FOREST AND STREAM. 



1H9 



of these yachts carrying away their masts and havin g to be 

 towed up the bay by tugs. There is something wrong in 

 our modern yacht building. If a little more was spent on 

 the hulls and less on the cabins it might effect a radical 

 change, 



RIFLE TYPES— No. I. 



The man who believes in himself . — He has just fired. 

 Position a la Fulton, {Loquitur. ) "There— bull, sure; 

 didn't you hear it go ping? Heard it get on my- 

 self. I say, you fellows with the glass, can't you tell 

 me where it is? Ought to be just on the right hand of the 

 exact compass centre of the bullseye, and nowhere else. 

 I am positive about that. May be three inches off, and 

 not a fraction more. That is where I aimed, and I never 

 held her more plumb in my life. Confound those mark- 

 ers; awful slow, ain't they? Don't believe one of them 

 understands his business. Wind is kind of uncertain, but 

 made an allowance for it. Got the wind down to such a 

 fine point, so dead sure, that I wouldn't have the least dif- 

 ficulty in making a bullseye every time in a hurricane- 

 Time though the ball reached that target. No sign yet? 

 Not even a centre; not an inner? By George, I hope it 

 ain't an outer. What are you chaps giggling at? I never 

 made an outer yet. Haven't made a black this season. 

 No sign yet ? Well, now, that is strange. This morning I 

 just polished off a string of fourteen bullseyes straight, 

 one after another. Every one of them most in the same 

 place; you could have covered them all with a pint tin 

 eup. Don't believe me? Look at my score book. It is 

 all written down there. No show yet about that shot of 

 mine? Must have fired on the wrong target; no getting 

 over that. If it ain't that, I must have got hold of a badly 

 loaded cartridge. There, that accounts for it; I couldn't 

 miss that target if I tried — no, not with my eyes shut of a 

 pitch dark night. 



The slow man. — He takes his position with the utmost 

 deliberation, as if he was stretching for a sound nap on a 

 sofa. Suddenly finds that his dead latch key is sticking 

 into his ribs. Assumes a sitting position, extracts his key, 

 and finds that his penknife incommodes him. Puts his 

 knife in his vest pocket, but gets entangled somehow in his 

 watch chain. At last he extends himself out, but the rim 

 of his hat is too limp to suit him. Moves his hat around 

 his head several times, and finally settles it just right; but 

 there is something wrong with the lapel of his coat; 

 smooths out a crease there, and now he looks as if he was 

 ready. So he would be, but the shade on his sight don't 

 suit him; the bit of rubber on it is not sound — he is sure 

 of that; it might be wanting in elasticity. He snaps the 

 bit of rubber once or twice, and is apparently satisfied. 

 Of course, before he shoots he must be sure of his eleva- 

 tion. He turns the vernier solemnly — deliberately, an un- 

 appreciable difference, such as no micrometer could ever 

 measure; and of course this delicate operation takes time. 

 All right now; but stop! He remembers that a week ago 

 he saw a cartridge with a wrinkle on the paper. That 

 cartridge may be now in his rifle. Prudence dictates his 

 looking at it. He opens the breech, extracts the cartridge, 

 and finds it perfect in every respect. "Now for it Mr. 

 Lightning," sportively remarks a bystander. "I can't stand 

 being hurried," says the slow man, "it just destroys all my 

 nerve. I won't make rifle shooting a business when it 

 should be a pleasure. Where is my pad ?" He now ad- 

 justs his pad. Evidently there is either one side softer 

 than the other side, ^>r there is a favorite side to that pad, 

 sola.) tries it every way before he is satisfied. Now the 

 tv ill 1, which has been just stirring the flags, barely shakes 

 a loid in them. He stops until they droop on the masts 

 again. Now for it. His face bears a determined look, but 

 his gun don't go off. "It is at half cock, Mr. Lightning," 

 says a kind informant. "Disturbing a man just as he is 

 about shooting is the most annoying thing in the world," 

 is all the thanks the slow man vouchsafes as he removes a 

 microscopic chip from under his elbow. He does cock his 

 gun though, after having let the hammer go down once or 

 twice on the load; he accomplishes this, at intervals of half 

 a minute, quite reflectively. At last, having aimed full 

 ten minutes, his^gun does go off. Fortunately for the ex- 

 cellence of the piece, it does not follow the idiosyncracies 

 of its owner, or it would have hung fire. He makes a high 

 outer, just barely missing the target. The markers some- 

 how, out of spite apparently at having been kept waiting 

 so long, show both signals at once. Mr. Lightning even 

 now seems as if chained to mother earth, but at last slowly 

 gathers himself up, saying— "Just my luck. A lot of fel- 

 lows hurrying a man so; men who don't shoot themselves 

 nor let anybody else shoot in comfort." Mr Lightning 

 then proceeds to clean his gun. He looks through the bar- 

 rel for five minutes by the. watch, as if his rifle was a tele- 

 scope, and he was waiting for the next transit of Yenus, 

 and cleans and sponges for thirty minutes more. By the 

 clock, Mr. Lightning, is ready "to shoot again in a trifle 

 over an hour. 



