_On the Muzzle-Loaders._—The percussion-lock muzzle-loaders all work upon about the same principle. The charge must go in at the muzzle and be put down to the breech. In the case of army guns it is usually contained in a paper cartridge. The soldier bites off the end of the cartridge in which the powder is inclosed, to admit of a communication with the cap, and then forces it down with the ramrod. But in the case of rifles and fowling pieces, or shotguns, as the latter are most commonly called in this country, cartridges are seldom employed. In loading a rifle the powder is first measured in a “charger,” and then poured down the barrel; next comes the patch, which is usually a piece of new and strong cotton cloth, most commonly the kind known as white drilling. This, having been tallowed upon one side, the tallowed side is spread over the muzzle of the gun, and the bullet is pressed upon it into the muzzle, the side from which the “neck,” formed in moulding, has been cut, must be directly downward. Generally with the handle of a knife the bullet is pressed into the bore as far as it can be sent by such means; then the patch is gathered around it and cut smoothly off exactly flush with the muzzle end of the barrel. The next operation is to draw the ramrod, throw the gun under the left arm, with its breech resting upon the ground and its muzzle in front of the breast, and then having set the butt end of the ramrod upon the bullet and grasped it in both hands, the bullet is gradually, and by main strength, forced downward into position. To make sure that it is entirely down the gun is taken from under the arm, by some, and set with the breech resting upon the ground more in front, after which the ramrod is raised up a foot or so and pitched down the bore like throwing a pike. If it does not bound back the bullet is not down solid upon the powder, and the pitching is repeated until it does bound. The upward bound of a few inches is sufficient to settle it that the bullet is down. In the early times the bullet of the rifle was patched with dressed deer-skin exclusively. Charging the shot-gun muzzle-loader is an operation somewhat different. First comes the powder poured down the bore from a charger, as in the case of the rifle. Next comes a wad, usually of paper, which must fit tightly, and be rammed down solid upon the powder. Following this comes the shot, measured in the same charger, or in one of the same capacity. The measure of powder and the measure of shot usually made about the same. Over the shot is rammed a loose wad—it needs only to be tight enough to prevent the shot from rolling out when the muzzle of the gun happens to come lower than the breech. Disk-like wads of pasteboard or felt cloth are the latest invention.