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Shooting in Wet Weather

April 15th, 2019

 

Reprint from The Sportsman’s Cabinet and Town and Country Magazine, Vol I. Dec. 1832, Pg. 94-95

To the Editor of the Cabinet.

SIR,

Possessing that anxious feeling so common among shooters on the near approach of the 12th of August, I honestly confess I was not able to sleep on the night of the 11th, so prepossessed was I with anticipations of the following day’s diversion; and although the weather was unfavourable, I groped my way up the mountains before the dawn of day. With my double copper cap percussion, I conceived myself proof against the weather, and was weak enough to suppose I could pursue my diversion despite of the rain. It is true, I discharged my gun several times, and it is equally true that I attempted to discharge it many more; and though the priming uniformly exploded, yet the gunpowder in the barrel did not ignite.  I was for some time at a loss to account for this; but a careful examination convinced me that this defect arose from the size of the air-hole, which in my fowling-piece is much too large, and for which indeed there is not the least occasion. To be more explicit:—my gun is formed with what the gunmakers call collars; or in other words, at the breech end of it, where the touch-hole in a flint-lock gun is situated, project two cylindrical pieces of iron, called collars, into which the peg or touch hole is fixed, and upon which the copper cap is placed: at the end of these collars there is a small hole, called the air hole (for which I can perceive not the least occasion either in theory or practice) which, in my gun, is about half the size of a common touch-hole; and into this hole the rain insinuated itself, and, as gunpowder possesses a powerful principle of absorption, so the charge thus becoming wet, did not ignite by the flash produced from the explosion or combustion of the priming; and thus I lost several brace of grouse. The moors upon which I shot, were exceedingly wet, more so than I can recollect, yet the game lay well, and I levelled my gun at eight beautiful shots, which all escaped from the reason which I have just assigned. This, you will easily admit, Mr. Editor, was, to say the least of it, a most vexatious circumstance; and though shooting in rain very much neutralizes the pleasure of the diversion, yet on the present occasion I should certainly have persevered for some time longer, had it not been for the circumstance I have just mentioned. Prior to ascending the mountains, I had prepared a number of primings by placing wax* upon the percussion powder priming already in the bottom of the cap. This precaution rendered the primings completely impervious to the wet—they never missed, and had it not been for the unlucky airhole, I should certainly have bagged a few brace of birds, notwithstanding the continued misty rain.

I met with a gentleman in my range with a similar gun to my own, except that it had no air-holes, and as he had prepared his caps with a little tallow (which is not equal to the wax I have just mentioned) his gun was rendered completely water-proof.

On mentioning the circumstance to my gunmaker, he remarked, that he had formed air-holes in all the percussion guns which he had made, under an idea that they would thus be less liable to burst, as well as that the powder in the barrel would be more rapidly ignited.—I must confess these appeared very cogent reasons; but they were merely theoretical; for, on discharging my gun after the holes in question were stopped, I perceived no difference in the discharge, nor the least tendency to bursting of the barrels.

However, shooting in rain, after all is not remarkably pleasant, though ardent sportsmen are sometimes apt to attempt it. But, prepared in the manner above described, a shooter may keep the field in drizzling rain ; but when it falls heavily and fast, his clothes, to say nothing of his fowling piece, become in a short time, so saturated with moisture, that he will find it next to impossible to keep his gun powder dry, or to load his gun. Finally, it should be remarked, that those who wish to retain the air-hole (those in my gun, were, I believe, much too large, even allowing such apertures to be necessary) should, in hazy or wet weather, fill it with tallow or the wax above mentioned, which will of course, render it water-proof.

* The wax here mentioned, is thus prepared:—

  • Of tallow, two parts,
  • Of white soap, three parts,
  • Of hog’s-lard, one part,
  • which should be melted and mixed together, till the whole is quite smooth. As the soap is more difficult to melt than either of the other ingredients, so it re quires this operation, before they are added. By making a small mortar tolerably warm, the soap may be melted, when the tallow and hog’s-lard may be added, and the whole stirred with a pestle till it is perfectly smooth. This was used to prevent wet penetrating into Forsyth’s magazine, and is very superior to tallow, particularly as it is much less affected by heat: while perhaps it may be justly remarked that the priming fires better with it than with tallow.

Your’s respectfully,
A Shooter.

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The Dulwich Picture Gallery was England’s first purpose-built art gallery and considered by some to be England’s first national gallery. Founded by the bequest of Sir Peter Francis Bourgois, dandy, the gallery was built to display his vast [...] Read more →

King Arthur Legends, Myths, and Maidens

King Arthur, Legends, Myths & Maidens is a massive book of Arthurian legends. This limited edition paperback was just released on Barnes and Noble at a price of $139.00. Although is may seem a bit on the high side, it may prove to be well worth its price as there are only [...] Read more →

Chinese 9 Course Dinner

The following recipes form the most popular items in a nine-course dinner program:

BIRD’S NEST SOUP

Soak one pound bird’s nest in cold water overnight. Drain the cold water and cook in boiling water. Drain again. Do this twice. Clean the bird’s nest. Be sure [...] Read more →

A Few Wine Recipes

EIGHTEEN GALLONS is here give as a STANDARD for all the following Recipes, it being the most convenient size cask to Families. See A General Process for Making Wine

If, however, only half the quantity of Wine is to be made, it is but to divide the portions of [...] Read more →

Historic authenticity of the Spanish SAN FELIPE of 1690

San Felipe Model

Reprinted from FineModelShips.com with the kind permission of Dr. Michael Czytko

The SAN FELIPE is one of the most favoured ships among the ship model builders. The model is elegant, very beautifully designed, and makes a decorative piece of art to be displayed at home or in the [...] Read more →

The Billesden Coplow Run

*note – Billesdon and Billesden have both been used to name the hunt.

BILLESDEN COPLOW POEM

[From “Reminiscences of the late Thomas Assheton Smith, Esq”]

The run celebrated in the following verses took place on the 24th of February, 1800, when Mr. Meynell hunted Leicestershire, and has since been [...] Read more →

44 Berkeley Square

The Clermont Club

Reprint from London Bisnow/UK

At £23M, its sale is not the biggest property deal in the world. But the Clermont Club casino in Berkeley Square in London could lay claim to being the most significant address in modern finance — it is where the concept of what is today [...] Read more →

The English Tradition of Woodworking

THE sense of a consecutive tradition has so completely faded out of English art that it has become difficult to realise the meaning of tradition, or the possibility of its ever again reviving; and this state of things is not improved by the fact that it is due to uncertainty of purpose, [...] Read more →

Platform of the American Institute of Banking in 1919

Resolution adapted at the New Orleans Convention of the American Institute of Banking, October 9, 1919:

“Ours is an educational association organized for the benefit of the banking fraternity of the country and within our membership may be found on an equal basis both employees and employers; [...] Read more →

Guaranteed 6% Dividend for Life. Any takers?

Any prudent investor would jump at the chance to receive a guaranteed 6% dividend for life. So how does one get in on this action?

The fact of the matter is…YOU can’t…That is unless you are a shareholder of one of the twelve Federal Reserve Banks and the banks under [...] Read more →