CHOKE BORE GUNS. 



—Mr. Andrew Peck, of the firm of Peck and Snyder, 



was the recipient on the night of the 14th instant (his 



birthday) of a massive gold headed cane by his employees— 



and which reflects enviable honor" oh recipient s and credit 



to the donors. .... 



■»»» . . : — ~~~ ' 



—Parties desiring an excellent-water pipe are referred to 



the advertisement of the National Tube -Works Go., in our 



. paper today . The California .State ' Fair, fust closed at; 



San Francisco, awarded to this company' a' special gold 



medal for their enameled water pipes/ 



WE have so many queries as to the advantages of 

 choke bored guns, the mode of manufacture, etc., 

 that we publish the following extract from Land and Water, 

 in the hope that it will prove of interest to our readers, re- 

 iterating, however, our former caution with regard to haste 

 in changing a serviceable gun for an untried one, and sug- 

 gesting, also, that all letters bearing upon the subject 

 which appear to have been written in the interest of this 

 or that maker be taken cum grano salis. We also print a 

 letter from a gentleman, whose assertions should carry 

 great weight, on the same subject, as referring to the de- 

 scription of shot to be used in choke bore guns. We no- 

 tice that in all the reports commendatory of the new sys- 

 tem chilled, or hard shot, is spoken of as being used, and 

 if the wonderful results of pattern and penetration claimed 

 can only be obtained by the use of this hard shot the choke 

 bore is not the gun for general work in this country. For 

 pigeon shooting it certainly possesses advantages, but we 

 believe a modification or abandonment will be the result of 

 another year's experience: — 



"The latest and most important alteration made in the 

 internal construction of the modern breech loaders is what 

 is known as 'choke boring.' This system has only been 

 brought into prominent notice during the last twelve 

 months or so, and has been the cause of, we may say, un- 

 usual excitement amongst gunmakers, and that section of 

 the shooting community who are always on the qui vive 

 for anything like an improvement or invention in a weapon 

 in the use of which they take delight. Probably we are in 

 error in assuming that a majority, or, at any rate, a large 

 minority of sportsmen are not conversant with the princi- 

 ples, or the meaning of the term, choke bore, but never- 

 theless we should imagine that scores of gunners who have 

 had the good fortune to be tramping over the moors and 

 stubbles and root crops during the last month or five weeks, 

 are unacquainted with this new system of boring. Under 

 the circumstance, we may be pardoned for presuming to 

 explain them. To the unitiated, therefore, we w T ould say 

 the 'choke bore' system is intended to produce a better 

 concentration of the shot charge, that is to produce close 

 shooting, and consequently to have greater effect on trie 

 object receiving the charge. Many years ago Espinar rec- 

 ommended widening or relieving the muzzle, and even 

 such an authority as Colonel Hawker was favorable to en- 

 larging the muzzle slightly. Numbers of the old type of 

 blunderbuss were widened there to such an extent as to 

 give them the appearance of a postboy's horn, but we can 

 scarcely imagine it could be with the hope of producing 

 concentration. A favorite way of causing shot to adhere 

 in their range was to mix oil or water with them, and even 

 tow r . 



It has been stated that the theory of 'choke boring,' as it 

 is now termed, was known in this country in the old Man- 

 ton's time, but fell into disuse several years ago. Choke 

 boring consists simply in enlarging a portion of the bore 

 of the gun by 3-1000th of an inch, commencing about one- 

 fourth of an inch from the muzzle (which is left in its nor- 

 mal size,) and continuing the enlargement some three and 

 a half inches toward the breech. The theory is that, in 

 discharging the piece, the charge, after traversing the un- 

 enlarged portion of the barrel, and coming to that part of 

 the chamber so increased by the extra boring, expands, but 

 the muzzle being smaller than this proportion of the barrel 

 causes the shot to become compressed or concentrated in a 

 more compact mass before they can make their exit from 

 the piece, thus, by balling the pellets, preventing them 

 from diverging from each other so early in their course. 



