FOREST AND STREAM 



625 



variations in the size and thickness of the heads are slight, but from the 

 nature of the materials of which the paper shells are made and the 

 number of thicknesses required, it is impossible to keep them as near 

 alike as the metal shells, consequently there is much more variation in 

 the diameter and thickness of their heads, and in order to have all the 

 6 bellsgo in the guns that were selected as the standard, all the variation 

 must be on one side— that is, smaller than the gaugeg. Starting on these 

 premises the manufacture of paper shells was commenced. For the pur- 

 pose of testing the shells In the course of manufacture two guns were 

 ordered from New York without any special directions as to dimensions. 

 The Ho. 10 has the name ©f P. Webley & Son, London, and the No. 12 

 W\ Wellington, Birmingham. In these guns thousands of the paper 

 shells have been fired, and during more than two years of xonstant use 

 but one single miss fire has occurred. 



Soon after the sale of the shells commenced occasional \ complaints 

 were heard, and on the 7th of June last a letter from W. B. Hanworth, 

 Qnincy, 111., in reply to an inquiry was received, which says: "Please 

 find Mith this fifteen of youi shells that would not explode. My gun is 



$300 Foster & Abby, of Chicago; I think her one of the best ever 

 made. The last time I was out I took two of the shells and snapped 

 them twelve times to see whether they would go or not." I examined 

 the shells, and although the caps appeared to have had a good blow, I 

 saw that the pin struck below the centre of thecap,"and on such an angle 

 that the anvil in the cap was missed. I tried severai;of the shells in our 

 gun, including one that had been struck twelve times; they all went 

 promptly. I then returned the balance to Mr. Hanworth, telling him 

 what the trouble was . On the 2M of June an answer came saying: "I 

 had some fears all the time that fcome of the fault lay in my gun. At the 

 same time that I sent you the shells that would not go I also seflt my gun 

 to Joseph Butler, gunsmith, Chicago, telling him to overhaul her and do 

 as he thought best. I received the gun back a few days ago. He said 

 there was too much pfay for the shoulder of the shell, and he bushed her 

 out and let in new pieces into the breech of each barrel so that the shells 

 fit snug. I have just tried the shells that you returned me that would 

 not explode in my gun before, and they all went off first pop. I am sat- 

 isfied that the fault lay in my gun more than in the shells.' 1 Since the 

 above occurred I have investigated other cases, and all with the same 

 result. 



I have examined a great many guns, and any close-measuring mechanic 

 would be astonished at the want of uniformity in the dimensions of the 

 chambers and counter bores of breech loading shot guns, even oft.be 

 highest price and otherwise the best finish, and in most every case the 

 miss fires can be attributed to the excessive variation in the chambers of 

 the guns. To avoid the chances of miss fires as much as possible the 

 paper shells are now being made with thick heads, and when any Jlxed 

 standard can be established for the chambers of breech loading shot 

 guns, and all the gunmakers will conform to the standard, American am. 

 munition for shot guns will take the same position that American am- 

 muiiition now has for breech loading rifles, viz., the best in the world. 

 But so long as some gun makers make holrs in their gun barrels regard- 

 less of size and shape, your correspondents and other sportsmen may 

 well congratulate themselves on having only "three miss fires out of 

 every hundred shells;" while recently in the inspection of military 

 cartridges over 160,000 consecutive shots haVe been fired without a miss 

 fire. 



No one better than the writer can appreciate the feelings of a sports- 

 man at the butt of a gun with a canvas back, mallard, woodcock, or quail 

 within thirty yards of the muzzle and a miss fire. Short words are ex- 

 cusable even when applied to tne manufacturer of cartridges. If the 

 Pobbst and Strbam and all sportsmen will join in demanding the same 

 uniformity of dimensions in the chambers of shot guns that is required 

 in Government rifles, the complaint, not unjustly bu twithout knowledge 

 of the cause, now being made, will be of the past. A. C. Hobbs. 



