. Breeder and sportsman. nute ingiving directions which may prevent any accidentsattending this sport, and on that account cannot cau-tion gentlemen too much against a fondness forshort guns. If short guns go off by accident whileloading they (i. e., the gentlemen aforesaid) are themore exposed to danger, as they more naturally leanover the muzzle, which, however, ought to be avoidedeither in long or short guns. We have had an in-stance of a gentleman, who, being out a-shooting byhimself, had his skull laid bare by his gun goingoff, though he knew of no defect in the lock tillit was afterward
. Breeder and sportsman. nute ingiving directions which may prevent any accidentsattending this sport, and on that account cannot cau-tion gentlemen too much against a fondness forshort guns. If short guns go off by accident whileloading they (i. e., the gentlemen aforesaid) are themore exposed to danger, as they more naturally leanover the muzzle, which, however, ought to be avoidedeither in long or short guns. We have had an in-stance of a gentleman, who, being out a-shooting byhimself, had his skull laid bare by his gun goingoff, though he knew of no defect in the lock tillit was afterward examined. He had, no doubt, leanedover his gun, and many other like cases mightprove that no person is so much exposed to accidentsof this kind from long guns as short ones. Onewould hardly have thought that it were necessary towarn sportsmen against the danger of looking downtheir gun barrels in the act of charging a muzzle-loader, but no doubt that strange section of hu-manity which so often fignres nowadays in reports. of shooting accidents was not unknown in the daysof our forebears. Muzzleloads are very rarely usednowadays, and so accidents of the kind referred toby our old-time writer are not common; but we havequite as many, and probably more, of that irre-sponsible class of human idiots that, having shotsome one, tries to save its face by remarking thatit didnt know it was loaded. The following description of what was consideredin the year 1792 a really good gun is given in thisinteresting article: First, the barrel should be atolerable large bore, and very smooth, with a hand-some outside; the length from 3 feet 6 inches; thelock rather small, with good and strong springs; thestock neat, not too much burnt (?) in .the butt; andupon the whole the piece to rise light and handyto the shoulder. The mounting may be according tofancy: however, brass, for weather convenience, iscertainly preferable to steel. As for the intrinsicvalue of a piece, that can only be known by tria
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjecthorses, bookyear1882