A few days since we paid a visit to E. M. Reilly & Co.'s 

 (the well-known London and Parisian gunraakcr) shop at 

 502 New Oxford street — a course we propose continuing in 

 reference to the other principal Loudon gunmakers who 

 may not be unfavorable thereto, with the view of noting 

 any specialty or other matter, and reporting thereon in our 

 columns for the benefit of these of our readers who may 

 be interested in guns and subjects connected therewith — 

 when, at our request to make a trial of some of this firm's 

 guns bored on the new System, they s^nt some specimens 

 of their central fire breech loaders bored on the newly-in- 

 troduced 'choke' system down to their range at Worm- 

 wood Scrubs for trial. We simply give the result of our 

 experiments, which we confined as nearly as possible to the 

 course pursued at the late gun trial at Wimbledon, and 

 leave our readers to judge of the efficacy of the new sys- 

 tem. 



We found that their twelve-bore fifteen-guinea guns, 

 bored on the new system, would, with a charge of three 

 drachms No. 6 Curtis & Harvey's powder, with 1£ ounce 

 chilled shot, throw an average of over 200 pellets within a 

 30 inch circle. Now, this, of course, compared with the 

 pattern ordinarily made with a gun of the usual boring, 

 shows a considerable improvement in concentrative qual- 

 ity, as 140 is a very good average for one of the latter. Of 

 course, in firing at a mark or given surface much depends 

 on accuracy of aim, and the chances are that the bulk of 

 the charge, or rather the central portion thereof, may, 

 through inaccuracy of aim, be put outside the margin of 

 the circle, which would not then under such. circumstances 

 represent fully the actual coricentrative powers of the piece. 

 In. a series of experiments with the same guns, selecting 

 circles, that is that portion of the plate where the body of 

 the charge had fallen, we found. on an average that about 

 three-fourths of the wholecharge was placed within a 30- 

 ineh circle at forty yards, while firing at thirty yards pro- 

 duced greater concentration than even the amoun t of the 

 decrease in the distance would warrant one in expecting. 

 It is unquestionable that guns bored on the new make de- 

 cidedly better patterns than those on the old system. So 

 far, then, choke boring is an advance in the!; art of gun- 

 making in this particular. Regarding the penetrative pow- 

 ers of gnns 'choke bored,' we found those referred to equal 

 to thirty -six sheets of the orthodox pads used for testing 

 the qualities of guns in this respect. It has" been contended 

 that the choke bore's superiority of pattern has been gained 

 only at the expense of penetration. This, however,. has 

 never, so far as we are aware, been borne out by authenti- 

 cated facts, but the contrary has been proved to be the case. 

 If penetration were to be sacrificed to pattern, the Improve- 

 ment irrthe latter'respect-would more than negative: itself- 

 by the falling off in the former, and the concentration of 

 the charge would be a positive disadvantage. OI course it 



rests entirely with the shooter whether he prefers a very 

 close-shooting gun to one which does not produce such con- 

 centration of the charge. If the former, then we can as- 

 sert that a choke bore will be likelier than any other to 

 meet his views. No doubt gunmakers can so 'choke' their 

 guns as to make them almost club or ball the charge at 

 thirty yards, but such a quality is decidedly not desirable 

 for field shooting." 



September, 1875. 



EDITOR FOREBT AND STREAM:— 



The very fairly written letter over the eignature of "Fair Play," In 

 your paper of the 16th nit., shows that American sportsmen are in 

 search of Pennine information on the above subject. What I would de- 

 sire to point out to them is, that the "trial" was quUe as much one of 

 hard versus soft shot, as of guns themselves. The report bears out this 

 all through, and when at the entire end of the whole, Mr. Greener's gun 

 or guns were tried with the regular soft shot, as used by all scientific 

 sportsmen, the targeting, etc. fell so immensely that I decline eiving the 

 figures, lest your readers may fancy that I write in prejudice. The 

 whole report is published in a pamphlet, to be had for one shilling at the 

 Field office, Strand. London, and in it your readers can find the facts for 

 themselves. The hard shot used at, the trial is not at all what is called 

 "chilled ,, shot in America, and is very unlikely to be ever used there, 

 Tf, however, American sportsmen desire to have the benefits of the 

 choke bore, as carried out to what the very best judges here and in your 

 own great country consider a mistake, they must import the hard shot 

 along with their guns. "That's the talk to suit Americans," as "Fair 

 Play" savs. It is only fair also to Mr. Dougall, whose guns have for a 

 long period been so famed for hard shooting, to say that he only entered 

 the competition out of courtesy to the Field editor, and under the pro- 

 test printed in that paper before the trial began, that he could not pos- 

 sibly win, as his guns were bored for regular game shooting, and not for 

 the occasion. It is a great advantage in the Dougall boring that either 

 hard or soft shot can be used; but all experience at came ana scientific 

 data are in favor of soft shot. English Opinion. 



fa Hifle* 



CREEDMOOR. 