The head of the unexploded shell alluded to by our cor- 

 respondent below was re forwarded to this office, and ex- 

 ploded on one of our guns at the first trial:— 



Jackson viljlb, 111., Nov. 23, 1875. 

 Editor Forest and Stream:— 



I am pleased to see that the sportsmen of this country have one paper 

 that is not tied up to any particular manufacturer. In relation to the shell 

 question I will say, 1 have used about 180 of the Bridgeport shells since 

 I wrote to you, and still not a single miss fire. I have used over a thou- 

 sand of them, and never knew the head of one to pull off, nor one to 

 miss fire. I can say this, that the Bridgeport shell is good enough for 

 me; my experience sustains me in saying so. That the experiences of 

 sportsmen differ is undeniable. My relations with the Bridgeport com- 

 pany is no more than any other sportsman of this country, and I never 

 write anything that I can't put my name to. Mr. Richardson Vasey, one 

 of our best sportsmen, has brought me one of the Bridgeport shells that 

 he had miss fire since he put his name to the testimony published in 

 jour paper. He says: "It is the first I ever had miss fire. I reload them 

 twice, and sometimes three times. I have never known the head of one 

 of these Bridgeport shells to pull off." I have sent the shell referred to 

 above to Bridgeport. I hope you will continue to let all sportsmen that 

 are honest and reliable express their views and experiences through your 

 paper, and let it be seen that sportsmen have one impartial paper in this 

 country. You shall have my support as far as it goes. Geo. Hatden. 



— Another correspondent writes from Salem : "I never 

 hadaU. M. C. shell miss- fire; but for reloading they are 

 next to worthless. English shot are not creating much of 

 a sensation about here." 



. «»«». . 



Fox Hunting. — Mr. Donahue and a party from this city 

 and contiguous Jersey towns were out with hounds on 

 Monday, but met with but poor sport, Bears Nest and Big 

 Swamp being both drawn blank, and the party were 

 obliged to return to Hackensack minus a fox. We have 

 several letters on the subject of fox and paper hunting, 

 which are unavoidably left over for our next issue. 



A Good Rifle Work in Brooklyn. — Mr. Robert Miley 

 "Will have a rifle tournament at his gallery, to commence on 

 December 3d and lo be continued every Monday and Fri- 

 day until the 7th of January, for the benefit of St. Peter's 

 Hospital, under the charge of the Sisters of St. Francis. 

 •*-*+. 



— Wakeman Holberton, the artist and fish painter, has 

 removed his studio to 1,193 Broadway, room 21. He is 

 now engaged on a black bass picture from studies made 

 among the Thousand Islands last Summer. We anticipate 

 a charming and life-like result. 



<♦». 



—Messrs, Freund Bros., of Cheyenne, W. T., have sent 

 us the specifications of two ingenious patents due to Mr. 

 F. W. Freund. One is an adjustable pistol grip to a rifle or 

 fire-arm stock, which is exceedingly simple in character and 

 ■we should think would speedily come into use. The other 

 patent is for an improvement in sights on fire-arms. The 

 serious objection to the clipped spring sights now in use 

 oeing their liability to displacement, or moving under a 

 stock or jar. Mr. Freund's improvement certainly does 

 away with these troubles, and in a very easy and practi- 

 cal way. 



GAME PROTECTION. 



*_ — 



„ Boston, Mass., Nov. 20. 1S75. 



Editor Fobest and Stkeam:— 



Your New Hampshire correspondent, "Quail," may be a very good 

 shot, but I say any decent kind of a shot can kill his quail at thi* season 

 of the year in Massachusetts. My friend Brown and I were in the woods 

 one day last week, when my setter made a point on a bevy of quail. Get- 

 ing ready to fire I let the dog go in, but the quail refused to fly, and the 

 dog succeeded in capturing one of them. On examination it proved to 

 be but two-thirds grown and but half feathered. Therefore I say to 

 '■ Quail," refrain from shooting them this month, hoping that next month 

 they will be in better condition for shooting. The sportsmen in this vi- 

 cinity hope to have a law passed at the next session of the House of 

 Representatives that will prohibit shooting quail prior to the 1st of De- 

 cember. I fully indorse ''Under Grip's" able protest against the killing 

 of quail before the season opens. v Bbeech. 



