Shooting paraphernalia
Shooting - Paraphernalia
preserving rural bygones
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GUN CASES
“Gun cases often prove very inconvenient to a person, who travels by a mail coach, in the boot of which they cannot be made to go without the risk of being damaged, and having the gun itself endangered, by the heavier luggage. From the prohibition of putting any thing on the roof, there requires some interest with the guard to allow even a small gun case to go between that and the box, although the place may be occupied by the passenger's own servant. It has, therefore, often occured, that sportsmen, who, months before the grouse season, had eagerly secured places in the north mails for the sake of one week's shooting, were after all, thrown out of the first three or four days, by having to depend on their gun cases being forwarded by another conveyance; and other persons, through fear of this, have submitted to the shameful extortion of an imposing guard. (Of late years, however, the wonderful improvements and increase of light coaches have rendered travelling sportsmen more independent of the mails; or, to use the modern term, "paper-carts.")
For the young sportsman, or young traveller, to be prepared against such annoyance, should he find it inconvenient to carry his gun in a sail cloth, and over that an oil-skin case, let him have a short piece of wood, just to fill up the hollow of his stock, made flat at the top, and with loops to receive the bolts at the bottom. Let the place where his lock fits in be either wrapped up, or guarded by pasteboard , and the lock itself be put in his portmanteau. The stock, covered over, may then be safely put in the seat, and he may either lay the barrel with it, or carry it in his hand; or sling both in a bit of canvas under the inside of the roof”. "Instructions to young sportsmen" by Peter Hawker 1820s
POWDER
“All this trouble with guns would be ill bestowed, if we neglected a due attention to the care and choice of this article.
Gunpowder, when good, is made of ingredients perfectly pure, properly mixed, and judiciously proportioned.
The principal ingredient, saltpetre, should be entirely divested of marine salt, as that is a great obstacle to the production of good powder, of which there is, in all saltpetre, a certain, and often a considerable quantity; and, in proportion as it is more or less freed from that impurity, so the powder will be more or less liable to imbibe damp air, and become propotionally moist and week. But when it is perfectly freed from marine salt, the powder will suffer but little diminution of its strength from being carelessly kept, or even openly exposed to a moist atmosphere, as what it might, by this means, have lost, would be presently restored by drying it.
Your powder should always be properly dried; in order to do which, make two or three plates very hot, before the fire, and (first taking care to wipe them well, least any particle of cinder should adhere to them) keep constantly shifting the powder from the one to the other, without remaining it to remain sufficiently long on either, to cool the plate. The powder will then be more effectually aired, and more expeditiously dried, than by the more common means of using one plate, which the powder, by lying on it, soon takes cold, and therefore the plate requires to be two or three times heated...Beware of going anywhere near the fire to dry powder on plates. Recollect how far a hot cinder will sometimes fly, and therefore, to be on the sure side, run with your plates out of the room, and go where there is no fire. As a safer plan too, I might name the use of a common pewter waterplate, or dish; by having recourse to which there can be no risc of accident; except that, through awkwardness, the powder might be wetted, instead of being dried. This way of drying is much on the same principle as that which is now in general use in powder works; viz. by means of steam passing through pipes, or other receptacles, by transfusion of heat through those pipes, or cases, from which the air of a drying room is heated to as great a degree as is requisite for the purpose of drying the powder.
Good powder burns red in the pan, will keep its strength for two years (or more, if made with due care and attention to the principles before mentoned), and may be had from most of the mills.
As I fomerly observed, Pigon and Andrew's has the name of being the best, and is unquestionably most excellent; but I have never found any to please me quite so well as the cylinder powder, which was originally prepared by Mr Butts, of Hounslow, whose more important concerns, in manufacturing for government, had for many years (luckily for his rivals) prevented him, in some degree, from showing forth in the sporting world”.
