IMPLEMENTS FOB COLLECTING, AND THEIR USE. 
7 
{made of lard) for table use answers the purpose. The quality of any oil may be improved by 
putting in it a few tacks, or scraps of zinc, — the oil expends its rusty capacity in oxidizing the 
metal. Inferior oils get ''sticky." One of the best preventives of rust is mercurial blue") 
ointment : it may be freely used. Kerosene will remove rust ; but use it sparingly for it 
'' eats" sound metal too. 
To Load a Gun effectively requires something more than knowledge of the Aicts that the 
powder should go in before the shot, and that each should have a wad a-top. Probably the 
most nearly universal fault is use of too much shot for the amount of powder ; and the next, 
too much of both. The rule is bulk for bulk of powder and shot. If not exactly this, then 
rather less shot than powder. It is absurd to suppose, as some persons who ought to know 
better do, that the more shot in a gun the greater the chances of killing. The projectile 
force of a charge cannot possibly be greater than the vis inertice of the gun as held by the 
shooter. The explosion is manifested in all directions, and blows the shot one way simply 
and only because it has no other escape. If the resistance in fnmt of the powder were 
greater than elsewhere, the shot would not budge, but the gun would fly backward, or 
burst. This always reminds me of Lord Dundreary's famous conundrum — Why does a dog 
wag his tail? Because he is bigger than his tail; otherwise the tail would wiig Mm. A 
gun shoots shot because the gun is the heavier; otherwise the shot would shoot the gun. 
Every unnecessary pellet is a pellet against you, not against the game. The experienced sports- 
man uses about one-third less shot than the tyro, with proportionally better result, other things 
being equal. As to powder, moreover, a gun can only burn just so much, and every grain 
blown out unburnt is wasted if nothing more. No express directions for absolute weight or 
measures of either powder or shot can be given ; in fact, different guns take as their most 
effective charge such a variable amount of ammunition, that one of the first things you have to 
learn about your own arm is, its normal charge-gauge. Find out, by assiduous target practice, 
what absolute amounts (and to a slight degree, what relative proportion) of powder and shot 
are required to shoot the farthest and distribute the pellets most evenly. This practice, further- 
more, will acquaint you with the gun's capacities in every respect. You should learn exactly 
what it will and what it will not do, so as to feel perfect confidence in your arm within a cer- 
tain range, and to waste no shots in attempting miracles. Immoderate recoil is a pretty sure 
sign that the gun was overloaded, or otherwise wrongly charged ; and all force of recoil is sub- 
tracted fi'om the impulse of the shot. It is useless to ram powder very hard ; two or three 
smart taps of the rod will suffice, and more will not increase the explosive force. On the shot 
the wad should simply be pressed close enough to fix the pellets immovably. All these direc- 
tions apply to the charging of metal or paper cartridges as well as to loading by the muzzle. 
The latter operation is so rarely required, now that guns of every grade break at the breach, 
that advice on this score may seem quite anachronistic ; nevertheless, I let what I said in the 
original edition stand. When about to recharge one barrel see that the hammer of the other 
stands at half-cock. Do not drop the ramrod into the other barrel, for a stray shot might 
impact between the swell of the head and the gun and make it difficult to withdraw the rod. 
During the whole operation keep the muzzle as far from your person as you conveniently can. 
Never force home a wad with the flat of your hand over the end of the rod, but hold the rod 
between your fingers and thumb ; in case of premature explosion, it will make just the differ- 
ence of lacerated finger tips, or a blown-up hand. Never look into a loaded gun-barrel ; you 
might as wisely put your head into a lion's mouth to see what the animal had for dinner. 
After a miss-fire hold the gun up a few moments and be slow to reload ; the fire sometimes 
''hangs" for several seconds. Finally, let me strongly impress upon you the expediency of 
light loading in your routine collecting. Three-fourths of your shots need not bring into action 
the gun's full powers of execution. You will shoot more birds under than over 30 yards ; not 
