The manufacture is very simple: the lead is first tempered by the aid of arsenic, in the proportions required by the slag (a technical term) for the kind used; some lead taking more and some less. The melted metal is then poured into a perforated pan placed over the mouth of the pit, or tower (whichever may be in use.) Messrs. Walkers, Parkers, and Co. have towers in their various factories where they make shot; the [cut] represents the one in Newcastle. Messrs. Locke, Blackett, and Co. cast down the shaft of a pit, and by this means obtain a greater fall. The fluid metal takes a globular shape in falling, and the concentric motion of each particle round its axis keeps it in this form until its passage through the air has extracted the heat, and before it reaches the body of water placed to receive it. The only difficulty is in casting very large sizes; for if the distance the drops fall be not sufficiently great, and they reach the water in a semi-fluid state, the resistance of the water misshapes them. About three different sizes come out through one pan. These are separated by the aid of riddles, or tabled, as the process is termed. A quantity of the shot is placed on a slight incline, when those that do not run off are rejected. The whole are then polished in a machine termed a drum, with a mixture of black lead. This gives to the shot that beautiful polish which captivates the eye, but which injures the shooting of the gun, as the black lead adheres to the interior of the tube. All shot should be used unpolished; and the addition of hardness is unquestionably another advantage. Slag-lead is lighter than other lead, but it is much harder, and thus more suitable for shot. I regret the disuse of shot made with quicksilver, as it is unquestionably much superior, though more costly. A considerable improvement is yet to be introduced in the manipulation of shot-making; and I shall commence a round of experiments with that object at the earliest opportunity.
Copper caps are now a misnomer: very few are to be met with. Brass caps boiled to the colour of copper are the rule, the former the exception. Good caps are made in Birmingham, if a remunerative price is paid for them; and I have the pleasure to name several makers: Messrs. E. and A. Ludlow, Messrs. Pursall and Philips, and Mr. Cox. It must be borne in mind that cheapness means inferiority: every article is made according to price.
The mixture of fulminating mercury composition is:
| Fulminating mercury | 3 | grains or ounces. |
| Chlorate of potash | 5 | do. |
| Sulphur | 1 | do. |
| Powdered glass | 1 | do. |
The above is one of the best compounds in use.
| Chlorate of Potash | 6 | grains or ounces. |
| Sulphur | 3 | do. |
| Glass, powdered | 1 | do. |
| Charcoal, ditto | 1⁄2 | do. |
Is the best mixture where the corrosive principle is not heeded.
Messrs. Eley, Brothers, were the first manufacturers who turned their attention to making waterproof copper caps for sporting purposes, commencing it in 1837. The principle is simple, the excellence mainly consisting in the quality of the ingredients used, and their being thoroughly secured from the effects of moisture. They are so constituted that the largest portion of the percussion powder and the weakest part of the waterproof covering which lines the inner surface of the cap, are immediately over the surface of the nipple; consequently, when the blow ignites the percussion powder, the larger portion of the explosion is forced down the nipple, and is of such intensity of heat (especially in platina-lined nipples) that it will ignite the gunpowder some distance up the barrel: in an eprouvette it will do so at four or five inches from the nipple. A miss-fire thus very seldom occurs, as the heat is sure to penetrate to the charge, even when a gun has become foul after a long day’s shooting and the powder cannot pass freely through the chambers to the nipples. It is well known that caps which do not possess these igniting qualities may be fired through gunpowder, and frequently fail to ignite it, from the want of proper attention to the constitution of the fulminate and its mixture. In all cheaply manufactured caps this inferiority is sure to prevail, and the manifold advantages to be derived from the sterling quality of all sporting adjuncts is now fully appreciated by sportsmen generally. “Penny wise and pound foolish” is a proverb more borne in mind than formerly, and the conviction is now general that a good gun only proves to be so when proper attention is paid to the loading in every particular.