IN placing this volume in the hands of the reader, the Author feels it a duty he owes to the sporting and scientific world, to tender an apology for the disappointment occasioned by the non-appearance of" Gunnery in 1868," which was promised by his late father, W. Greener, C.E., whose death took place before the intended work was completed. The numerous inquiries made by subscribers to that work, and others wishing to possess it, cause the Author to feel it incumbent on him, as his father's successor, to publish this treatise on Modem Breech-loaders. The important and numerous improvements which have recently been made in the construction of the breech-loader, sporting and military (especially the latter), have led to a great demand for information on the subject. This required information the Author has endeavoured to supply in the following work, in the production of which he has striven to condense within the smallest possible limits a full consideration of the various principles of breech-loading mechanism which he has found it necessary to introduce for description, and hopes, by the aid of numerous engravings and diagrams, to make himself clearly understood by the reader. In all that appertains to the shooting and construction of the breech-loader, the Author has confined himself strictly to matters practical, and abstained from propounding any novel or startling theories. The remarks on "Black Gunpowder" introduced in this work, are reprinted from "Gunnery in 1858," as no important improvement in the manufacture of that substance has been made since that date, with the exception of the introduction of the so-called "Pebble Gunpowder," a full description of which compound has been given by W.W. Greener