TECHNICAL TERMS USED BY GUN-MAKERS.
TECHNICAL TERMS USED BY GUN-MAKERS.
TECHNICAL TERMS USED BY GUN-MAKERS.
Bolts—Pieces of iron, which fasten the barrel to the stock.
Bridle—The polished piece of steel, which caps the tumbler; it is secured by two screws, and also the scear-screw.
Cap—The covering for the worm of the ramrod.
Chain or Swivel—A little catch attached to the neek of the tumbler, which receives the end of the mainspring.
Chamber—Centre tube in breeching. Antechamber is the smaller tube, leading from this to the touch-hole.
Cock-screw—That which fastens the flint.
Cup—The concave at the top of the improved breechings.
Escutcheons, ornamental—Pieces of silver, to prevent bolts from wearing the stock; and also the shield on which the crest and cipher are engraved.
Face of the Hammer—The part which, by coming in contact with the flint, strikes fire.
False Breeching—The part where the nose of the breechings hook in, before the barrels can be laid in the stock.
False Breech-screw—Passes through the stock into the trigger-plate, and screws them together.
Fence—The part between cock and pan, on which is received the solid cock.
Guard—Curved plate to defend the triggers.
Hammer-spring—That on which the hammer is moved.
Hammer-bridle—A part which the tail of the hammer works in.
Heel-plate—The plate with which the butt is tipped.
Jaw—Lips of the cock, to hold the flint.
Lock-plate—Plate to which all the lock is screwed.
Loops—Eyes to receive the bolts that fasten the barrel to the stock.
Mainspring—That spring by which the tumbler is worked with the cock.
Nipple—The iron pillar on which the copper cap of a detonating-gun is placed.
Pipes—Tubes to receive the ramrod.
Rib—Piece of iron which strengthens the barrel, and on which the ramrod rests.
Scroll-guard—An extension from the guard to steady the hand.
Scear—That which catches the tumbler for half or whole cock, and which, being pushed up by the trigger, lets the cock fall.
Scear-spring—The spring which holds the scear in the notches of the tumbler, at half or whole cock.
Side-nail—A screw which fastens on the locks.
Sight—The piece of metal, attached to the end of a gun-barrel, to assist the eye in taking aim at an object.
Spring-cramp—A small instrument for dissecting locks.
Tail—The shoulder of a hammer.
Top-piece—Elevated rib, along which is directed the line of aim.
Trigger-plate—Plate in which the triggers work.
Trigger-springs—Small springs to keep the triggers constantly pressing close to scear.
Tumbler—The moveable centre piece of a lock, which falls with the cock.
Tumbler-screw—The screw which fastens on the cock.
Vent-hole—A small hole at the side of the breeching in detonating-guns, to let out the gas, and lessen the recoil.
Worm—Screw at the end of ramrod.—Hints to Sportsmen—Thornton—Daniel—Hawker—Wild Sports.
Gunpowder,s.The powder put into guns to be fired.
Gunpowder is composed of very light charcoal, sulphur, and well refined saltpetre. The powder used by sportsmen in shooting game is generally composed of six parts of saltpetre, one of charcoal, and one of sulphur; but these proportions, as well as the introduction of other ingredients, and the sizes of the grains, are undoubtedly varied by the different manufacturers in the composition of the powders of the same denominations, and are always kept profoundly secret.
The materials are put into a wooden trough, where they are ground together, to render the contact of the nitrous and combustible particles intimate and equal throughout the whole mass. The mixture is occasionally sprinkled with water to form an amalgam, which is afterwards granulated, and to prevent the finer particles of the sulphur and the charcoal from flying off, which would necessarily alter the proportion of the composition. The powder-makers employ more or less time in the operation of grinding, in proportion to the quantity and quality of the saltpetre. When they conceive that the ingredients are properly mixed together, they from the paste form these little grains, which, being dried, obtain the name of gunpowder.
There are two general methods of examining gunpowder, one with regard to itspurity, the other with regard to itsstrength.
Itspurityis known by laying two or three little heaps near each other upon white paper, and firing one of them. For if this takes fire readily and the smoke rises upright, without leaving any dross or feculent matter behind, and without burning the paper, or firing the other heaps, it is esteemed a sign that the sulphur and nitre were well purified, that the coal was good, and that the ingredients were thoroughly incorporated together; but if the other heaps also take fire at the same time, it is presumed, that either common salt was mixed with the nitre, or that the coal was not well ground, or the whole mass not well beat or mixed together; and if either the nitre or sulphur be not well purified the paper will be black or spotted.
To determine thestrengthof powder, dry it perfectly and ascertain how many sheets of paper it will drive the shot through at the distance of ten or twelve yards. In this trial we should be careful to employ thesame sized shotin each experiment—the quantity both of the shot and the powder being regulated by exact weight, otherwise we cannot, even in this experiment, arrive to any certainty in comparing the strength of different powders, or of the same powder at different times.
