62 



RECREA TION. 



cover; but even then many long shots 

 are offered as an occasional bird sails off 

 among the trees, or crosses from one cover 

 to another. Late in the fall, when the birds 

 are wilder and the woods more open, shots 

 may be all the way from 15 to 60 yards. 

 Even in woodcock shooting one frequently 

 gets a long shot at an old cock, which, 

 roused by the dog from the deep seclusion 

 of his boring ground, darts in erratic flight 

 over the tops of the willows, to be lost to 

 view among the tremulous leaves of the 

 aspens. 



I have never shot snipe, but from all ac- 

 counts they have their wild and their slug- 

 gish days, necessitating the use of a gun 

 equally adapted for short or long range 

 shooting. 



To sum up I would recommend, for up- 

 land shooting, a 12 gauge, with 28 inch 

 barrels; the right a cylinder and the left 

 full choked; to weigh not more than 7^ 

 pounds. Mine weighs 7, which is heavy 

 enough to carry all day, over rough coun- 

 try. If the sportsman can get a day or 2 

 at ducks, every fall, or is fond of the traps, 

 he had better get 30 inch barrels, with the 

 right slightly choked. Of course the man 

 who can afford 2 guns, or 2 sets of barrels, 

 need not be hampered in this way. 



Whatever you do, get a stock to fit you. 

 I use one 14^ inches long, with 3 inch 

 drop. My height is a little over 6 feet. Go 

 into some big establishment, where a large 

 stock of guns is kept on hand, and try sev- 

 eral. Fix your eyes on some small object 

 and bring up the gun, without removing 

 them from the mark. If the gun covers it 

 correctly it is a fit. It is best to see about 

 1-3 of the rib, from the muzzle; for then 

 the gun will shoot a little high — a good 

 fault if not overdone. 



The craze, nowadays, is for straight 

 stocks, especially for trap shooting. It may 

 be all right for pigeons, which rise fairly 

 regular; or for men with supple necks; but 

 for game you want such a stock that the eye 

 will come naturally at the right height for 

 correct aiming without taking any notice 

 of the breech end of the barrels. When 

 you have found such an one measure the 

 drop at the butt, and the length from the 

 fore trigger to the centre of the butt plate, 

 and send your order to a reliable American 

 firm, or place it with a responsible dealer, 

 and you may rest assured you will get what 

 you want. Most firms will send their guns 

 C. O. D., allowing one day for trial, and 

 will send a pattern and a written guarantee 

 with them. If you are not satisfied all it 

 will cost for the examination is the ex- 

 pressage both ways. 



Will some fellow sportsman write an ar- 

 ticle for Recreation about the relative 

 toughness, durability, etc., of twist, Damas- 

 cus, and steel barrels, and of the best 

 methods of choking? 



RELOADING SMOKELESS SHELLS. 



Enterprise, Idaho. 



Editor Recreation: I have read with 

 deep interest the reports given by several 

 of your correspondents as to the accuracy 

 and killing power of the new 30 caliber 

 smokeless rifles. I cannot learn that any 

 of them have ever tried reloading the am- 

 munition. Where a man is so situated that 

 he can get the cartridges when wanted it 

 does not pay to reload; but we who live 

 in the mountains, remote from railways and 

 gun stores, are almost compelled to do so. 

 My partner and I each own 30-30 smoke- 

 less rifles. We wanted to reload our car- 

 tridges and to use, in some of them, black 

 powder and a hardened lead bullet, which 

 would be equal to a reduced charge. These 

 we would use for target practice, at short 

 range, and for small game. 



Using the " Ideal " reloading tools we 

 had been able to reload our 25-25 and 50-110 

 cartridges perfectly and thought we could 

 do so with the 30-30. At my request the 

 Ideal Manufacturing Company made me a 

 set of 20 caliber reloading tools that was 

 perfection in its work, as are all their gun 

 implements. We began our tests with 

 FFG Dupont's rifle powder, and 160 grain 

 bullets, one part tin to 12 parts lead. 



The result was a terrific recoil, a blowing 

 off of the neck of the shell or a splitting of 

 the shell clear to its base. As to accuracy 

 the cartridges were all right and the pene- 

 tration, at 30 yards, was 13 inches of green 

 pine. The bullets would, however, occa- 

 sionally turn over and strike sidewise. 



In the next lot we reduced the powder 

 charge to 20 grains, which increased the 

 trajectory and decreased the penetration 5 

 inches. I then used soft lead bullets and 30 

 grains of same powder, with same results as 

 to recoil and bursting of shells. Then I 

 used a no grain bullet and about 15 grains 

 of powder, filling up the shell with saw- 

 dust and seating the bullet down solid on 

 top of it. At 50 yards this charge was 

 fairly accurate and the penetration 4^ 

 inches; but after one shot the shells were 

 so swelled as to be unfit for further use. 



To sum up, the tests we were able to 

 make were not at all satisfactory. This I 

 conclude is caused by the rapid twist in the 

 rifling of the nickel steel barrel. One pecul- 

 iar feature was the twisting of the bullets. 

 At least 1 in 8 turned over. 



The tests we~e made with both Winches- 

 ter and Marliii 30-30 rifles, and with U. M. 

 C. and Winchester shells. 



In a recent issue of Recreation I learn 

 that cartridges for these rifles are now 

 made with a reduced charge of smokeless 

 powder, which will afford the proper results 

 for target practice and small game shoot- 

 ing. We have ordered a large supply of 

 these and have given up all attempts at re- 