The best powders made and supplied on government contracts for some years, previous to the mid 1820s, were becoming more easily available to the sporting fraternity. Other suppliers of good powder, like Mr Lawrence, of Battle, and others, brought thier powders to a finer quality than previous because government "fine powder contractors" were now suppling the sporting trade, their powders being of finer quality.
“With regard to the strength and other good qualities of gunpowder, I shall, instead of saying anything further, recommend the epreuvette (or powder-proof), whereby we can always be certain of finding out the best; provided that this machine is properly made, properly used, and nicely cleaned after every fire. I should observe, however, that the little trifling things called powderproofs, or powdertryers, which sell for three or four shillings, are as likely to mis-lead as to inform the person using them.
The proper "epreuvette" is very correctly made; the wheel on which the gradations are marked is large, and the spring strong; consequently the resistance to the powder is considerable. The stronger it is the better; for without the resistance is strong, a correct proof cannot be obtained; because, if not sufficiently strong to detain the powder in the chamber long enough for all the particles to ignite, many of them (especially in powder of good firm grain) will fly off unburnt, and, of course, a part only of the charge would be proved.
The part attached to the wheel of the epreuvette, which shuts the mouth of the chamber, should be so nicely adjusted, that on looking closely at the parts, when in contact, no light can be seen between them; for, if any light, there is of course so much vacancy, and consequently so much windage; and in proportion to the windage, the proof will be lower; and therefore incorrect.
Three fires, at least, should always be made in proving, and the average taken as the mean amount; for variations frequently happen in fires immediately following each other, although made with considerable attention. Care should be taken, after every fire, to clean the chamber nicely, or otherwise the foulness left by the preceding discharge woukd lessen the space, by which the succeding charge would become proportionally less.
The best powder for all water shooting, as well as for detonating guns, and particularly in damp weather, is that made by Messrs. Curtis and Mr. Harvey, which we proposed should be distinguished by the name of "gunning Powder". For very large guns the common cannon powder answers much better than the fine, but not quite so well as this”. "Instructions to young sportsmen" by Peter Hawker 1820s
"Gunning" means wildfowl shooting, an old fasioned term even in the 1820s.
“Gun cases often prove very inconvenient to a person, who travels by a mail coach, in the boot of which they cannot be made to go without the risk of being damaged, and having the gun itself endangered, by the heavier luggage. From the prohibition of putting any thing on the roof, there requires some interest with the guard to allow even a small gun case to go between that and the box, although the place may be occupied by the passenger's own servant. It has, therefore, often occured, that sportsmen, who, months before the grouse season, had eagerly secured places in the north mails for the sake of one week's shooting, were after all, thrown out of the first three or four days, by having to depend on their gun cases being forwarded by another conveyance; and other persons, through fear of this, have submitted to the shameful extortion of an imposing guard. (Of late years, however, the wonderful improvements and increase of light coaches have rendered travelling sportsmen more independent of the mails; or, to use the modern term, "paper-carts.")
For the young sportsman, or young traveller, to be prepared against such annoyance, should he find it inconvenient to carry his gun in a sail cloth, and over that an oil-skin case, let him have a short piece of wood, just to fill up the hollow of his stock, made flat at the top, and with loops to receive the bolts at the bottom. Let the place where his lock fits in be either wrapped up, or guarded by pasteboard , and the lock itself be put in his portmanteau. The stock, covered over, may then be safely put in the seat, and he may either lay the barrel with it, or carry it in his hand; or sling both in a bit of canvas under the inside of the roof”. "Instructions to young sportsmen" by Peter Hawker 1820s
POWDER
“All this trouble with guns would be ill bestowed, if we neglected a due attention to the care and choice of this article.
Gunpowder, when good, is made of ingredients perfectly pure, properly mixed, and judiciously proportioned.
The principal ingredient, saltpetre, should be entirely divested of marine salt, as that is a great obstacle to the production of good powder, of which there is, in all saltpetre, a certain, and often a considerable quantity; and, in proportion as it is more or less freed from that impurity, so the powder will be more or less liable to imbibe damp air, and become propotionally moist and week. But when it is perfectly freed from marine salt, the powder will suffer but little diminution of its strength from being carelessly kept, or even openly exposed to a moist atmosphere, as what it might, by this means, have lost, would be presently restored by drying it.