Mr. Daniel, in speaking of gunpowder, gives the following recipe for increasing its strength. We entirely coincide in his opinion that it is quite unnecessary to augment the force of modern gunpowder, and insert the directions rather for the experimentalist than the sportsman.
“The following method of increasing the force of gunpowder one-third in proportion to its original goodness, was discovered by a physician of Fogano, in Tuscany, whose name was Francesco. To every pound of powder add four ounces of quick lime, fresh and well pulverised; let the whole be shaken until the mixture is perfect, and afterwards kept for use in a close stopped vessel. To the chemists is left to decide upon what principle the lime acts in strengthening the powder. The experiment is said to be certain. It is necessary to add, that the powder used in priming must be unmixed with lime. Without artificially augmenting the strength of gunpowder, that made by Messrs. Pigou and Andrews will be found excellent; and it is to be feared, if a gentleman cannot kill with the above, no chemical preparation will much assist his endeavours.”
The concluding observations are taken from a very clever and ingenious work, published many years ago, and entitled “An Essay on Shooting.”
Powder ought to be kept very dry; every degree of moisture injures it. Good powder, however, does not readily imbibe moisture; and, perhaps, there is no greater proof of the bad quality of powder, than its growing damp quickly when exposed to the air. This readiness to become moist, depends upon the saltpetre employed in the composition not having been freed from the common salt it contains in its crude state, and which, in consequence, has a very strong attraction for watery particles.
Powder may acquire a small degree of dampness, and be freed from it again by drying, without much injury to its quality. But if the moisture is considerable, the saltpetre is dissolved, and the intimate mixture of the several ingredients thereby entirely destroyed. Drying powder with too great a heat also injures it; for there is a degree of heat, which, although not sufficient to fire the powder, will yet dissipate the sulphur, and impair the composition by destroying the texture of the grains. The heat of the sun is, perhaps, the greatest it can with safety be exposed to, and, if properly managed, is sufficient for the purpose; when this cannot be had, the heat of a fire, regulated to the same degree, may be employed; and for this end, a heated pewter plate is perhaps as good as anything, because pewter retains so moderate a heat, that there can be little danger of spoiling the powder by producing the consequences before-mentioned.
It is observable that damp powder produces a remarkable foulness in the fowling-piece after firing, much beyond what arises from an equal quantity of dry powder; and this seems to arise from the diminution of the activity of the fire in the explosion.
Unless the sportsman isvery particular indeedin the mode of keeping his powder, we would recommend him always to air it and his flask before he takes the field.
Flasks made of copper or tin are much better for keeping powder in than those made of leather, or than small casks; the necks of these should be small, and well stopped with cork.—Wild Sports.
Gunshot,s.The reach or range of a gun.
Gunshot,a.Made by the shot of a gun.
Gunsmith,s.A man whose trade is to make guns.
Gunstick,s. obs.The rammer.
Gunstock,s.The wood to which the barrel of a gun is fixed.VideStock.
To repair a broken stock.—See then, I first put a little glue between the fractured parts, and then tie them strongly round. Hand me that gimlet. Now we have a hole right through, at right angles with the grasp;—dip that peg in glue, and hand it over to me—so now we have it driven tight in. I let loose the string at one end, and begin to bind the stock with this waxed thread, leaving the glue that has oozed from the sides of the wood to lay hold of the thread—so now it is finished off like a cricket-bat. Let us borrow a small strip of ribband of the hostess, to bind over and prevent our friend’s hand from being stuck to the stock. Enough; I will venture to say that the bandage would remain firm much longer than it will be left there; and though the grasp of the gun is a little thicker, it will not much matter, and it is but a make-shift after all.—Hints to Grown Sportsman.
Gurgitting,s.In falconry, act of suffocation in hawks.
Gust,s.A sudden violent burst of wind.
Gut,s.The long pipe reaching with many convolutions from the stomach to the vent; the stomach, the receptacle of food.
Gut,v.To eviscerate, to draw; to take out the inside.
Gwinniad,s.The name of a fish.
The gwinniad, although a fish, is not immediately within the list of those that are objects of the angler’s attention, yet it is noticed as being a native of peculiar parts of this country. It is found, according to Pennant, in one of the lakes of Ireland—Lough Neagh, where it is called the pollen; in Lough Maben, in Scotland, where it is termed the vangis; and the Scotch have a tradition, that it was there first introduced by their beauteous queen, the unhappy Mary Stuart.
They are taken in nets, but never by any bait, keeping on the bottom of the lake, and feeding on small shells, and the leaves of the water gladiole, a plant peculiar to these mountain lakes.—Daniel.
Gymnastic,a.Relating to athletic exercises.
Gyration,s.The act of turning any thing round; the ascent of a hawk.
Gyre,s.A circle described by anything going in an orbit.