One immense advantage of the breech-loader is its safety in loading, especially in a confined position, as on a boat or in a battery. Whereas, in the muzzle-loader, immediately after the discharge, while the smoke is still pouring from the barrel, and while the fire may be smouldering invisible below, the sportsman deliberately pours in a fresh charge of powder, holding his hand and the entire flask over the muzzle, endangering his life, and incurring injury far more frequently than most persons suppose; with the breech-loader, the barrels are opened and fall into such a position that no discharge can take place, and never point towards the person of their owner.

Several of the writer’s friends have been maimed for life by the premature discharge of a load in the muzzle-loader from a spark remaining in the barrel; the risk connected with it has always seemed very great; and even with the patent flasks, which are hardly practical inventions, more or less unavoidable. This danger is entirely obviated by the breech-loader, which cannot go off until the barrels are restored to position after the charges are inserted; cannot leave hidden sparks to imperil the owner’s life or limb; never expose the hand over the loaded barrel, that may have been left at half-cock, if the sportsman is liable to thoughtlessness or over-excitement; and which can be loaded without difficulty in the most confined position. So, not only do we have rapidity, but entire safety in loading.

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 have finally 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-match between the nobility and gentry of England in 1863, described in the London Field, volume xxiii., p. 389, where it is to be supposed that the best implements the country could furnish were used, and where some of the shooting was done at thirty yards, the first and second prizes were both taken by 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.

Name of Maker.Kind of Gun.Bore.Length ofBarrel.Weight ofGun.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.
Pape, Newcastle Muzzle-loader 12 30 6.11 2¾ 1¼ 158 118 63 60 28 33 5 2 399 68 68 62
Prince & Green, London “ 12 30 7.6 2¾ 1¼ 148 98 52 65 28 22 1 2 363 53 66 65
Pape “ 12 29½ 6.8 2¾ 1¼ 116 129 46 40 25 28 1 1 331 55 68 64
Egen, BradfordBreech-loader 12 30 7.8 3 1¼ 144 90 32 58 28 30 0 2 324 60 untested.
Prince & Green “ 12 30 7.2 3 1¼ 103 93 60 62 24 31 2 4 3 8 61 “
Pape “ 12 30 7.0 3 1¼ 132 93 55 38 26 33 2 3 318 64 70 68
Pape Muzzle-loader 13 30 7.0 2¾ 1¼ 117 71 47 61 29 37 4 8 296 78 untested.
Needham, London Breech-loader 13 29 6.10 3 1⅛ 65 135 24 54 29 39 0 1 278 69 64 62
Egan Muzzle-loader 13 28 6.14 2¾ 1⅛ 113 113 24 46 23 34 0 1 296 58 68 68
Culling, Dowtham Market “ 12 29½ 6.10 2½ 1-3/16 106 103 35 31 22 32 0 0 275 54 59 61
Reilly, London Breech-loader 16 30 7.4 3 1¼ 95 105 50 31 20 27 2 0 281 49 untested.
Elliott, Birmingham “ 16 28 7.4 2¾ 1 73 99 22 42 30 40 0 1 236 71 64 66
Needham “ 13 28½ 7.4 3 1⅛ 97 95 31 20 22 26 0 0 243 48 65 61
Hast, Colchester “ 12 31 7.8 3 1⅛ 100 77 32 28 33 25 0 0 237 58 72 69
Reilly “ 12 30 7.4 3 1¼ 88 91 37 31 22 27 2 1 247 52 76 73
Elliott “ 13 28 5.4 3 1 90 87 20 28 20 31 1 0 225 52 64 68
Francotte, Liege “ 14 29½ 7.8 3 1⅛ 60 48 31 40 25 23 0 0 179 48 74 68
Averages 106 97 33 43 26 30 1 1½285 59 67 66

TABLES OF THE FIELD TRIAL.

Name of Maker.Kind of Gun.Bore.Length ofBarrel.Weight ofGun.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.
O. Smith, Derby Muzzle-loader 15 30 6.14 2¾ 1⅛ 101 121 48 55 38 22 3 5 325 68 68 58
Culling “ 14 28½ 6.11 2¼ 1⅛ 147 85 42 48 24 19 0 0 322 43 53 54
Dougall, Glasgow “ 14 27 5.14 2½ 1 130 92 30 60 25 27 2 0 312 54 65 68
Joe Manton, London “ 16 31 6.12 2½ 1 122 86 86 57 27 28 2 0 301 57 64 62
Culling “ 14 29 6.0 2¼ 1⅛ 101 103 30 55 21 25 0 1 289 47 60 44
Reilly Breech-loader 15 30 6.14 3 1¼ 105 106 63 26 29 33 6 1 300 69 69 76
Lang, London “ 15 29 6.8 3 1¼ 129 57 45 52 20 28 0 3 283 51 64 60
Reilly Muzzle-loader 14 29 6.4 2¾ 1⅛ 99 99 34 42 32 27 0 8 274 67 68 74
Prince & Green Breech-loader 15 30 7.0 3 1 77 100 41 31 33 26 5 0 249 64 71 73
Prince & Green Muzzle-loader 14 30 7.0 2¾ 1 71 92 52 27 20 29 0 0 242 49 69 64
Hast “ 15 30½ 6.8 2¾ 1⅛ 83 55 44 24 28 29 5 0 206 63 68 67
Reilly Breech-loader 15 28 6.4 2¾ 1⅛ 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