GATES OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA.

The objections, however, urged against breech-loaders have not been few, and, if well founded, forbid the use of the gun; if, as has been said, the target is not so good, nor the shot sent with as much force, the requisites of a first-class sporting implement are wanting. These charges, freely advanced, have been sustained in a measure by the wretched performance of poor guns, but were early been brought to the only true test—actual experience, under equal conditions; and by this test have been so utterly annihilated that their discussion is only necessary on account of popular ignorance of the experiments. When breech-loaders first came prominently before the English public, their supposed merits and demerits were discussed in the sporting papers in an animated and violent manner; and in order to settle the questions at issue, the editor of the London Field determined to have an open trial, where the breech-loaders and muzzle-loaders could be fairly matched against one another. The contests took place in 1858 and 1859, and being carefully conducted, settled the dispute for the time being, and, even before the latest improvements, established more fully the superiority of the breech-loader. The best guns and gun-makers of England were represented; and in spite of occasional variation and accidental luck—as in the pattern of the first muzzle-loader—the prejudices against the modern arm were so entirely dissipated that the old-fashioned guns are at present rarely sold.

Since that trial considerable advance has been made in the minutiæ of the manufacture; and now it is the general impression of those acquainted with the arm, that the breech-loader, with a slight additional increase of powder, shoots both stronger and closer than its rival. In the pigeon-matches, with scarcely an exception, held both in this country, of late years, as well as in Great Britain, where it is to be supposed that the best implements the country could furnish would be used, and where some of the shooting was done at thirty yards, the favorite and most successful weapons have been breech-loaders. With all allowance for the quality of the marksman, the quality of the gun that wins a match at English “blue-rocks” must unquestionably be good; and this, the universal experience of those matter-of-fact John Bulls, who test everything by success, has entirely confirmed.

A trial of guns was made in 1859, and the results were published in tabular form in The Shot-Gun and Sporting Rifle, by Stonehenge, p. 304. The targets were made of double bag-cap paper, 90 lbs. to the ream, circular, thirty inches in diameter, with a centre of twelve inches square, and were nailed against a smooth surface of deal boards. The centres were composed of forty thicknesses for forty yards, and twenty for sixty yards, and weighed eighteen and nine ounces respectively, with such slight variation as will always occur in brown paper. The powder was Laurence’s No. 2, the shot No. 6, containing 290 pellets to the ounce, and the charges were weighed in every instance.

TABLES OF THE FIELD TRIAL.

Kind of Gun.Bore.Length
of
Barrel.		Weight
of
Gun.		Charge
of
Powder.		Charge
of
Shot.		No. of Marks on
Face of Targets.		No. of
Sheets
pierced.		No. of
Shots
through
20 sheets.		Total on
face
of 4
targets.		Tot’l
thro’gh
4
targets.		Recoil in
pounds.
in. lb. oz. drs. oz. at 40 yds.at 60 yds. at 40 yds. at 60 yds.
Muzzle-loader 12 30 6.11 2¾ 1¼ 158 118 68 60 28 33 5 2 399 68 68 62
" 12 30 7.6 2¾ 1¼ 148 98 52 65 28 22 1 2 363 58 66 65
" 12 29½ 6.8 2¾ 1¼ 116 129 46 40 25 28 1 1 331 55 68 64
Breech-loader 12 30 7.8 3 1¼ 144 90 32 58 28 30 0 2 324 60 untested.
" 12 30 7.2 3 1¼ 103 93 60 62 24 31 2 4 318 61 "
" 12 30 7.0 3 1¼ 132 93 55 38 26 33 2 3 318 64 70 68
Muzzle-loader 13 30 7.0 2¾ 1¼ 117 71 47 61 29 37 4 8 296 78 untested.
Breech-loader 13 29 6.10 3 1⅛ 65 135 24 54 29 39 0 1 278 69 64 62
Muzzle-loader 13 28 6.14 2¾ 1⅛ 113 113 24 46 23 34 0 1 296 58 68 68
" 12 29½ 6.10 2½ 13/16 106 103 35 31 22 32 0 0 275 54 59 61
Breech-loader 16 30 7.4 3 1¼ 95 105 50 31 20 27 2 0 281 49 untested.
" 16 28 7.4 2¾ 1 73 99 22 42 30 40 0 1 236 71 64 66
" 13 28½ 7.4 3 1⅓ 97 95 31 20 22 26 0 0 243 48 65 61
" 12 31 7.8 3 1⅓ 100 77 32 28 33 25 0 0 237 58 72 69
" 12 30 7.4 3 1¼ 88 91 37 31 22 27 2 1 247 52 76 73
" 13 28 5.4 3 1 90 87 20 28 20 31 1 0 225 52 64 68
" 14 29½ 7.8 3 1⅓ 60 48 31 40 25 23 0 0 179 48 74 68
Averages 106 97 33 43 26 30 1 1½ 285 59 67 66

Kind of Gun.Bore.Length
of
Barrel.		Weight
of
Gun.		Charge
of
Powder.		Charge
of
Shot.		No. of Marks on
Face of Targets.		No. of
Sheets
pierced.		No. of
Shots
through
20 sheets.		Total on
face
of 4
targets.		Tot’l
thro’gh
4
targets.		Recoil in
pounds.
in. lb. oz. drs. oz. at 40 yds.at 60 yds. at 40 yds. at 60 yds.
Muzzle loader 15 30 6.14 2¾ 1⅓ 101 121 48 55 38 22 3 5 325 68 63 58
" 14 28½ 6.11 2¼ 1⅓ 147 85 42 48 24 19 0 0 322 48 53 54
" 14 27 5.14 2½ 1 180 92 30 60 25 27 2 0 312 54 65 63
" 16 31 6.12 2½ 1 122 86 36 57 27 28 2 0 301 57 64 62
" 14 29 6.0 2¼ 1⅓ 101 103 30 55 21 25 0 1 289 47 60 44
Breech-loader 15 30 6.14 8 1¼ 105 106 63 26 29 33 6 1 300 69 69 76
" 15 29 6.8 8 1¼ 129 57 45 52 20 28 0 3 283 51 64 60
Muzzle-loader 14 29 6.4 2¾ 1⅓ 99 99 34 42 32 27 0 8 274 67 68 74
Breech-loader 15 30 7.0 8 1 77 100 41 31 33 26 5 0 249 64 71 78
Muzzle-loader 14 30 7.0 2¾ 1 71 92 52 27 20 29 0 0 242 49 69 64
" 15 30½ 6.8 2¾ 1⅓ 83 55 44 24 28 29 5 0 206 62 68 67
Breech-loader 15 28 6.4 2¾ 1⅓ 83 101 34 7 18 28 0 0 225 46 68 72
Averages 104 92 42 40 26 27 2 1½ 277 56 65 64