GUNS AND LOADS 465 
sideration to the powers of the gun, to consider there- 
with the capability of the shooter. 
Some shooters have a false pride concerning the 
ownership of a cylinder bore, which is often assumed to 
indicate inferior shooting qualities in the gun or lack 
of skill in the shooter; but it is far more sensible for 
the shooter to use a gun in accord with his shooting 
capabilities, and the conditions as to cover shooting, 
etc., and thereby achieve reasonable success in the field, 
than it is to make a ridiculous failure with a gun which 
shoots too close. 
A full-choke gun puts about 70 per cent. of the shot 
in a 30-inch circle at 40 yards, a half-choke about 60 
per cent., a quarter-choke about 50 per cent., an im- 
proved cylinder 45 per cent., a cylinder—so called; it 
commonly has a trifle of choke in it—35 per cent. 
It is a safe assumption that by far the greater num- 
ber of birds, in upland shooting, fall within 25 
yards of the shooter; therefore, the pattern made 
at 40 yards is not the criterion by which to judge 
of the gun’s powers at 25 yards. In cover shoot- 
ing, a full-choke gun mutilates many birds to a degree 
which renders them worthless. 
Some shooters have a 16-bore set of barrels fitted 
to a 12-gauge frame, the barrels being correspondingly 
heavy, the greater weight necessarily being about the 
chambers; thus this greater weight negatives all the 
advantages of the 16-bore in the attempt to shoot heavy 
loads. 
Again, the 20-bore, mounted on a 16-gauge frame, 
