A vast number of useless changes have of late years been introduced into the construction of gunnery; they have died, however, a natural death, as they ought to have done, and have thus afforded additional evidence that sportsmen of the present day only adopt what are really improvements. Great professional reputation in a gunmaker is not now, as formerly, all that is required to command a trial of individual plans of improvement: the improvement must be self-evident; nothing being taken on trust: a _bonâ fide_ benefit to the sportsman is essential in the present day to obtain patronage.
There has lately been introduced a very novel improvement in the construction of double gun barrels, in order to overcome that defect long admitted to exist in firing the second shot. It has long been known that in a 40 yards’ flight, shot falls several inches; and it is an established fact that few sportsmen can kill with the second shot so well as with the first, although it is certainly within range of the gun. This no doubt arises in almost every case, from the shot having fallen below the object in traversing the greater distance; or, in other words, the second barrel, in order to kill as well as the first, ought be fired six inches higher; but this the best shots find it difficult to do, and it has therefore been proposed to do it for them.
Mr. F. W. Prince, of No. 138, Bond-street, has patented an improvement to obviate this difficulty; this he does by elevating or pointing upward the second barrel, so as to cover the calculated fall in the body of the shot; and the result is, that the second bird is as well aimed at and as efficiently killed as the first. The alteration is so exceedingly simple, and the benefit resulting from it so apparent, that the only wonder is that it should never have been done before; and it being the improvement of a really practical sportsman of the very first class, as Mr. Prince has long been known to be, is sufficient to stamp his invention as worthy of every consideration.
THE FRENCH “CRUTCH,” OR BREECH-LOADING SHOT GUN.
Sporting in France has never been brought to the same state of perfection as in this country. Grouse-shooting on our wild romantic hills is a very different sport from quail, partridge, or rabbit shooting in the vales and on the hills of the Continent. Wild game requires great energy and perseverance on the part of the sportsman, courage and strength on the part of the dog, and last, though not least, great capacity on the part of the gun. For many years the superiority of the English manufactured gun, as well as of the English gunpowder, and the matchless skill of the English sportsman, have been acknowledged by all the world. All things, however, have their limits--the longest lane has a turning, and a very plausible and insidious innovation has been made to detract from the acquired reputation of the English sportsman, and render his shooting inferior to that of some of our friends on the other side of the Channel.