Ootobee 0, 1881. 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



189 



to lie bb 

 idl) pass 



' < 



did not see. The left barrel invited the old gobbler down 

 also, making four in the double shot. I could scarcely lift, 

 much less carryinfi 



uext aud 'ast turkey shot I will relate. It was in 

 the meadow* in September, '868, in a field adjoining the 

 cornfield mentioned above. The turkey-" were in a meadow 

 feeding on irasslioppcs. I went r uud the field in the 

 i.im ei out of situit, creeping up to the fence, where they 

 line foriy yards out, straggling, I vjaited, thinking 

 . ■ i . : together, when I would try them with my 



i, j ttew to the timber. Watching and 



ts-hopper started flying (butterfly grass- 

 rkey in the middle of three, when till 

 : : ■ snap up the dainty bit-. 

 As the grasshopper grounded, the three heads ar- 

 rived together to grab him, but. ray right barrel sent 

 ol umber six among them killing them all three, 

 rose the left barrel brought him 



Ll i d< ruble shot — three turkeys with the 



. one with the left (four)— viz , eight turluys in the two 



1 shots. The 1 'i st four were young and very tender, 



.\vn --weighing from ten to twelve pounds 



Meat- lie- Mineral Mountain lead mines, in Crawford coun- 

 . field some len acr- b, As I h id miners at work 

 : l ly rode my horse Dick every morning 

 a! ;d«ays carried my gnu with me. I gener- 

 cora field about a. m., and had frequently 

 Is coming from the corn and in a lame elm 

 )irg I was there at day-break and seeing sev- 

 eral sCampenng from the field with large cars of corn in their 

 shot one. In a minute they were scampering 

 lrom a 1 parts ol ihe fi Id to this one lonely elm. I dis- 

 mounted and shot and loaded as fast as I could. The tree 

 was full of large fox squirrels, and the only hole, half way 

 up whs -I' Sad full of corn ears and squirrels, until not an- 

 other could get in, but, like the ostrich, could get their heads 

 out • f Sigb>, with their bodies a target for No. 6. I blazed 

 away, dn pping them at every shot. When Ihe last was shot 

 From outside the hole, I found them in various parts of the 

 elm, banging along tiie large limbs. I picked off all I could 

 find, billing twenty with only walking round and round this 

 tree— all large fox squirrels. 



Another experience with squirrels I have often thought of. 

 Passing through the timber new the «*iove locality I saw a 

 i ■ I running as hard as he could. I foil- iwed Lim and 

 pressed him 80 bard that he could not. reach the tree where 

 libs bole was. and had to take another— which 1 was sure he 

 must have gone up. Still I look d around here and there. 

 At last 1 saw jomethiug in a fork, which crossed the 

 fork of Ihe two points of the tree high up, 

 and shove this crossing p-epd up two little pointed 

 gs, very like squirrelPa ears. I concluded th s 

 was my foxey. with the corn cob in his mouth, crofsing 

 from the point iu the fork just above the cut ; these two hi tie 

 points must be the earn, bo 1 tot drive. 1 knocked the cob 

 e ghteen yards fr in the tree (down hill) and the squirrel's 

 tail half the distance, with his throat cut with sho*. 



