164 UPLAND SHOOTING. 



to call you a boor and butcher because your weapon is so 

 much larger than his little sixteen-gauge. Still, I think 

 that the twelve-gauge is as large as should be used on 

 Bob Whites. If you are an exquisite shot, you can get 

 down as low as a twenty-gauge; that altogether depends 

 upon the individual and his tastes. The gun most gen- 

 erally used is good enough, being a seven and a half 

 pound twelve-gauge. The barrels should be cylinder, or 

 only slightly choked. There is a world of nonsense writ- 

 ten about the shooting qualities of guns. The guns of 

 all standard makes shoot about alike. The greater 

 superiority of the finer guns is not in their shooting quali- 

 ties, but because they are more handsome to look at, 

 handle better, and are much more durable. Get a gun 

 that suits you fairly well, and then stick to it. Chang- 

 ing guns is like changing friends a risky business. 

 In Bob White shooting, for such a gun as I have 

 mentioned, a charge of three and a half drams of 

 powder and one or one and one-eighth ounces of shot 

 will generally do well; but guns apparently the same 

 will shoot better with different charges. Test your gun 

 thoroughly for pattern and penetration at a rack-target; 

 find out the proper charge, and then stick to that. The 

 smokeless niter powders are especially desirable in field- 

 shooting. The size of shot should be from No. 10 to 

 No. 8; or, rather, No. 8 shot will do the season through 

 as well as any. Some prefer the chilled, others the 

 soft. I could never see any particular difference in 

 their killing powers. The other portion of a sports- 

 man's outfit I will not discuss. Everyone knows what 

 suits him best, and a little experience will teach him 

 what he really needs. Let the lunch-bag be well filled, 

 and the whisky-bottle conspicuously absent, The man- 

 ner of hunting Bob Whites or shooting them, if you 

 prefer it differs widely in various sections. In the 



