ON THE CHOICE OF SHOT GUNS 45 



It is often asked how it happens that so few fast driven 

 birds are wounded. They are either killed or not hit as a 

 rule, even when they are high up. Another query is as often 

 heard : " Why are fast birds more difficult than slow ones ? " 

 It appears that one answer can be supplied from the tables 

 already given to both questions. It is often said that it is 

 difficult to lead "tall" birds enough, but the farther away 

 game is, the slower the gun has to move in order to race, and 

 beat it, so that this is evidently not the explanation. Taking 

 the corrected length of the various columns of shot at most 

 of the ranges above 30 yards, and comparing the average 

 speeds of the fag end pellets, as given in the table, with 

 the distance they have to go, while the bird has merely 

 to go from 2 to 4 feet to get out of their line, it will be 

 found that game at 60 feet per second cannot get clear 

 of any part of the shot column if it is timed properly, 

 whereas game at 100 feet per second will clear about 

 40 per cent, of the length of column in some cases, and only 

 incur danger from 60 per cent, as he flies through it. This 

 seems to be ample reason for the greater difficulty of fast 

 game. 



Here are a few examples with the 42 grain charge: 

 allowing 6 inches for half the length of the bird, and adding 

 this to the diameter of flying shot column at various ranges, 

 it is found that in order to get clear while the shot column 

 is passing, the bird at 60 feet per second takes .041 of a 

 second. At 100 feet rate of flight he will take .025 of a 

 second, and the shot takes but .022, so that the game does 

 not get an advantage here at 30 yards. But at 40 yards the 

 slow bird takes .05 of a second and gets no advantage ; the 

 fast one takes .03 of a second, and here the time of the 

 column is .036, so that, however good the timing, the bird 

 misses some shot. At 50 yards it is still worse for the slow 

 bird, which takes .062 of a second to get through, and better for 

 the fast one, that takes only .037 of a second, when the shot 

 occupies .046 of a second for the whole column to pass. 



There is not much difference for the 49 grain charge from 



