ON THE CHOICE OF SHOT GUNS 33 



caused by its speed, is far out for a cylinder and No. 6 shot 

 at 30 yards, but with a choke bore and No. 5 shot it is well 

 within range at 40 yards. Then a fast going-away driven bird 

 is 10 yards nearer than it looks if you have No. 5 pellets in the 

 gun, and a good deal farther off than it looks if you have No. 6. 



So far only the actual bringing down of game has been 

 considered, but there is the question of ethics too. With all 

 shot there is some distance at which a body shot ceases to be 

 effective, and when killing must depend on hitting a vital 

 exposed part, or the wing. As the body is more than twice as 

 big as these exposed vitals, namely the head and neck, it follows 

 that the body will be hit twice as often as these vital parts. 

 Beyond the distance at which body shots will kill, it follows 

 that the shooter wounds twice for every head he bags. Con- 

 sequently there is a wounding distance for each kind of shot 

 pellet for straight going and coming game. 



This wounding distance, for No. 6 shot, the author would be 

 inclined to place at all ranges beyond 30 yards and up to 

 100 yards ; for No. 5 shot, all distances beyond 40 yards and up 

 to 1 20 yards. But as most people do not shoot at game 

 beyond 50 yards, for practical purposes the wounding distance 

 is from 30 to 50 yards with No. 6, and from 40 to 50 yards 

 with No. 5 shot. Full feathered partridges are the birds 

 alluded to. August grouse can be killed farther away with 

 much more certainty. 



In all the public London trials of guns the patterns of 

 cylinders have not averaged as high as 100 pellets of No. 6 

 in the 30 inch circle at 40 yards range. With i| oz. of 

 No. 6, of 270 pellets to the ounce, about 250 pellets in 

 the same circle have been frequently obtained at the same 

 40 yards range from choke bores. But the majority of guns 

 sold as cylinders now will put as many as 120 pellets in the 

 circle, and the author has seen one of Holland's put 160 pellets 

 in that circle. In this gun there was no noticeable choke 

 bore when a barrel gauge was used at all distances within 

 8 inches of the muzzle. The author did not attempt further to 

 learn how this barrel was bored, and it would not be fair to 

 3 