In the fall of 1850 I spent, three months on the Gunpowder 

 River, near Baltimore, having a fine cove on the Harewood 

 farm, where the river's water was still, and a dnck- 

 hons.e with two or three hundred decoys. I shot from Oc o- 

 b'er Until the frost iced the river over, which wes not until 1 

 baa succeeded in some t n weeks fine shooting over decoys 

 lor Winds. My ace unt Of ducks ki led amounted to 1,473 

 he-id, including canvas back, red head. bald pate, pin tails, 

 etc. Here 1 had atol ing shot, bringing the immense field of 

 . : . I 1 caiivas back* and red heads, to stare at a red 

 , I, a cl tti at the end of a pole from my blind, 

 nckward and forward; had heard of this tolling 

 Inr could scarcely believe it until I tried it, Only fancv 

 1,000 fine canvas back-', as thick on the water, apparently, as 

 they can be, swimming up with arched necks Ike a snake, 

 and when thirty-five or forty yards I let go my first barrel, 

 j to see ihe wafer black with the dead and tiu tering 

 ones, instead of which 1 overshot them, through a small 

 piece of cedar brush being near the sight of my guu I ulter- 

 Ward observed: the .second barrel stopped two some ninety 

 or a hundred yards out. Two or three weeks after I made 

 up, again getting the fellows to look at ihe red flag with so 

 much curiosity, there was this time 200 to 300, Ipresume, in a 

 bunch. My right and left counted eleven and two, thir- 

 teen canvass back. I cou'd not get them to toll after, their 

 curiosity must have been fully gratified. William King. 



ANOTHER ANCIENT GUN. 



Aaihekst, N. H., Sept. 26. 

 A B stories of ancient fire-arms seems to be in order, I 

 XX sha'l have to tell mine. I have now standing in my 

 shop an old gun that prompts many envious remarks from 

 my sporting brethien. 1 will give you a description of it 

 and do better by your readers than "Rmgwood" or 

 •' Alu'rn." 



The gun has been in the possession of the Prince family, 

 and whs brought ■ ver by one of their ancestors from Eng- 

 land ful y two hundred yearsago. The liarrel measures sis 

 feet, in length and is an inch and three quarteis in diameter 

 at breech, and a ten-gauge shell will just enter ihe muzzle. 

 The whole length of the gun is seven feet four inches; its 

 weight, seventeen pounds. 



1 remember the old gun when it had its old-fashioned 

 hook-back hammer, Hint, lock: but about thirty yearsago 

 its former owner. L ' <J d Uncle Jimmy'' Prince had the lock 

 chane-ed to percussion. It has been fired but a few times 

 Bince the lock was changed. The traditional mule's kick is 

 a love ! a with the way it will kick. No one 



cares to riiv u a second time. 



j in point : A short time after the old man had it 



fixed he 'saw .:. crow ou n tree about forty rods from the 

 house, so he go' thfi old guu and loaded it about right for the 

 distance, as be judged ; went Up slabs «nd knelt on the floor 

 and fired from ih chamber window. As it happened, there 

 was a chimney about eight feet back that slopped him. The 

 old man came down stairs rubbing himself and remarked, 

 " The old fiun'il kill both ends." He killed the crow. 



H. H. P. 



"LEFT-EYED SHOOTING." 



Boston, October 3, 1851. 

 Editor Fore.it and St > earn : 



As " lecccl" was so kindly considerate of yrror feeling' 

 in hisa-ticle on " Left eyed "Shooting," I will endeavor h 

 be the same of his: nevertheless I enjoyed a hearty laugh 

 when I read his opiniem, and now hope I shall be able to 

 convince him of his error. 



It is evident that in looking at any object, a figure iu the 

 wall-paper for example, there must be two visual rays, one 

 proceeding from each eye, which are focused upon the arti- 

 cle so that they form a sort of > . Now, suppose a finger to 

 be held up a short distance directly in front of the nose, it is 

 evidi nt in this case the p. would be much shorter, and thai 

 the sides, if projected, would strike one on each side nf the 

 figure on the wad ; or, in other words, the person would be 

 " both eyed," as the view of the object with either eye would 

 not be obstructed by the finger. 



But suppose instead of holding his finger directly in front 

 of his nose, or in other words hi tween his eyes, a person 

 holds it a little at the rkht ; now with both eyes open h 

 can still see the figure on the wall, but he does not see it with 

 both eyes, as the finger is between it and his right eye. which 

 would make him, according to "Tececl." ''left-eyed;" in 

 the tame manner, if his finger should be held a little at the 

 left he would become "right-eyed," with which eye he can 

 see the figure when the other is closed, depending solely 

 upon the position of the finger. 



As for a "left-eyed" man not being able to shoot from 

 his right shoulder, with both eyes open, that is something 

 new lo me. Shooting at a bird flying I never aim al 'iig the 

 barrel ; if I sh uld do that I should lose him ; I somehow 

 look at him with both eyes, point the guu where I think he 

 is and pull ; I don't have time to briug him in line with the 

 gun. 



