496 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



|Jak, 17, 1884. 



ammunition could be used in them, this ammunition being 

 the regular "factory ammunition" originally designed for 

 (hem, and in the shells of which but only a certain quantity 

 of powder and lead could be used. Even when the sports- 

 man reloaded his own cartridges he was forced to adhere to 

 the standard through his inability to procure other than the 

 regular factory bullets; whereas, had he been able to pro- 

 cure other bulk ts of less weight, that would occupy just so 

 much less space in the shells, as they were shorter than the 

 standard, and the space so gained could have been utilized 

 to contain more powder, and then they could have varied 

 the proportions of powder and lead, and very probably im- 

 proved the shooting of the rifle as a hunting gun for short 

 and hunting distances. 



It is my idea that the same gun can use two, and perhaps 

 three grades of ammunition as occasion may require, and 

 still maintain the same length of cartridge. By varying (he 

 length, and thereby, of course, the weight of the bullet, 

 there might be light bullets and heavy charges of powder for 

 short ranges, where the time for deviation and variation 

 from wind, etc., would be but short; somewhat longer and 

 heavier bullets, and nearly the same weight of powder for 

 mid-ranges; and full-sized bullets, with their weight and 

 length to keep them up to their true flight, and their propor- 

 tion of powder for extreme ranges, and yet maintain the 

 same length of cartridge, so that each would fit the chamber 

 of the gun. 



Then the hunter, being able to procure bullets of varying 

 lengths and weights, could choose his ammunition for the 

 work at hand ; orhave with him cartridges of varying power. 

 and be able with the same gun to take either long or short 

 shots at game, as they presented themselves. 



In using ammunition of this kind, of course allowance 

 would have to lie made in sighting, no matter how the gun 

 might be sighted. If sighted for one grade of ammunition, 

 experiment and practice could only determine how much 

 allowance to make when using that of another grade; but 

 the gun being sighted for the standard ammunition, shoot- 

 ing with heavier charges of powder and lighter bullets would 

 mainly tend to flatten'the trajectory, and extend the "point 

 blank," so as to cover a much greater "dangerous space" for 

 game to obviate the necessity for such close estimation of dis- 

 tance as might be required with heavier bullets and lighter 

 charges of powder; and the necessary allowances to be made 

 would soon regulate themselves without any alterations of 

 sight. 



As n result of following up this idea in correspondence 

 with rifle makers, I have received an answer showing that 

 the idea was accepted to be experimented upon, the same 

 idea having been previously experimented upon by the party 

 to whom I wrote, and I quote from this answer for the "in- 

 formation of all concerned": 



' 'Your letter of Aug. 21 came duly to hand and carefully 

 noted, and I send you herewith the. result of some of my ex- 

 periments, etc. The target with holes in it I made with east 

 bullets of 285 grains weight and 85 grains powder at 79 

 yards. It is of fifteen consecutive shots. I got my range 

 with five shots and put the remaining fifteen where you see 

 them. This same bullet at 200 yards shot fully as well as 

 the U. 8. 405, and with same sighting shot two feet eight 

 inches higher (that was from center of impact of ten shots 

 of each kind), and it went to the target in a hurry. * * * 



"The other target of twenty shots, as described, was shot 

 with a ,40-caliber repeater of our make, that never had a bul- 

 let through it before, at 80 yards. 1 sent the original to the 



, and they are now making cartridges for us of that 



caliber of 75 grains powder, 225 lead. Have shot ten shots 

 from this style cartridge at 200 yards, and all into a five-inch 

 ring, and the trajectory was very flat — between eight and 

 nine inches— and the bullet more tflan hurried down the 

 range. It is 'the boss' for hunting. I am going to put the 

 same bullet in a bottle-necked shell, with about ten grains 

 more powder, and see what it will do." 



I send you the two targets, which I hope may be pub- 

 lished, as they explain themselves much better than pages 

 of manuscript could. 