Your powder should always be properly dried; in order to do which, make two or three plates very hot, before the fire, and (first taking care to wipe them well, least any particle of cinder should adhere to them) keep constantly shifting the powder from the one to the other, without remaining it to remain sufficiently long on either, to cool the plate. The powder will then be more effectually aired, and more expeditiously dried, than by the more common means of using one plate, which the powder, by lying on it, soon takes cold, and therefore the plate requires to be two or three times heated...Beware of going anywhere near the fire to dry powder on plates. Recollect how far a hot cinder will sometimes fly, and therefore, to be on the sure side, run with your plates out of the room, and go where there is no fire. As a safer plan too, I might name the use of a common pewter waterplate, or dish; by having recourse to which there can be no risc of accident; except that, through awkwardness, the powder might be wetted, instead of being dried. This way of drying is much on the same principle as that which is now in general use in powder works; viz. by means of steam passing through pipes, or other receptacles, by transfusion of heat through those pipes, or cases, from which the air of a drying room is heated to as great a degree as is requisite for the purpose of drying the powder.
Good powder burns red in the pan, will keep its strength for two years (or more, if made with due care and attention to the principles before mentoned), and may be had from most of the mills.
As I fomerly observed, Pigon and Andrew's has the name of being the best, and is unquestionably most excellent; but I have never found any to please me quite so well as the cylinder powder, which was originally prepared by Mr Butts, of Hounslow, whose more important concerns, in manufacturing for government, had for many years (luckily for his rivals) prevented him, in some degree, from showing forth in the sporting world”.
The best powders made and supplied on government contracts for some years, previous to the mid 1820s, were becoming more easily available to the sporting fraternity. Other suppliers of good powder, like Mr Lawrence, of Battle, and others, brought thier powders to a finer quality than previous because government "fine powder contractors" were now suppling the sporting trade, their powders being of finer quality.
“With regard to the strength and other good qualities of gunpowder, I shall, instead of saying anything further, recommend the epreuvette (or powder-proof), whereby we can always be certain of finding out the best; provided that this machine is properly made, properly used, and nicely cleaned after every fire. I should observe, however, that the little trifling things called powderproofs, or powdertryers, which sell for three or four shillings, are as likely to mis-lead as to inform the person using them.
The proper "epreuvette" is very correctly made; the wheel on which the gradations are marked is large, and the spring strong; consequently the resistance to the powder is considerable. The stronger it is the better; for without the resistance is strong, a correct proof cannot be obtained; because, if not sufficiently strong to detain the powder in the chamber long enough for all the particles to ignite, many of them (especially in powder of good firm grain) will fly off unburnt, and, of course, a part only of the charge would be proved.
The part attached to the wheel of the epreuvette, which shuts the mouth of the chamber, should be so nicely adjusted, that on looking closely at the parts, when in contact, no light can be seen between them; for, if any light, there is of course so much vacancy, and consequently so much windage; and in proportion to the windage, the proof will be lower; and therefore incorrect.
Three fires, at least, should always be made in proving, and the average taken as the mean amount; for variations frequently happen in fires immediately following each other, although made with considerable attention. Care should be taken, after every fire, to clean the chamber nicely, or otherwise the foulness left by the preceding discharge woukd lessen the space, by which the succeding charge would become proportionally less.
The best powder for all water shooting, as well as for detonating guns, and particularly in damp weather, is that made by Messrs. Curtis and Mr. Harvey, which we proposed should be distinguished by the name of "gunning Powder". For very large guns the common cannon powder answers much better than the fine, but not quite so well as this”. "Instructions to young sportsmen" by Peter Hawker 1820s
"Gunning" means wildfowl shooting, an old fasioned term even in the 1820s.