April 10, 1858
1 min read
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S Sutherland, of Richmond, Va, gives the following rule to load a gun properly :"Try it repeatedly with charges, consisting of equal bulks of powder and shot, till you come to a quantity with which the gun will not recoil, or but slightly; this will give you the proper quantity of shot With this load, however, the gun will scatter in all directions To correct this, reduce the quantity of powder until you find that the shot is carried as close as you desire A gun loaded thus, will never burst To make it carry further, use shot of a larger size No gun should be fired more than twenty times without being wiped out When in the field, it will be much safer to carry the piece always at halfcock"
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