I understand that cartridges of the above description will 

 soon be on the market, and it is to be hoped they will suc- 

 ceed in satisfying the wants of hunters. It will be seen 

 anyway that makers are desirous of pleasing and serving 

 their customers with what is wanted, and that thereby the 

 limits of "hunting ammunition" will be very widely in- 

 creased. C. I). 



Wyoming, December, 1888. 



Editor Forest and btremn: 



And still they all have their doubts and fancies for a. 40-90 

 repeater and all are longing for the gun of the future. I 

 quite agree with one of your correspondents as to the clanger 

 of all repeaters. I have used nearly all of them, both the 

 lever and bolt guns. All alike are troubled with the failing, 

 danger of the explosion of cartridges in the magazine. 1 

 have one now .44-40-200 Kennedy, the only gun that comes 

 near perfection. It has done three years' hard shooting and 



roughed it; has lain for ten days in thirty feet of water in 

 Sable Lake, coming out in working order; yet it does not do 

 hard shooting to suit me. This past season I purchased a 

 Pieper gun, one barrel rifled, the other shot; caliber of rifle 

 .44-40-200. 1 had the rifle rechambered to shoot .44-90-270 

 Sharps express cartridges. I can safely say a more destruc- 

 tive gun could not be placed in a gunner's hands, at either 

 long or short range, using either buckshot or rifle barrel. 

 As a bone breaker and hard shooter it is the best gun 1 ever 

 saw. Its first cost was $35, rechambering $1, express shells 

 $5 per 100. 



But the gun of the f uture must be one that does away with 

 percussion primers, which in the magazine of ..all repeaters 

 will explode, by sudden jars or friction. To that alone can 

 be referred all of the explosions of magazine guns. It seems 

 to me that in this electric sge any manufacturer of guns 

 could produce a gun with a battery concealed in the stock, 

 which, by pressure of the trigger would send a direct current 

 into the center of the cartridge as soon as one was thrown 

 into the. barrel and explosiou would follow. For the percus- 

 sion primer use a copper center or a small carbon point, then 

 all danger of the coming magazine gun would be averted. 

 The coming gun of the age will be the electric gun. 



S. E, B. 



Manistee, Mich., Jan. 8, 1884. 



Editor Forest and Stream; 



In 1880 or '81 I proposed in your pages to obtain the desid- 

 eratum by taking the Centennial Winchester as a basis. Sub- 

 stituting a. 40-bore barrel, chambered for their .50-90 express 

 shell, and using a ring between the outside of the .40 ball 

 and the inside of the .50 shell. The end of the ring would 

 abut against a shoulder in the barrel and would remain in the 

 shell when fired; in fact, it would be a substitute for the 

 boltle neck process whicli so much weakens the shell. The 

 Winchester Company agreed to make me such a gun, but 

 very fairly told me that it would nor. answer, and that they 

 must have its price with the order, "as my executors might 

 not like paying the bill." This rather discouraged me, and 

 I did not give the older. The shell, they said, would not 

 stand. I only proposed using a 220-grain express ball before 

 95 or 100 grains of powder, while in Mr. O. P. Winchester's 

 letter to Fokest and Stream, Oct. 29, 1877, he says that 

 they have fired 203 grains of powder and 1,750 grains of 

 lead without injury to the gun or shell, and that at a slight 

 increase of weight the shell might be made to stand any 

 amount of powder and ball, but at an entirely uncalled for 

 cost. This increase of cost would, I think, be cheerfully 

 paid by the hunters of the West for a .40-90 repeater. 1 

 would recall to your readers the experience of Lt.-Col. Hills 

 in India, on tigers, using a 40-bore muzzle-loader, 2.20 ex- 

 press ball, and 100 to 120 grains of powder, which I gave in 

 my former communication and which I think would bear 

 republication in your paper. Nemo. 



REBOUNDING LOCKS. 



