426 rPLAXD SHOOTIXG. 



more compactly, and witli fully as much or more penetra- 

 tion, that the poor old gun was discarded, and the full- 

 choked one took its place. 



There were some men, though, who, content to let well 

 enough alone, stuck to their colors, or, if they did modify 

 their views, so did they modify their chokes; and expe- 

 rience has clearly proved that this class went in the right 

 direction, for it is much easier nowadays to get too close 

 a shooting gun than one that is too open. A field-gun 

 that makes the greatest killing-circle in one barrel at 

 thirty to thirty -five yards, and ten yards farther with the 

 other, is just as much superior to an excruciatingly close 

 shooter as the choke is to the cylinder, for all distances 

 over forty -fire yards, while for all shooting in cover, 

 even a wider spread is an advantage. In the hands of 

 an expert, perhaps as many quail flying through thickets, 

 or ruffed grouse darting between leaves and branches, 

 aU the whUe with a rising out or in curve, may be killed 

 with a very close as with an open bored gun, but I doubt 

 it; for all such shots are snapped at, and it stands to 

 reason that the gun that gives one thirty inches of spread 

 is much more certain to be a killer than the one that cuts 

 that circle down to only twenty or twenty-four inches, 

 so that, as such shots are the rule rather than the excep- 

 tion, the evenness and extent of the kUling-circle of a gun 

 should form its standard of merit, rather than its closeness 

 and compactness of delivery. In proof of this, I may 

 mention that the very best field-shots avoid with artistic 

 cleverness the use of full chokes when afield, and reserve 

 them for places where increased distances make them 

 most effective. 



But, again, to reduce the number of pellets in a given 

 circle, at any distance, does not necessarily turn out the 

 best-shooting gun; for there are many guns that, although 

 they put more shot in such a circle than another, yet 