If " Teceel" is not convinced by this, I hope he will give 

 us the benefit of some more arguments and experience to 

 strengthen his position. Pentagon. 



Englbwood, N. J., Oct. 1, 1881. 



Editor Fore-it and Stream : 



In your issue of 29ih ult., a correspondent, "Teceel," 

 writes of "Left-eyed Shooting," promulgating a theory and 

 explaining a simple method for tes' ing the same. I have 

 many times, and long ago, tested my own eyes by the same 

 method and arrived practically at the same results. 1 did 

 not dream of claiming originality either for theory ormethod, 

 as the theory is, I uuderstand, generally admitted by ocu- 

 lists, and the method (or a very similar one) constantly 

 employed by them in their examinations. I am led to 

 believe that I am, for one, decidedly "left eyed." lam 

 forced also to the conclusion that a decided change has taken 

 place in this respect within a tew years. It has resulted in 

 bad shooting — shooting unaccountable on any theory ot 

 "want of practice," or "lack of nerve" — and I have met 

 with measurable success in correcting the difficulty hj 

 le.rning to shoot with "both eyes." As I am not left- 

 hiinded I am prevented from using my left, eye alone, by the 

 lack of proper muscular facility in bringing the gun to the 

 left shoulder rea- lily and quickly ; but by using both eyes\ 

 arrive at t hrably satisfactory results. 



In conversation the other day with a gentleman recentlj 

 returned from England, who is a well-known and enthusias- 

 tic lover of sports, some allusion was made to the hammer 

 less guns ; and he mentioned the fact that they were 

 decdedly the best guns for p- rsons who used both eyes in 

 shooting. Though I do not think he said i-o in so many 

 «Ords, he cert itnly gave me the impression that this method 

 of shooting with "both eyes" was the prevailing one with 

 the beat English sportsmen whom he had met. I am quite 

 of opinion that "crooktd eyes" are almost as common ns 

 "crooked whisky," though I am not preoared to say that 

 they fairly account for anything like as much had shooting. 



The Majok. 



[How about cross-eyed shooters? We have known two 

 such, and they were, both bad marksmen. Was this because 

 they were cross-eyed.] 



Bat Snipe Shooting— Good Ground, Long Isknd, Shin- 

 i. Bay.— We are having the best bay snipe shooting of 



ifl uason. The voting full birds are coining on and ;■ 

 ieg good shouting. We have also the best feed for ducks 

 we have had in yem, There has been for two years a 

 scarcity of feed, and shooting has been poor ; but the feed 

 has come in more plentiful than I ever saw before, and we 

 xpect plenty of ducks this fall.— Wm. N. Lake. 



RUST SPOTS IN GUN BARBELS. 



Maoon, Mo., Sept. 35. 

 Editor Forest and Stream : 



The " vexed quest tou" spoken of by "F. 8." in Fob us r 

 and Stkeam, of September 23, is fudv answered in your 

 editorial note at bottom of article, "the cleaning h id not 

 been thorough." I have owned several gnus and have had a 

 great, deal of experience in cleaning them, and have been 

 troubled with rust spots, but not of la e years. A gun 

 properly cleaned will not rust nor speck inside j and it is no 

 killing task to clean a gun properly, if drine at the end of 

 each day's shooting, as it always should be. The finest gun 

 ever made would s on be covered with rust specks em the in- 

 side if left over night without cleaning a few times. Let 

 your correspondent try this way of cleaning, and report. It 

 answers the purpose as will as any way I have ever tried ; 

 and can be d. ne without any great amount of labor, and does 

 not require over five minutes of time. 



Take the gun apart ; that is. take off the front st^ck and 

 barrels and action apart, push the extractor hack to its 

 proper place, attach bristle-brush to cleaning rod ; dampen 

 Ihe bru h in a pan of water, and draw it backward and tor- 

 ward thiough each barrel several times, which will take out 

 all the burnt powder. Remove bristle-brush ; wipe out the 

 barrels with a dry cloth to remove dampness; then rem an 

 oiled Tag through each barrel several times. Now attach 8 

 three-row wire-brush to the cleaning rod, one that will hi the 

 barrels tightly. Push the same through the barrels up to 

 the choke ( it a choke-bore) several limes, which will remove 

 all the lead that may have adhered to the inside during the 

 days' shooting. Glean out the muzzle with a muzzle brush. 

