GUN SAFETIES.
Among the wonders which have been accomplished in all lines of invention and manufacturing during he last 3o years, although some may have been more re markable, certainly none have been more interesting to the enthusiastic sports man than the evolution of the modern shotgun. All of the older members of the sportsmen's fraternity did their first shooting with the old double-barrelled, muzzle-loading, cylinder bore, and doubtless thought it a perfect shotgun. In that comparatively short term of years they have watched step by step the introduc tion of the breech loader, the rise and fall of various grips and actions, have seen the pin fire give way. to the center fire, and the cylinder bore to the choke, and lately have laid aside the hammer gun to take up the hammreless and the black powder for the nitro. In the endeavor to ascertain what constitutes a safe gun it may be well to consider the causes of varions accidental discharges which may be laid to faulty construction of the gun. Going- back to the old muzzle loader we had a fruitful source of accident in the fact that after discharging one barrel, the shooter would neglect to lower the hammer on the second, which in various ways was accidentally discharg,ed while reloading- the first. \Vith the introduc tion of the breech loader accidents of this kind were rendered impossible, but there still remained the most numerous class, those connected with the hammers to guard against. Accidents Were frequently caused by carrying- the hammers down on the firing pins (and there were some who foolishly insisted that this was the safe way to carry a gun) when if the gun was dropped or anything struck the back of the hammers, it was discharged almost as surely as though it were inten tionally fired. The rebounding- lock removed this danger and another step in the direction of safety was accomplished. There still remained the greatest danger, and that was the hammers catching on brush, clothing-, or other objects, and drawn back so that when suddenly released the gun was discharged. This was more liable to occur when the hammers were down, or at half cock, than when full cocked, for the reason that in some guns the hammers would not raise far enough back of full cock to slip past the notch when released.
This fact was one reason advanced by that contingent who always carried a gun empty, or loaded and at full cock. Another was that it was easier and quicker to break the p-,un as a temporary safeguard, or even unload it, than to lower the two hammers separately, also avoiding the danger of a hammer slip ping- while lowering, it, or g,etting, onto the tyrong trigger. The best point they I advanced was that it always required one to be very careful with a loaded gun, as it was always cocked, maintaining that there was 110 real safety in half cock as one was apt to be very careless with a gun when lialf cocked, believing it to • be perfectly safe, and sometimes would think they had lowered the hammers when they had neglected to do so, So it is evident that in the breech loading- hammerless the sportsman has the ; safest gun he has ever handled, and the question now before him is which of the numerous makes now on the market is the safest, and therefore the gun lie wants. .\lthough always called hammerless, strictly speaking- they are hammer with internal hammers, which are automatically. cocl«.d by opening- the gun. \Vith such gtins an accidt.ntal discharge may take place in two ways, by the trigger be ing. pulled unintentionally, or by the hammers being released through a break in the mechanism of the lock, or jarred off through rough handling, a blow, or a fall, or one hammer jarring off when the other barrel was fired. To prevent ac cidents of the first description the gun is usually provided with an automatic safety which blocks the trig,gers as soon as the hammers are cocked, so that they cannot be pulled until the safety is pushed up or off safe. Safeties are obviousiv the most important point in the make-up of the hammerless gun, and in select ing a gun should receive the first and most careful attention.