Gun-Fittings and Ammunition, 24$
difficult, without this contrivance, to keep caps free from sand, crumbs, and dirt, yet always at hand when required. I can confidently recommend it, though as it is old-fashioned and not well suited for sportsmen in England, it is rarely to be met with. Spring cap holders are, I am sure, too delicate for rough travel.
To protect Caps from the Rain.-$efore stalking, or watching at night in rainy weather, wax or grease the edge of the cap as it rests on the nipple : it will thus become proof against water and damp air. Some persons carry a piece of grease with them, when shooting in wet weather, and with it they smear the top of the nipple after each loading, before putting on the fresh cap. It is said that the grease does not prevent the full action of the cap upon the powder. A sportsman has recommended to me a couple of well-marked caps, into the heads of which small wads of cork have been fitted ; he uses them for loaded guns that are to be laid by for some hours or days. A broad leaf wrapped loosely round the lock of a gun, will protect it during a heavy shower.
Substitute for Caps.-When the revolution in Spain in 1854 began, "there was a great want of percussion caps; this the insurgents supplied by cutting off the heads of lucifer-matches and sticking them into the nipples. The plan was found to answer perfectly." (Times, July 31.)
Gun-pricker.-I am indebted for the following plan, both for clearing the touchhole, and also for the rather awkward operation of pricking down fresh gunpowder into it, to an old sportsman in the Orkney Island of Sanday. He takes a quill, and cuts off a broad ring from the large end of it ; this is pushed over the small end of the quill, and lies securely there. Next, he cuts a wooden plug to fit the quill ; into the plug, the pricker is fixed.
The whole affair goes
safely in the pocket; the
quill acting as a sheath to the sharp pricker. Now, when powder has to be pricked down the nipple, the " broad ring " is slipped off the quill and put on the nipple, which it fits ; powder is poured into it, and the required operation is easily completed. This little contrivance, which is so simple and
