges 
chilled shot should invariably be specified. Chilled shot, 
though infinitely harder than any other variety, will not injure 
the barrels of even an inferior gun, while ‘‘leading”’ is much 
less frequent. Again, hard shot invariably improves a gun’s 
shooting, while its penetrating power and velocity is much 
greater than that of softer pellets. 
I give on next page a table of the various number of pellets 
in various loads (Newcastle standard), which will be useful for 
reference when-we come to consider the different sizes suitable 
for use on different kinds of fowl. 
It may be as well to state that some fowlers are not with 
me in my advocacy of chilled shot. They say that while its 
penetrating power is greater it makes a clean wound and does 
not always stop a bird, whereas the softer shot inflicts a wound 
and shock which brings the bird down at once. 
There may be something in this view, but I think that the 
advantages of chilled shot are greater than anything that can 
be said against it, and I have always found it perfectly satis- 
factory. 
Wildfowlers know that when a number of them get to- 
_ gether and the talk becomes eager and technical there is, 
perhaps, never such diversity of opinion as upon the question 
of various sizes of shot for use under varying conditions at 
different species of birds. 
