AS GUNMAKERS concentrated on the practical efficiency of the flintlock shotgun at the close of the 18th century, it became a much-improved creature to that of 100 years before. Although basically fitted with the same mechanism, the gun had a swifter, smoother action and was less susceptible to misfire, there being many sportsmen who agreed with Richard Thornhill when he stated in The Shooting Directory (1804): ‘The manufacture of fowling pieces has been brought to such perfection by different gunsmiths that it may be justly doubted whether any further improvement in them can be made.’
Nevertheless, as the 19th century began there were many gunmakers who considered that there was room for still more improvement, however small. It was the beginning of the age ofmost enthusiastic sportsmen had begun to see the absurdity of so many of these inventions but they should not be allowed to obscure the real achievements of gunmakers and the actual performance of the flintlock shotgun.