86 

 34 

 34 



W. B. Farvvell. 



( 80—5 



A 900-4 



/ 1000-4 



€3 



—Representatives from two cavalry troops and from 

 three regiments were at Creedmoor on Thursday. The 

 practice was quite good. Captain Hinrich's score, a total 

 of 41, is quite excellent. We give some of the best scores. 

 Distances for cavalry, 200 and 300 yards; for infantry, 200 

 and 500 yards; shots, 5: — 



CAPT. KBEUSBR'S TROOP. 



Name. Yards. Total. Yards. Total. G'd t'l. 



Private Kramer 200 19. ...300 17 86 



Lieut. Behlen 200 11. ...300 14 25 . 



CAPT. SANDHUSEN'S TROOP. 



Private Gerken 200 16.... 300 19 85 



PiivateWecht.ee 200 16. ...300 19 35 



Lieut. Morhman 200 16. ...300 ....14 30 



Private Wisbauer 200 19... 300 11 80 



THIRTY-SECOND REGIMENT. 



Corporal Gillit 200 16. ...500 19 35 



Private Ritter 200 15.... 500 20 85 



Private Klein 200 16. ...500 18 34 



Capt. Wunder 200 16. ...500 18 34 



Sergeant Klein 200 ]6....5ro 18 34 



Private Daerlic 200 17....5t0 17 34 



FORTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT. 



Capt. Hinrichs 2(0 20. . . .500 21 41 



Capt. Wardel) .....200 18. ...500 18 



Private Bailey 2i)0 18. ...500 .16 



Corporal Henricks 200 17. ...500 17 



TWENTY-THIRD REGtMKNT. 



Corporal Stearns 200 20. ...500 19 39 



Capt. W. G. Burton 200 17. ...500 19 36 



Sergeant Bryant 200 17. ...500 17 34 



— On Saturday the fifth contest for the Luther badge 



took place. Conditions — Distances, 800, 900, and 1,000 



yards. The very bad weather which prevailed deterred 



marksmen from contesting in the match. There were only 



fonr entries. The following are the leading scores: — 



c 00-4 5 5 5 5-84) 



R.Rathbone { 900-5 4 5 5 5-24 1 65 



1000-2 4 4 5 2— 17 J 



—5555 *— 25J 



4 5 3 5 3-20 1 



4 5 4 5 0-18 1 



The Seventh Regiment Rifle Club contested for the regi- 

 mental "shells" at 500 yards; position, lying; five scoring 

 shots. Mr. W. A, French was the successful competitor 

 upon the score of 19 out of a possible 25 points. At four 

 o'clock the rain fell so heavily that shooting was impossi- 

 ble. 



— The contest for the "Boylan" badge by Inter-State 

 teams will take place next Saturday at two P. M. Distan- 

 ces, 200 and 500 yards; position, standing at the first, any 

 at the second range; two sighting and seven scoring shots 

 at each distance; weapons, Remington military rifles, State 

 model. The badge will be finally awarded to the success- 

 ful competitor on that occasion. 



— The entries made for the match for the "Nevada' < 

 Badge are as follows:— Seventh Regiment, Company H, 

 Captain Smith, and Company I, Captain Casey command- 

 ing; Twenty-third Regiment, Company A, Captain J. G. 

 Story commanding; Forty-seventh, Company G, and Forty- 

 eighth, Oswego, Company A, Captain Burtiss command- 

 ing. 



— The members of the several regiments comprising the 

 First Division, who have qualified to shoot for the "Marks- 

 man's Badge," will contest for that trophy next Friday at 

 200 and 500 yards distance. 



—The "markers'" match at Creedmoor promises to be 

 quite a remarkable event. Indifferent to such baubles as 

 medals and badges, the "Creedmoor Guard" go in for the 

 substantials. The grand prize, we are led to believe, is a 

 barrel of prime flour, and boots, shoes, and tobacco are to 

 be the other awards. Distance will be 200 yards, 10 shots, 

 with military rifles. On the evening of the match there 

 will be a grand entertainment at the Century Hotel. 



Amateur Rifle Ci/UB.-*On Wednesday the Amateur 

 Rifle Club met for the purpose of electing a President. 

 Mr. Sand ford called the meeting to order. General Dakin 

 was .unanimously elected President, an honor well con- 

 ferred, which position the General will undoubtedly be- 

 comingly fill. 



