On reading the foregoing, one would suppose the author of such statements had never seen a breech-loader. Where the brass end breaks away from the paper case, the cap comes off with it, and the cartridge cannot be discharged unless touched off with a lucifer match or a lighted cigar—a performance that probably few persons out of a lunatic asylum would attempt. And as for recapping a cartridge that once missed fire, it cannot be done, as the cap is inside. What species of cartridges the Dead Shot must have used, the writer of this cannot imagine. In case of a miss-fire the cartridge has to be unloaded, and may then be recapped and reloaded like any other.
The writer experimented extensively in reloading cartridges, using some a dozen times, and has experienced the annoyance of sticking cases and separating capsules, and tested it thoroughly; and he must say that if a cartridge is loaded over three times with heavy loads it is apt to stick, especially if it is loaded shortly after being discharged, and while it is still soft from the heat. The cases should be left for several hours before they are reloaded, until they are dry and hard, and, if there is time, should be reloaded in the mould—a block bored out to the exact size, in which they fit accurately, and in which they cannot spread.
They rarely stick, however, before the third discharge, and then may be pulled out by force—in pieces, if necessary, and thrown away. If, however, they cannot be forced in, and are torn apart before they are discharged, which never happens except after repeated use, the charge is wasted; the powder should be at once poured out, the wads pushed aside by the extractor to let the shot escape by the muzzle, and the empty case torn away—an operation implying neither danger nor difficulty. It is desirable to pour the shot out at the muzzle, lest a pellet lodge under the breech-end of the gun and interfere with its operation.
“The rapidity with which a succession of shots may be made is urged as one of the chief recommendations of the breech-loader; but rapidity of firing is seldom desired, and the barrels may become heated to danger. The sportsman’s every-day success frequently depends on the range of his gun, but seldom on the loading and firing of it.”
The Dead Shot is an English book; and in England there are no rail or bay-snipe; the author, therefore, has never whistled a flock of marble-winged willet or golden-brown marlin back, time after time, to the fatal stand, and delivered repeated discharges into their thinning ranks. But ducks abound there; and for any person who has been present at the early morning or late evening flight, and has seen and heard the rush of wings innumerable, when a dozen guns and men to load them would hardly have been enough, to say that “rapidity of firing is seldom desirable,” is marvellous indeed. The italicized portion of the last objection further implies that Dead Shot has never used a breech-loader; for, while in the muzzle-loader the heat of repeated discharges may be dangerous, in a breech-loader it cannot, as paper intervenes between the barrel and the powder. The writer has fired his breech-loader until it was so hot he could not bear his hand on it.
This is the last of Dead Shot’s objections, and none of them merit the attention they have received, except from the fact that this book has been extensively circulated in our country, where the merits of breech-loaders are little known. The objections so manifestly arise from prejudice or ignorance, that they need no contradiction to any one acquainted with the true state of the case, and are worthy of an author who, in his opening, says: “He only can be called a ‘Dead Shot’ who can bring down with unerring precision an October or November partridge, whenever it offers a fair chance, i. e. rises within certain range;” which range he afterwards, at page 86, puts at forty yards, in the following words: “With judicious loading and a regard to the principles of deadly range, a partridge may be killed with certainty at forty yards.” The partridge resembles, in many points, our quail, and sportsmen can tell whether quail can be killed “with certainty at forty yards,” or whether the best shot alive can kill them every time at any distance.
In discussing the merits of any new invention, prejudice is one of the strongest grounds of opposition to overcome; and prejudice in favor of a weapon that we have tried and found trustworthy, that years of service have enabled us to use skilfully and have endeared to our affections, that has never, under all diversities of trial, failed to merit our confidence, is not merely a natural but praiseworthy feeling in the human mind. Prejudice, when at last driven to a corner and forced to give up as untenable the objection to the safety or shooting qualities of the breech-loader, will say: “I can shoot fast enough with a muzzle-loader.”
For woodcock and quail-shooting, rapidity in loading is not essential, although frequently after a bevy of quail has flushed, one or two birds will loiter long enough to be killed by the reloaded breech-loader, that would fly before the muzzle-loader could be recharged. But for killing English snipe, that have a habit of rising one after another in tantalizing succession before the unloaded gun; for ducks and rail; but above all for bay-snipe, one-half if not two-thirds of the bag depends upon celerity in loading. Duck shooting is frequently best in wet weather, when even Eley’s “central fire double water-proof” caps will not always insure the ignition of the powder; and in thick covert the caps, especially if they do not fit perfectly, will occasionally be brushed off; whereas the breech-loader is impervious to wet, and is not liable to the last difficulty; above all, where different kinds of game are expected, and it may be important to change quickly the load for ducks, to buckshot for deer, or double B’s for geese, the breech-loader has an infinite superiority.
The comparative merits of the two guns may be stated as follows:
For shooting quail or woodcock, where there is no necessity for great rapidity in firing, there is little advantage in a breech-loader; and, unless loaded cartridges sufficient for the entire trip are carried, the reloading them during the evening after a hard day’s fag will be found annoying. But for all the shore-birds, and even for English snipe, the breech-loader has an immense advantage. It requires a quarter of a drachm of powder extra, and, on this account as well as from the cost of the cases, is more expensive in use; with the extra allowance of powder, however, it shoots stronger, with as good a patten and as little recoil as its rival; it is somewhat heavier to carry, infinitely safer to load, rarely misses fire, and may be cleaned ere the tow can be prepared for the muzzle-loader.