"Having the gun together, and working freely, it will require to be used carefully. It must not be let fall heavily on its butt plate [...] It should not be used as a crutch, an alpenstock, or a crowbar. From a critical examination of many guns returned to the author, after very little wear, he fancies they must at times be utilised for very different purposes from those for which their makers intended them. To speak more plainly, some guns are abominably abused." -- William Wellington Greener (b. 1834, d. 1921), The Gun And Its Development, ninth edition, 1910, Cassel and Co., London [quoted passage appears on p. 436 of the 2002 Lyons Press reprint; ISBN 1-58574-734-3]
(The mental image "should not be used as a crutch" called to my mind was of the sort of thing that might happen in a Pink Panther cartoon. Eep!)