the one on the other construction suddenly catches the lock-plate, and is therefore liable to jar, and break either the tumbler itself, or the pin of the tumbler. A solid cock has many other advantages, from its durability and strength: it is proof against all awkward hands, and particularly desirable on guns which are liable to meet with rough usage in a boat.

The reason why some gunmakers object to it is, that it is not so easily regulated to strike higher or lower with new hammers as the other. New hammers! for which most of them have had some patent or fancy of their own; and with this they took care to accommodate you on every favourable opportunity. Add to this, the solid cock is not apt to break like the other, and is therefore not so good for trade. With due submission, however, to the superior judgment of those in the business, I must beg to observe, that I have always found an old hammer new steeled to fire better than a new hammer; insomuch, that I have had new hammers new steeled before I ever used them; and surely an old hammer, if sound, must go pleasanter than a new one, which has scarcely been used enough to get rid of its harshness. The reason why new facing does best, is this :-in making new hammers, the steel is welded and incorporated with the iron; the process of which requires so much heat, that it softens and reduces the quality of the steel; whereas, by putting only new faces, this evil is avoided, and the steel may be kept in the best possible temper. Gunmakers know this perfectly well; but whatever may be their abuse of one another, to customers in their shops, yet they have the sense to agree on one point, namely, to keep among themselves this and other little secrets belonging to the trade.

On the other hand, I shall now recommend something to their advantage; which is, that every sportsman be at first equipped with extra hammers and extra springs to his gun; so that, by being provided with a spring cramp, and shown how to use it, he may be able to remedy an accident with his own hands, which might otherwise oblige him, from the midst of good shooting, to send away his fowling-piece, to be left at the mercy of a gunmaker's punctuality, or endangered by the unrelenting hands and tools of an awkward country blacksmith. Hammers, like crockery-ware, are none the worse for age, though liable to be broken.

There are two ways of putting a hammer in motion; one with a wheel in the feather-spring, and the other with a bridge there, over

which a wheel in the hammer is made to run. We may give to both of these trivial concerns their separate merits; the former, that of being the neatest, and the latter, the least likely to react, and leave the choice of them to the gunmaker.

Mr. D. Egg and Mr. Manton usually made the first mentioned; and Mr. Joseph Manton, the other. With this he was enabled to have a long neck, which, immediately on being put in motion, raises the hammer so high, that it cannot prevent any of the sparks from falling into the pan. No locks, however, could go pleasanter than those made by Mr. John Manton and Mr. D. Egg, which proves, that the difference between the two modes of construction very immaterial.

is

It may be as well to make a few observations on another point; viz. the improvement of passing a current of air through the priming, without suffering the powder to escape; by which it is kept dry, and not liable to cake and stick to the bottom of the hammer. This has been completely effected, both by Messrs. Manton and Mr. D. Egg; but, as credit for the original invention is due to the late Mr. Joseph Manton, I shall chiefly confine my description to the hammer for which he got the patent. The object attained by this is, that when you ram down the wadding, the air passes through the small perforation at the lip of the hammer, and goes out through a groove in the bottom of the pan: yet this hole in the lip is so small as not to admit the powder. This, although apparently a trifling alteration from what had been before adopted, is a very great advantage, and the first attempt that ever had the desired effect. That some air, in all locks, must pass, it stands to reason; but, if the powder also passes, it must be recollected, that, in coming from the chamber of breechings on Mr. Joseph Manton's construction, it leaves a vacuum; whereas, with this improvement, the chamber is always kept so full of dry powder, that not a grain can be lost, or even out of its place, and thus there is produced a sudden and instantaneous fire. The forcible passing of this current of air also effectually dries the powder in the touchhole.

N. B. Whatever new hammers may have since been brought out, for new fashion, or, in other words, for the good of trade, yet, after all, I find that this hammer is decidedly the best, and produces by far the quickest ignition.-1844!

