To Select Buck Shot.—The proper way is to put a wad in the muzzle of the gun, about half an inch down, and fit the shot in perfect layers; if this is observed, there will be no necessity to try them in the cartridge case, as they will be sure to fit. Buck-shot cast from a mould with nine to the 1⅛ ounce, will just fit a twelve-bore barrel at the muzzle in a choke bore. If smaller shot is required, choose four to a layer, or five, and avoid the sizes that come between. At forty yards, all these pellets ought to go in a 26-inch circle, and the penetration be equal to a small rifle.
Weighing Powder, etc.—For weighing powder charges for rifles, Apothecaries’ scales and the Apothecaries’ table of weights and measures are used. The table is:
| 20 grains, | 1 scruple; |
| 3 scruples, | 1 drachm; |
| 8 drachms, | 1 ounce; |
| 12 ounces, | 1 pound. |
Powder is bought and sold by Avoirdupois weight, which has 16 ounces to the pound. The table is:
| 16 drachms, | 1 ounce; |
| 16 ounces, | 1 pound. |
The standard unit of weight of the U. S., is the pound, Troy weight, the table of which is:
| 24 grains, | 1 pennyweight; |
| 20 pennyweights, | 1 ounce; |
| 12 ounces, | 1 pound. |
The grain, ounce, or pound, Troy, and the grain, ounce, and pound, Apothecaries’ weight, are precisely the same; but the ounce is differently divided.
The grain weight is the same in both tables. The pound Avoirdupois, like the pound Troy, contains 7,000 grains. The pound Apothecaries, contains 5,760 grains.
One pound of powder, Avoirdupois weight, will load 140 fifty-grain cartridges; 93 seventy-five-grain cartridges; 70 one-hundred-grain cartridges.
A dram Avoirdupois is equal to 27¹¹⁄₃₂ grains.
In weighing bullets and powder in grains, Troy weight is used, and 437½ grains are equal to one ounce Avoirdupois. The drachm, Dixon measure, is 27½ grains, Troy or Apothecaries’ weight.
COMPARATIVE SIZES OF SHOT.
COMPARATIVE SIZES OF BALLS
COMPARATIVE SIZES OF GUNPOWDER.
Commencing with the Coarsest Grain of each Quality.
| Oriental. | Orange. | Hazzard. | Dupont. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Common Sporting. | |||
| C | Fg | ||
| Fg | Fg | Fg | FFg |
| FFg | FFg | FFg | FFFg |
| FFFg | FFFg | FFFg | |
| Fine Sporting. | |||
| Falcon | American | ||
| No. 1 | No. 1 | ||
| ” 2 | ” 2 | ||
| ” 3 | ” 3 | ||
| E. R. | |||
| Fine Ducking. | |||
| Falcon & Wild Fowl. |
|||
| No. 4 | No. 5 | No. 5 | No. 1 |
| ” 3 | ” 4 | ” 4 | ” 2 |
| ” 2 | ” 3 | ” 3 | ” 3 |
| ” 1 | ” 2 | ” 2 | |
| Best Quality Sporting. | |||
| Di’mond Grain. | Lightning | Electric. | |
| No. 4 | No. 7 | No. 4 | |
| ” 3 | ” 6 | ” 3 | |
| ” 2 | ” 5 | ” 2 | |
| ” 1 | ” 4 | ||
| Fg | Diamond Grain. |
||
| FFg | |||
| FFFg | |||
Dupont’s Eagle Rifle powder is the finest grain of sporting powder made; Oriental Falcon Sporting, No. 3 grain, is the nearest to it in size.