 Oil thoroughly inside with beat refined sperm oil. Rub off 

 outside of battels and stock with a rag slightly saturated 

 with bo led linseed oil— and the task is done.' 



If you have gut any water into ihe action during the day's 

 shooting yon bad better take the stock and action ap irl mi 

 thoroughly dry and oil the action, and lav the stock near the 

 stove to dry, but nut ne ir enough to burn. 



Any one who will try the above will find that rust spots 

 are. not such an annoyance as they are thought to be. 



BofeDBB Ruffian. 



Sedalia, Mo. — Editor Forest and Stream: It. is said that 

 "distance lends enchantment to the view," and on tlrs ac- 

 count I am inclined to hope that many of your correspond- 

 ents escape the editorial frown when asking hard questions 



or when writing such long dry articles with the therm imeter 

 105 deg. in the shade. Out West, in the basin of the Mfc. 

 -ou'i, yachting news is all a tor'k'n tongue, as nffie-tifrithp of 



he people have neverseeu a yacht, nrtrolling spoon, or punt, 



r iiny other of Ihe many sources of pie. sure to sportsmen of 

 iia-lern cities. N'twilhsta dine all this, you h-tve some sub- 



crih rs here who d' rive a grpat deal of comfort, from the 

 vis'ls of Forest and Sin? am We don't, fi.-h here 

 simply because we have not any waters lo fish in j but. when 

 vou talk about dog and gun we feel at home. Some corres- 

 pondent, in last week's issue, asks about rust in guns. Every 



>ne handling guns will at once recognize this " measel," and 

 some may have a remedy. I do not wish to speak disparag- 

 ingly of the various articles advertised as ru*t preventives, 

 for T do not believe that the fault is in tbem altogether. Gun 

 barrels not only become fouled with the residuum of powder, 

 hut, by new produc's set free by combustion. For instance, 

 a, gun care'essly wiped and then oiled is sure to rust, which 

 would not be the case if no oil was used. The sulphurous 

 acid set free by the powder explosion contains two parts of 



txygen, but is, in this state, innoxious, unless comhined with 

 TOraethiiig that will entirely change its force. When gun 

 barrels become hot, or even warm, from rapid firing, the 

 lead will adhere in small particles to the metalic fibre, It 

 does not make any difference whether you have har-l or soft 

 -hot, or even tinned shot. In cleaning the gun, if all the fine 

 particles of lead are not removed when you oil and put the 

 guu away, you will start a chemical action that will result in 



he formation of oleic acid, which will ru3t like drops of 

 vinegar. Now, lo prevent this, you must use I od'ng water 

 to clean the gun barrels with in which has been dissolved a 

 small amount of clean Castile soap ; then thorough'y dry and 



il, while hot, with pure coal oil, and never use any "other 

 I' ease about your gun except for the purpose of a lubricator. 

 — Oooident. 



Cleveland, O.— Editor Forest and Stream:— I see some 

 of your correspondents arc complaining of rust spo's in th>ir 

 guns. I can tell them how to prevent them; bur. once there 

 hey come to stay. I used to have much trouble in keeping 

 spots out of gun barrels, and finally hit upon the following 

 as a sure preventive : Make a wooden rack, taking three 

 pieces of f or g in. thick boaTd, 6 or 8 in. wide, and long 

 enough to hold all the barrels you have. Cut holes in two of 

 the pieces large enough to let the breech end of the barrels 

 oasseas-ly through ; then t^ke four strips, say 3 ft. long, of 

 3x1 in. st ft', and make an upright, rack by pining the piece 

 if board without, holes at bottom, say 3 in. from bottom. At 

 t) in. above this, put one of the other pieces with holes, and 

 30 inches above put the third piece. Now Set a tin pan made 

 •>h in. deep, 4 or 5 in. wide, and just long enougn to slip on 

 i,o the lower shelf. Procure some good "dry corks to fit the 

 chambers (shell end of barrels), and set the" barrels cork end 

 down in the rack, the barrels resting inside Ihe pan. Now fill 

 up the barrels with retired sperm or porpoise oil, and they 

 nay icmain as long as you choose, and be absolutely safe 

 from rust or spots. When wanted for use have your oil can 

 and funnel ready an-i turn the oil back into your can for fu- 

 ture use. You can u 5 e the same oil for any length of time. 

 be sure and oil 'he corks the first time they are used. 