Pittsburgh, Penn., Nov. 19, 1875. 

 Editor Forest and Stream:— 



The correspondence between "Check Cord" and Mr. C. H. Wild is 

 calculated to awaken attention from all sportsmen from its personal na- 

 ture and spicy quality, as well as the more important bearing it has upon 

 a case of non-observance of the game laws. While we say all honor to 

 Mr. Wild for the great interest he has taken, and the many substantial 

 acts he has heretofore avowedly accomplished in the matter of sports- 

 manlike protection of game, yet we "more in sorrow than in anger" say 

 that the slaughter of even two quail out of season cannot be extenuated 

 on the plea of former good deeds done to the cause of protection. Tlae 

 free-to shoot-at- woodcock, or the ready- winged pheasant, would have 

 tested Ace's retrieving qualifications quite as well as the forbidden quail: 

 and the permission of the friendly landholder to "fire away" can never 

 alter the covenant that oil true sportsmen have entered into to perserve 

 the birds unharmed until a certain eligible date agreed upon, when all 

 sportsmen may nave an equal chance, and even the birds a fairer chance 

 by their adult powers of flight, and in principle and effect any one of us 

 assuredly takes an unfair advantage of the rest, who by anticipating the 

 date agreed upon and rendered binding by act of Assembly, if even for 

 the final examination and the award of a diploma to a favorite setter, 

 we kill just two birds out of season. No, Mr. Wild, don't shield your- 

 self behind the permission of your friend who owns the land on which 

 the birds were shot. While the disposal or ownership of birds on one's 

 own land is not a question that is legally settled; it ought to be settled 

 that they are the sportsmen's property to protect, at least, and whether 

 the sportsman be the landowner or his friend, there should not be a 

 question of the propriety of letting the birds alone until the law permits 

 them to be killed; and the landowner, whether he be sportsman or not, 

 ought to be a law-abiding citizen in this as in all other respects. 



Woodcock or pheasant were your birds, Mr. W., and your fair reputa- 

 tion would then never been the subject of the apparently friend'y and 

 well-meant badinage of "Check Cord," who must now, at least, lay 

 claim to credit for having done something "for the protection of game." 

 By the way in which Mr. W. kicks back it seems that he is vexed, not 

 only that he did it, but that anything was said about it, but all will 

 doubtless be right when "Check Cord" accepts the invitation to the Biid 

 River shore to practically protect game by trying to shoot it. Then 

 must the amusement afforded to Mr. W. more than compensate for all 

 the chagrin he has endured from his friend "telling the truth too much 

 on him." 



To change this subject a little to one that is of the same character, but 

 legalized and wrong in effect, I wish to add some testimony to the great 

 need of making the opening season for quail to be at the earliest on No- 

 vember 1st, or better, the 15th. On the 15th of October a friend, an ac- 

 complished and observing sportsman, made a visit with me to the farm 

 of a gentleman in Ohio for a day's quail shooting. Rain coming on after 

 two or three hours we were obliged to desist, but before doing so we 

 found three bevies of quail, the first nearly, if not quite, full grown, 

 strong-flying birds, that could take care of themselves; the second bevy 

 was little more than half grown, as was tested by one being killed for 

 comparison; the third bevy was of birds so small as to be scarcely able 

 to fly, and certainly not more than two weeks old, the old dogs pointing 

 them almost under their feet. In brief, these facts, in conjunction with 

 those set forth by "Mortimer" and many other of your correspondents, 

 call at least for an extension of the close season in some of the more 

 Northern localities. Yours, South Fork. 



