A fowling-piece.
1820. “Luck’s like a shot-gun, mighty uncertain,” is a common saying, and indeed the poor shot-gun is a standing but for ridicule [as compared with a rifle].—James Hall, ‘Letters from the West,’ pp. 86–7 (Lond.). (Italics in the original.)
1833. This is a poor shooting-iron for a man to have about him—it might do for young men to ‘tote’ in a settlement, but it is of no use in the woods—no more than a shot-gun.—James Hall, ‘Legends of the West,’ p. 262 (Phila.).
1862. We have been told sometimes that [the Confederate soldiers] are armed with shot-guns.—Mr. John B. Henderson of Mo., U.S. Senate, July 10: Cong. Globe, p. 3222/3.