Editor Forest and Stream; 



1 wish to call the attention of my brother sportsmen, all 

 over the country, to a matter that I have known for a long 

 time, but which may be new to some of them, and that is 

 the extremely unsafe condition of a majority of the guns of 

 the present day that have rebouudiug locks. " In the days of 

 the old muzzle-loader no good sportsman would carry his gun 

 with the hammer down, resting on the caps, for if anything 

 should catch the hammer and pull it up nearly to the half- 

 cock notch, and then set the hammer free, it would fall on 

 the cap with sufficient force to explode it. The quarter- 

 cock, when introduced, remedied this matter in a measure, as 

 then if careless sportsmen would persist in leaving the ham- 

 mers on the caps the quarter-cock caught the hammer before 

 it was pulled back far enough to explode the cap, or if it 

 was pulled back of this and slipped off it caught on the quar- 

 ter cock, and the only danger the careless man had to en- 

 counter was that if anything hit the back of the hammer a 

 smart blow it would fire the gun. Now, this very thing ex- 

 ists with the present rebounding lock, breech-loading gun, 

 in a majority of instances, so tar as the first case is con- 

 cerned. Let each man experiment for himself; put an empty 

 but capped shell in your gun; close it, then, keeping your 

 finger off the trigger, pull the hammer up until it nearly 

 catches at full cock and let it slip. I think you will find the 

 result in many cases will be to convince you that you have a 

 very dangerous gun instead of a very safe one, as you sup- 

 posed you had. 



JNow, 1 will go further and say that I know from sad ex- 

 perience that a gun with rebounding hammers can be fired 

 by striking the back of the hammer a smart blow, one of my 

 oldest and most valued friends having lost bis right arm by 

 his gun being fired under the above circumstances. The 

 accident occurred while on a recent duck-shooting expe- 

 dition. He was shooting out of a deep box, buried in the 

 mud, and while putting the gun dowu in the corner of the 

 box struck the back of the hammer against a projecting 



piece on tlie side of the box, with the above unfortunate re- 

 sult. I will add that he was using one of the best English 

 guns. I do not wish to say of what makers, as my object is 

 not to condemn any particular make of gun, but to call the 

 attention of all sportsmen to this matter, and as the experi- 

 ment is so easily made, they can soon satisfy themselves as 

 to whether they have a safe gun or not. 



I will only add that I am trying to catch my breath after 

 your heavy broadside in reply to "Deep and Light Draft." 

 When two people think as nearly alike as we do on the above 

 subject, it is hard to get up a controversy, but lyvill give you 

 one more gun on some futiu-c occasion, " Scvkboat. 



Easton, Mel. 



CONTRABAND CANADIAN DEER. 

 Editor Forest and Stream: 



Eleven carcasses of deer shipped from Lake Megantic to 

 Boston were seized here last week for infraction of the Cus- 

 toms law, referred to in your last issue, prohibiting the export 

 of such game. They were sold by auction, realizing some 

 $76. This, I believe, is the third lot shipped by the same 

 parties, and they may feel thankful that they escaped the $100 

 fine to which each was liable. Every person not domiciled 

 in this Province is obliged to take out a hunters' license, oust- 

 ing $20 for the season, in default of which he is liable to a 

 fine of $40. This may seem a little hard to residents of the 

 United States, but the law was enacted to protect our gamo 

 from pot-hunting expeditions; and in this locality woul'd 

 probably not be enforced against legitimate sportsmen. 



The Maine Game Commissioners complain of the slaugh- 

 ter of game in that State by residents of this Province, and 

 perhaps the unsettled condition of Northern Maine renders it 

 more exposed to poachers from our side, still I think the en- 

 forcement of the law preventing persons from killing above 

 a certain number of each kind of game, would do away with 

 this evil, and probably could he" as easily enforced 'as the 

 license law suggested. We want a similar law, and vigorous 

 efforts will be mace to pass one. Three deer, two caribou 

 and one moose a; a enough for any sportsman, and any one 

 who kills more does it for pecuniary profit, ot else is made of 

 a different clay from that in which the genuine sportsman is 

 moulded. 



I think Maine laws should be made conformable to ours as 

 regards the commencement of the open season. September 

 is the month par excellence for camping out, and if camping 

 parties were restricted to legitimate sport, wc question if 

 more game would be killed than at present, while many more 

 would be induced to avail themselves of this healthful re- 

 creation. Again, along the portion of the Maine boundary 

 lying between the Megantic and Spider lakes, audi he Ma- 

 galloway and Chain of Ponds, large game such as moose and 

 caribou are perhaps one day in Maine and the next in Canada, 

 and as I know from experience have their feeding grounds on 

 both sides of the line. D. Thomas. 