In this improvement of a gun-lock, Mr. John Manton so far imitated his brother, that a trial, which took place in the court of

Common Pleas, was chiefly relating to his alleged infringement on the patent. He there, however, gained his cause by producing some hammers with perforated lips; as well as on the other point, (concerning the elevation,) by bringing forward an old double gun, which it has been generally understood was in the possession of the late Lord Berkeley. It appears, however, that in this statement there was some mistake, as the gun in question was made for, and expressly to the order of, the late Evelyn Medows, Esq., by Mr. John Manton, when foreman at Twig's; and it was from this gentleman that he borrowed the gun, which he produced in court, in order to show that that for which his brother had obtained a patent was not an original invention. (I was favoured with this statement by Mr. Medows himself.) But, query, if Mr. Joseph Manton had not made the discovery, that this elevation and this hammer might, with a trifling alteration, be adopted as the greatest improvements, would the one at this moment have been universally known? or, might not the other have been for ever buried in the filings of Birmingham? or, would not both (to use a lawyer's expression) have become obsolete from non-usage?

If a hammer is too hard, the flint will make scarcely any impression on it; and, if too soft, it soons becomes dented, like lead; but when in good temper, the impression is moderate, and the sparks, before they are extinguished, pause in the pan and occasion a whizzing noise.

You will seldom get a London maker to temper, or even face, a hammer, if he can persuade you to have a new one; and it is as common a trick to construct hammers so that the flints may soon cut them to pieces, as it is to set a fellow to work with unmerciful relays of scouring paper, to help to wear out the barrels, under the old plea, that the trade must live.

PAN.-If the pan is not placed considerably below the touchhole (that is, with its edge just under the touchhole), the gun will always fire slow, because, instead of catching the first flash, which invariably rises, the charge is not ignited till the priming has burnt down to below the touchhole, and consequently the discharge is prolonged into two motions. If a pan is placed too high, therefore, the remedy is, to put a very little depth of priming.

If, on the other hand, the pan is placed too low, the gun will, of course, be liable to flash, instead of going off.

E

TRIGGER.

Let the triggers of all your guns be made to go nearly alike; for, if one requires too hard a pull, it is a sad check to shooting; and, if it goes too easy, you are liable to the accident of firing the gun before it is fairly brought to the shoulder. Any good lockfinisher will rectify these extremes, by filing, more or less, the part where the scear catches the tumbler. The most accurate way to regulate the pull of a trigger, as well as that of a cock, is by a small stilliard, which will draw out and regulate those of twenty guns to the same focus.

Thousands of even good shots have either condemned a gun, or been out of conceit with their own shooting, from the mere circumstance of their triggers not being regulated to the same pull, and consequently the body of their charge going behind, or under, the object, when they are using a trigger that goes a little harder than the one to which they have been accustomed. Wear and tear alone will cause this impediment. The pull of triggers is much more than people would imagine, and many a bet might I have won on this subject. Will all my readers believe that four pounds is about the average pull for Lancaster's and Long's best double guns? The right-hand trigger, being farther off, should pull rather under four pounds, and the left trigger, being nearer at hand, should pull a little over four pounds. This brings each pull to a nice equilibrium; and of all the men to regulate it no one can beat Long. Let every sportsman therefore have a trigger stil

liard, like this, and whenever any of his guns pull too hard, send them to Long, or some other first-rate

man; as this job, though requiring only a few minutes, is too delicate a one to be entrusted to a rough workman.

N. B. A common shop-stilliard may be altered into a trigger-stilliard.

The triggers are now kept well in their places, by the constant pressure of little springs, and you must therefore push them back before you can let in your locks. This was Joe Manton's invention.

In cleaning locks, the best places to put a little oil

are,

1st. (For a flint-gun.) In front of the pan, immediately under the neck of the hammer, from whence the oil will find its way through to the wheel and spring.

2d. (For ALL GUNS.) On the pivot-nail, or centre of the tumbler, on which the whole of the works move: 3d. On the lock-plate, under the works, where a feather may be inserted:

4th. Where the scear catches the tumbler.

TO TAKE A LOCK TO PIECES.

In the event of breaking or weakening a spring, and therefore having to replace it with an extra one; or, in case the works of a lock should have become damaged by rust and neglect, every sportsman should