120 
FRANK FORESTER’S FIELD SPORTS. 
gun of the same or smaller calibre, with a weight of 20 pounds, 
which is the greatest that can be used by a very strong man 
handily, and which even then must necessarily be very inconve¬ 
nient, owing to two causes : first, that a weight of 20 pounds is 
insufficient to a piece of greater calibre than 10 guage with a 
length of 38 inches, for a double gun; and second, that the 
lighter single piece is far more manageable, as well as far more 
effective. 
Now, having described all these various forces and forms of 
guns, each most effective for some one kind of shooting, I will 
simply add in conclusion, that, for all ordinary purposes, a man 
is, to all intents and purposes, sufficiently well armed for every 
kind of shooting, who carries the ordinary gun of 7| lbs. weight, 
31 inches barrel, and 14 guage, and who has a single Duck 
gun, such as I have described above ; or, still better, if he is an 
eager and constant fowl shooter, two such exactly similar. 
For the former I would prefer, if the price were within my 
means, the best English gun that could be furnished by Messrs. 
William Moore and William Gray, No. 78 Edgeware Road, Lon¬ 
don, whom I consider to be, all in all, at this moment, the best 
makers in the world. Mr. Purday is undeniably a great and good 
maker; but of late, the guns of his make which I have seen in 
this country, are inferior in power and solidity to his work, as I 
remember it of old. This may arise, however, from some tem¬ 
porary fashion of the market, or from some whim of the persons 
for whom the pieces were built; and there is no doubt that who¬ 
ever orders a gun of any one of some half a dozen London 
makers, will be thoroughly well suited and satisfied. 
Colonel Hawker has published in his great work a list of all 
the London makers; this, for many reasons, I consider wholly 
unnecessary in such a book as this; as few persons here are 
likely to order guns, without some knowledge of whom they are 
employing. 
I would, however, here especially advise any American sports¬ 
man to avoid purchasing English guns through the medium of 
American gunsmiths, and still more through American mercan- 