Sherbrooke, Que., Jan, 5, 188*. 



SHOOTING WITH THE PISTOL. 



FOR several years 1 have had a great deal of pleasure 

 hunting rabbits with no other weapon than a pistol. If 

 you have a Smith A; Wesson or a Stevens gallery pistol, then 

 consider yourself well fixed, for I use only a little Sharps .22- 

 ealiber, and with it have killed as many as five in one even- 

 ing, all shot through the head, First, before goiugout hunt- 

 ing, suppose you try your pistol and see if you really can hit 

 a target the size of a rabbit. I'll wager a brace *of quail 

 against a mug of cider that plenty of m°n who to-day carry 

 a pistol in their hip pocket cau't hit a nail keg at ten paces, 

 let alone the eye of a rabbit. Put up a target and shoot and 

 shoot and shoot until you can confidently say you can hit 

 what you shoot at, then you are ready for the field. 



If there is a light snow' on the ground so much the belter, 

 take your pistol and go hunting wilh it alone; leave your 

 gun at home, for if you take it along, you will not only 

 shoot rabbits with it, but yuu will be tempted to shoot quail. 

 Walk the hedges always with your pistol hand next to the 

 hedge; the reason is obvious; any man knows that the less 

 motion is made the more successful he will be. Walk slow, 

 and when you set a rabbit, catch the sight and shoot quick, 

 and if your aim has been good, you will bag that rabbit 

 with as" much pride as you did your first quail shot on the 

 wing. Your pistol is not a hair trigger, therefore ieain to 

 steady your aim by pressure on the trigger and only give the 

 final pull as you see the eye of a rabbit through the sights. 



Be very careful. The' gun is dangerous, but the pistol is 

 far more so. Hunt alone, or at most with only one com- 

 panion, always keep a cool head and never point your pistol 

 (whether loaded or not) at anything yon do not wish to kill. 

 I dread sending this note for fear some boy may read it and 

 be led to hunt with a pistol and shoot himself. If any boy 

 sees this I caution again, remember the little weapon will 

 kill you just as easily (if pointed at your heart or head) as it 

 does the rabbit you are so confident of. Never trust your- 

 self out with a crowd, but recollect what you have read and 

 go alone. Handle your pistol as though it were a hand 

 grenade or bombshell, and you will he comparatively safe. 



When you get home, dress your game and put it to soak 

 in salt and water for twenty-four hours, and then have it 

 cooked to suit your fancy, I like them fried. Study the 

 habits of your game and read all you can about the little 

 rodent, and in this alone you will find great pleasure, 



Mabk. 



Morning Sun. Iowa, 



SNOW GEESE ON THE DELAWARE. 



THE inclosed cutting from the Smyrna (Del.) Times 

 repeats the report I have lately given of the presence 

 of snow geese on the Delaware: "A large number of white, 

 wild geese, called by some Canada geese and by others 

 Brandt, have been spending the wilder thus far in the coves 

 along Bombay Hook, anil especially that near Collins's 

 Beach. It is no uncommon thing for them to spend the 

 winter, or part of it, in the Delaware Bay, but heretofore 

 they have confined themselves mainly to the Jersey side, in 

 tin/waters that make up into its marshes. In the past eighteen 

 oi' twenty years, Mr. Benson, in charge of the lighthouse, tells 

 us he has not seen them so numerous in our waters as this 

 winter. They are hard to come up with by sportsmen, and it 

 !■ i .1 be successfully done only by a little deception. 

 When the ice is breaking up the gunners get into a boat 

 which is covered with ice, the men themselves being covered 

 wirh sheets and carrying themselves in a reclining position. 

 One manages an oar in thereat for directing the course of 

 the boat, and thus they can sometimes float right among a 

 flock. The hapless birds that have mistaken the craft for 



