SCR00007.133

BOTH EYES OR ONE? - The question of shooting with both eyes open or with only one eye has been occupying the columns of our English cotemporaries for a long time, and remains unsettled, although the majority of those who have written on the subject believe in shooting with both eyes open. In a recent issue of the Field, London, Mr. Charles Lancaster, the English gunmaker, writes: As no doubt most of your readers are aware, nearly all Americans shoot with guns with a great deal of bend - i. e., about 3 in. - which allows the gun to come well under the right eye, instead of using straighter stocks, with a proper amount of cast off to suit the person for whom the gun is intended, so as to allow the perfect alignment for the right eye. The original gun I built for Miss Oakley, as ordered for her from America, was 2 7/8 in., and little or no cast off; but afer trying this gun at my private shooting ground, it was found she was shooting a great deal under her birds, and at my suggestion, to remedy this, it was restocked very much straigher - viz., 1 3/4 in., and cast off 3-16 in. This gun weighed nearly 7 1/2 lbs., and although lighter than her other guns, was found to be handicapping her for the shooting she had to do, and I therefore built her another gun weighing only 6 lb. 14 oz., with 28 in. barrels, and which was stocked 2 in., and cast off 3-16 in. With this gun Miss Oakley has succeeded in doing some very fine shooting - viz., killing twenty-two starlings out of twenty-five shot at 23 yards rise; and I feel convinced, from the way in which she has shot the very best blue rock pigeons up to 30 yards' rise, that before the lady leaves England she will make a splendid score at our leading clubs. I am now building a pair of 20-bor breech loading hammerless guns for Miss Oakley, specially designed for exhibition shooting.