THE SHOT-GUN AND SPORTING RIFLE. BY STONEHENGE.

# (1859) 1994 paperback facsimile edition. 8vo paperback (147 x 210mm). Pp194. B/w illustrations.

# "At the close of the year 1857, on undertaking the editorship of the department of the Field connected with shooting, I found its columns deluged with an angry correspondence on the comparative merits of the breech-loader and muzzle-loader - statements and counter-statements were made, week after week, all of which could not possibly be true, since many of them were in direct opposition to each other. - The battle had raged for several months; but after all this - - no one was convinced, and the question was left exactly where it was when the correspondence commenced." In order to settle the matter, the author held two trials. "The two gun trials of 1858 and 1859 were carried out with great care and trouble, and the real pretensions of muzzle-loaders and breech-loaders have been settled for the present to the satisfaction of all reasonable men. As a natural result I have been brought into contact with guns and gunmakers in an unusual degree, and have had far greater opportunites of seeing varieties of principle and workmanship in this department of art than any other person out of the trade." In this book, the author lays out the results of the two trials as well as what he had learned from the gun-makers for the benefit of the enquiring sportsman.