466 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
is another freakish perversion of the smaller bore, 
though the fads and fancies of shooters are of much 
trade value to the gun makers and repairers. 
The smaller bores can rarely be used to advantage 
with less than a quarter choke, it being obvious that 
three-quarters of an ounce of shot should be held closer 
together than an ounce and a quarter to insure a proper 
distribution in the pattern. 
The 28-bore is a wonderfully effective gun for up- 
land game shooting, and its lightness makes for quick 
execution; but the killing circle is relatively small, and 
a higher degree of skill is a requisite in its success- 
ful use. 
The 16-bore, 26, 28 or 30-inch barrels, may weigh 
from 5% to 634 pounds, and the 20-bore may have 
about the same range in weights, with 614 pounds, per- 
haps, as the maximum. Two sets of barrels, one set 
of modified cylinder bore, the other a close choke, add 
immensely to the efficiency of the gun. 
There is no doubt but that in the matter of de- 
structiveness the repeating shotgun, “pump” and auto- 
matic far surpass the double gun. Fortunately, at 
the rise of a bevy, in upland shooting, the average 
sportsman using such gun is not sufficiently expert 
to fire more than two shots with any degree of cer- 
tainty. Yet, having extra loads at his command, he 
can take advantage of any slothful or timid birds which 
rise after the main part of the bevy has flown, hence is 
hardly ever caught unprepared. 
An expert with the repeating shotgun is terribly 
