554 FOREST, FIELD. AND PRAIRIE. 



for large game, ducks, turiceys, geese, deer, etc., the charges be in- 

 creased according to the powers of the gfun and the ends to be ac- 

 complished. Some persons will say, and quite truly, that all guns 

 of the same bore do not call for the same amount of ammunition. 

 They are exceptions to the general rule ; load them to suit their 

 peculiarities. Very light guns, with -large bores, may not shoot 

 pleasantly, from too much recoil ; load them less, but at the ex- 

 pense of penetration and wounded game. Cheap guns with rough 

 barrels, and rusty or dirty guns, may kick too much witH these 

 loads. These, with all other nondescript and unduly proportioned 

 guns, are excepted from the general rule. This presupposes fair 

 guns only. Very diverse results with good g\ins may be brought 

 about by having the powder disproportionate to the shot and con- 

 versely ; using very coarse and ver>' fine powder, also very coarse 

 and very fine shot ; by employing more or less wads varying in di- 

 ameter and thickness, and setting them home upon the charge with 

 different pressure or ramming ; by holding the gun, when dis- 

 charged, firmly to the shoulder or otherwise, etc. Now, if all these 

 items control the shooting, does it not follow that to load a gun ac- 

 curately for all purposes requires many experiments, good judg- 

 ment, and even great skill ? 



Choke-Boring. — There have been many crucial tests of choke- 

 bored guns against smooth-bores, both in this country and England, 

 but the advocates of one and the other do not seem wholly satis- 

 fied with the exhibit as deciding their respective merits. The ad- 

 vantages of choke-boring under certain conditions of field shooting 

 are certainly conceded. The effect of choke-boring is to increase 

 the effectiveness of the gun at long range. If we did all of our 

 shooting at very long range, we would be induced to use a choke- 

 bored gun, or at all events, to have the barrel choke-bored ; but 

 for our own customary service we prefer a gun not choked, for the 

 reason that we have found that the Kay concentrating cartridges 

 produce the effect that is claimed for the choke-bores. Thus we 

 have the choice, at all times, between the straight and the choke, 

 which gives us an advantage in shooting which we should not have 

 if restricted to the one or the other. Mr. A. G. Dole, a veteran 

 sportsman of fifty years' practice, says very truly, in a letter to 

 an old friend: — 



