_To Take the Gun Apart._—With the muzzle-loading guns now in common use this is an operation so simple as to be scarcely worthy a mention. If the gun is an old-fashioned breech-pinned muzzle-loader, the first thing is to push out the small wire pins or bolts which pass through the stock, under the barrel, and through the barrel-loops. The next thing is to draw the breechpin screw; this lets the barrel out of the stock. If it is desirable to unbreech the gun, it is done by clamping the breechpin in a vise, and then turning the barrel by hand until it is screwed off the pin. The patent-breech muzzle-loader comes apart the same way in every particular, with the exception that there is no breechpin screw to draw; the barrel can be easily lifted from the stock by simply raising the muzzle and unhooking the patent breech, so soon as the pins or bolts before mentioned as holding it down have been removed. The unbreeching is done at the vise much the same as in the other case. To take apart the ordinary breech-loader, begin by setting the hammer at half-cock. Open the lever, then draw the bolt, starting it with a tap from the handle of the screwdriver. Next detach the fore-piece, and the barrel will come out without further resistance. Instructions to take down and assemble different kinds of breech-loading guns will be found in Chapter XL. _To Clean the Gun when Apart._—In olden times a bucket of water and a wisp of tow and a stout “wiper” had to be brought into requisition, particularly for the interior of the barrel, but now these things are mainly obsolete, so far as relates to the outfit of the gunsmith. The owner of a muzzle-loader, who does not wish to remove the breechpin, may still resort to the old plan of washing out the barrel, though there is now really no necessity for it. A little benzine poured down the muzzle, after stopping the tube, will do the work of cleaning effectually and in a few minutes. Let stand a short time, then remove the plug from the tube and force the benzine out by running down a tow wad on the wiper—all the dirt will go out through the tube with it, leaving you nothing to do but wipe the benzine from the bore with the tow. In the case of a gun unbreeched, or a breech-loader, all that is necessary is to saturate a bit of cotton flannel with benzine and run it through the barrel a few times. If the gun is a fine one, well finished, this process will leave the interior as shining and bright as a mirror. With the same arrangement rub thoroughly any of the metal parts that happen not to be clean, and all impurities will promptly leave them. After this, oil and wipe with a chamois skin, and the work is done.