With respect to the soundness of the views advanced in 

 the concluding clause of our worthy correspondent's letter, 

 we wish to adduce the evidence of our observations during 

 the entire month of Iaa& October in the middle and north 

 era portions of Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina, 

 which discovered not only the fact that the quail were not 

 fully grown in either, but they prove the entire practica- 

 bility of a uniform game law to apply to those States. 

 Moreover, the data received from the Middle and New 

 England States show that the law governing quail shoot- 

 ing there can very properly be made to coincide with the 

 law to govern the three States first named. An enactment 

 extending the close season to November 1st throughout the 

 entire latitudinal range would meet all the contingencies of 

 the case squarely, constituting in itself a constituent part 

 of the proposed scheme for a general uniform law to apply 

 to the several varieties of game that come within the sports- 

 man's category. This problem is being gradually solved 



to the satisfaction of all interested. 



. -+**> 



—Bernard A. Hoopes, Esq., President of Ihe Philadel- 

 phia Sportsmen's Club, was elected President of the Penn- 

 sylvania State Sportsmen's Association, at the late Harris- 

 burg Convention. One reporter wrote "A. B. Hughes." 

 ««»»» 



— The number of offences by summary proceedings 

 against the English Game Laws in 1873-4 was 11,955, 

 against 10,870 in the proceeding year. 



— Col. Geo. W. Wingate, General Inspector of Rifle 

 Practice, has issued an order directing the attention of In- 

 spectors of Rifle Practice and regimental commanders to 

 the necessity for thoroughly instructing their commands in 

 rifle practice at their respective armories during the drill 

 season. The course of practice at Creedmoor range, he re- 

 marks, is intended solely to apply the knowledge gained at 

 drill. Each regimental commander, upon application to 

 Gen. Knox, Chief of Ordnance, can obtain 1,000 solid 

 headed shells, and 50,000 extra strong primers for candle 

 practice. The returns of rifle practice of all organiza- 

 tions must be forwarded to brigade headquarters on or be- 

 fore December 1st to insure their publication at head- 

 quarters. 



—The millionaire, Wm. B. Astor, died in this city on 

 Wednesday of last week, aged eighty-four years. He 

 owned 2,500 houses and lots and the total value of his 

 property is estimated to be about $150,000,000, 



• ■ » .. i — 



Creedmoor. — This range was crowded on Thanksgiving 

 Day, practice shooting and match competitions going on 

 side by side. The day was delightful, there being just sun 

 enough to be pleasant, and no wind. Two teams from the 

 Fourteenth Regiment, companies A and B, contested for a 

 handsome gold medal, the first named company winning 

 by 13 points. We give the scores:— 



COMPANY A. 



Name. 200 yds. 500 yds. Total. 



John Correy 21 22 43 



> Thomas Henwood 19 1? 86 



Thomas Askell 20 15 85 



George W. Booth 18 15 S3 



Thomas Harvey , 18 15 33 



Fairtlough.. 17 14 81 



Total 211 



COMPANY B. 



Name. 200 yds. 500 yds. Total. 



F.J. Fagan 20 21 41 



M. L. McGwin ]9 18 37 



J.J.Clancy 18 17 36 



J. C. Erkenmark 17 15 32 



M. Smith 15 12 27 



J.J.White 15 11 26 



Total. 198 



Members of C and D companies of the Ninth Regiment 



had their contest for three badges, which were taken by 



Captain Auld, Sergeant Engel, and Private Huggard, with 



the following scores.— 



Name. 200 yds. 500 yds. Totah 



Capt. Auld 19 8 27 



Sergeant Engel 17 6 23 



W.IIuggard 16 5 21 



Company G, of the same regiment, also held a contest 

 for an elegant badge. Captain Pryer and Private Hover 

 tied on 18, when the Captain, without cavilling, gracefully 

 awarded it to Mr. Hover. 



The Eighty-fourth regimental rifle club has three prizes — 

 the Conklin and the Boylan badges, and one other trophy, 

 often merited but rarely called for, proudly designated as 

 the Duffer's badge. Conditions— 500 yards, fifteen shots. 