Bv fairlv cleaning a gun before putting away in this man- 

 ner it can never rust, and is re u'y in five minutes for use by 

 simply turning out the oil, removing the corksand wiping out 

 he oil remaining in the barrels. A liberal dose on the oat- 

 •ride will keep that fro n rust, too. 



I made a rack on saTie principle as above, but somewhat 

 more expt-nsve and still better, as fohnvs: I had sortie 

 round tin tubrs made, 3 inches longer than my barrels, and set 

 hem up iu a rack similar to the other, ttum put my barrels 

 in the tubes muzzh down, with no corks, but with a sir ng 

 cord from the bre. ch hanging outride of tube, by wh ch to 

 lift the barrels out of the tubes. When barrels are in place, 

 ill up the tubes with oil one inch over the barrets, and you 

 have them safe for any length of time. This takes more »U 

 ind more money ; but much loss time, as you leave the oil in 

 the tubes all the time By removing the barrels with tha 

 cord, and after letting run off what oil wil' at once do so iu 

 the tube, and then setting the barrels upright in a tin pan to 

 drain, while one is busy getting o her trap3 ready very little 

 time need be wasted. CaSv«s Back. 



Goshen, O.— Rditov Fore-it and Strenm: Your Boston 

 correspondent, "F. S.." can have the "fearful nustery" ex- 

 plained and the remedy provided to prevent "guu mea» ea" 

 hereafter. I, also, have had three, breech-loaders, two of 

 -vhich contracted the disease by loaning; the third, having 

 failed to desert its master, retains the I eauliful polish with^ 

 out spot or blemish, al hough having Miffered hard usan-e and 

 exposure in all kiuds of weather since February, 187t.i. I 

 would state also that it is never looked after out of gunning 

 season. 



The cau«e of erosion is an element left by the burr t pow. 

 der, all qualities, that rust preventive, coal oil, "elbow 

 grease" and patent cleaners cannot entirely remove. Simply 

 wash or swab the barrels with hot water until clean: w pe 

 dry and. if possible, absorb all nv istnre. bv a gem le heat. 

 Apply Eaton's Rust Preventive inside and out, place incase 

 and slow awny in a dry place and the following season finds 

 it all right. Use no oil until the water has beet, applied. If 

 hot water cannot be had cold will answer until tie final 

 cbaning. I have no "axe to grind" in advertising eilher 

 ru-t preventive or water, but simply desire to favor my 

 sportsman friends not having discovei ed the remedy. 



Aqua. 



Bellevillp, 111., Sept. 2G.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 "F. 8." does not say what kind of oil he used 'o oil the in- 

 side of his gun barrels with ; perh ps lie used coal oil. I 

 have, very often seen it recommended as being good to re- 

 move rust. If he did use it, and especially if he "pui. his gun 

 a«ay after applying it, he v. ill have just, such spots as" he 

 speaks of. ••■ by it produces 'hem I cannot tell. I have no 

 dOUht but it is good to apply on certain kinds of machinery 

 to remove gum, but. it never should be applied to g"n barrels 

 nor to any other part of a guu. I think pure sperm oil i- very 

 good to use in the barrels j ihen dry tbem wiili pure whiting 

 "or fint ly pulverized chalk by running the rod through the 

 barrels with a soft cotton rag for a swab. — 0. H. A. 



Geanitktille, S. C— Editor Foreet and Stream :— Your 

 correspondent "F. S." can Keep his gun free frt/m sp -is and 



-, i lie result of rusi caused by the small amount of 

 perspiration lrom the hand that is lett on the lost oily rag put 

 through the barrels at the conclusion of cleaning. The last 

 rag should be perfectly dry from all saline matter ; the salt in 