 We give the four leading scores: — 



Drum Major Nolte "9 1 Sergeant Osborne, Co. C 37 



Sergeant Randall, Co. F 38 J Sergeant Levey, Co. E 85 



Drum Major Nolte took the Conklin badge, and Sergeant 

 Randall the Boylan. Who gloried in the happy possession 

 of the Duffer badge will, so far as we have anything to do 

 with it, never be made known. 



Three companies of the Seventy-ninth Highlanders, B, 

 D, and E, shot for prizes. Ten shots at each range of 200 

 and 500 yards were the conditions, but owing to the late- 

 ness of the hour when the match commenced it remained 

 unfinished, and was declared off for the present. Com- 

 pany 13 had offered no less than twenty-four prizes. A 

 French clock was, however, won by Sergeant Duncan Mc- 

 Pherson by the following very excellent score: 200 yards — 

 445444445 4—42; 500 yards— 4 54345342 

 4—38; total, 80. The first prize of Company D was won 

 by Lieutenant D. E, Van Nett, and of Company E, a gold 

 watch, by W. Stevenson. 



■In company G, of the Twenty-second, a medal offered 

 by Private Herts was won by Private Scranton, who made 

 20 out of a possible 25 at 200 yards. 



Among the many good scores made we may mention 

 that of Sergeant T. J. Dolan, of Company D, Twelfth 

 Regiment, who, at 500 yards, made 31 out of a possible 35. 



In the afternoon a match was shot between the members 



of the Scotch-American Rifle Club for the Morrison badge, 



but unfortunately a protest was entered by Captain Clark. 



However, we give the scores: — 



Name. 200 yds. 500 yds. Total. 



A.Pyle 3? 40 77 



Copt. W. C. Clarke 38 38 76 



Thomas Duke 37 38 75 



W. Stevenson ..37 3T 74 



W. Bobertson 38 23 61 



—On Saturday, Nov. 27, the Hepburn match took place, 

 which may be considered as the last engagement of the 

 rifle season of 1875. The badge presented by Mr. L. L. 

 Hepburn, who was the winner of the Remington Diamond 

 Badge, was in fact a quid pro quo offered by him, with the 

 very excellent idea of encouraging the formation of a new 

 team outside of the former champions. The weather was 

 rather cold, and a raw wind blew from XII right down the 

 range. There were fifteen entries, but early in the match 

 the scores of some of the leading shots were, without be- 

 ing very strong, sufficient to intimidate the weaker ones, 

 who withdrew. Conditions— First competition for the 

 Hepburn Trophy; open to all comers, excluding members 

 of the American International team of 1874 and 1875; 

 rounds, fifteen each, at 800, 900, and 1,000 yards; weapon, 

 any breech loader, to be loaded at the breech only; prize 

 to be won three times before becoming personal property 

 of winner. The following are the best scores: — 



Name. 800 yds. 900 yds. 1,000 yds. Total. 



W. B. FarwelL 55 66 59 ]80 



A. V. Canfleld, Jr.. 62 63 54 179 



F.Hyde ....59 66 43 168 



R. Kathbone 60 58 48 166 



H.S.Jewell 64 61 87 162 



H Fisher ...57 57 38 152 



L. C. Bruce ...51 56 83 140 



A. J. Hennion, Jr. ...124 



E . A. Perry 1 ] 8 



E.H. Raymond 114 



During the shooting of the Hepburn match, another was 

 in progress made up of the team who had won the silver 

 trophy at the What Cheer range. It was decided to dis- 

 pose of this by single competition to the team, and after a 

 postponement from Goshen, in consequence of the stormy 

 weather, the shooting came off at Creedmoor. The rounds 

 were seven each at 600, 800, and 1,000 yards. Messrs. 

 Bruce, Hyde, and Coleman retired from this, and Major 

 Fulton, who was of the team at Providence, was not 

 present. The scores give the prize to W, B. F&rwell* 



