GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 



63 



loading smokeless rifle shells. With good 

 tools and a great deal of care ordinary rifle 

 black powder shells can be reloaded to give 

 good results, but no more second hand 

 smokeless cartridges for me. 



The new smokeless rifles give us perfect 

 satisfaction in every respect. We find them 

 thoroughly effective on big game and shall 

 use them exclusively, hereafter. Black 

 powder guns are a thing of the past. The 

 30 caliber shell, with soft nosed bullet, has 

 about 3 times the killing power of a 50-110 

 Winchester express and has none of the 

 objectionable recoil and smoke. I am sure 

 it will please all who give it a fair and im- 

 partial trial. 



Now why can't we have a 22 caliber 

 smokeless rifle, using about 10 grains pow- 

 der and an 86 grain bullet, for small game 

 and for target shooting? That would be 

 about equal to our 25 and 32 caliber rifles, 

 in range and effectiveness. 



M. W. Miner. 



I have owned or shot samples of all the 

 better guns made in America, as well as 

 several of English make, and find good 

 shooting qualities in the Parker, Davis, 

 Remington, Ithaca, Baker, Winchester, 

 Lefever, Whitney and several others. The 

 hardest hitting American gun I ever fired 

 was a high grade Whitney safety gun. 



A short time ago I had the opportunity 

 of targeting a high grade pigeon gun made 

 by Wm. Cashmore, of Birmingham, Eng- 

 land, for a Des Moines sportsman and can 

 truthfully say, the Cashmore gun has the 

 most remarkable shooting power I have 

 ever found in any gun. For pattern, pene- 

 tration, fine balance, close fitting joints, 

 finish, and all that goes to make up a high 

 grade arm, this Cashmore certainly leaves 

 nothing to be desired. 



Your readers who desire to learn more of 

 this make of gun, should write Mr. Cash- 

 more, Steelhouse Lane, Birmingham, Eng- 

 land, for a catalogue of his guns, mention- 

 ing Recreation. 



C. H. Kessler, Des Moines, la. 



TESTING THE ARMY RIFLE. 



KANSAS CITY " STAR." 



The Krag-Jorgensen rifle, which has 

 been adopted by the United States govern- 

 ment, is not a humane weapon of war. It 

 has been the belief of army officers and 

 surgeons that the 30-caliber, steel-jacketed 

 bullet which the Krag-Jorgensen shoots 

 would either kill a soldier instantly or leave 

 a wound which would enable him to fight 

 on without knowing, for a long time, he had 

 been injured. This theory was completely 

 dissipated at a trial of the rifle made yester- 



day under the direction of Dr. J. D. Griffith, 

 ex-surgeon general of the Missouri state 

 militia. 



The test showed that at any distance un- 

 der 1,000 yards the ball from this rifle rends 

 human flesh, disintegrates human organs 

 and shatters human bones into fragments. 

 Beyond 1,000 yards — and the gun will carry 

 3 miles and kill — the bullet bores a small 

 round hole through bone or tissue. 



It will bore a hole through an oak tree a 

 foot in diameter at a range of 2 miles; per- 

 forate steel plates; plunge into solid earth a 

 distance of 18 inches, after passing through 

 a human body. Yet a small pile of loose, dry 

 earth will arrest its flight and tear it into 

 fragments. Scientists' explanations as to 

 why this is so are very unsatisfactory, but 

 all admit that it is true. To protect himself 

 against the Krag-Jorgensen bullet, a soldier 

 needs neither forts, trees, armor nor steel 

 plates. He can dig up a pile of loose earth, 

 18 inches in diameter, with his trowel bayo- 

 net, and, lying behind this apparently inse- 

 cure barrier, be assured that all the bullets 

 fired at him will be flattened before they 

 reach him. 



For the tests made yesterday a human 

 head and several legs of human cadavers 

 were used. The targets were placed in front 

 of a high embankment and Dr. W. T. Stark 

 and General Milton Moore, of the state 

 militia did the shooting. They began at 500 

 yards, and over 200 rounds were fired at 

 various distances. 



One of the first bullets fired struck the 

 head, just above the nose, at a range of 500 

 yards. The skull was shattered as if it had 

 been an egg shell and the bullet buried it- 

 self in the embankment, where it was dug 

 out later, as bright and perfect as when 

 placed in the rifle. Other bullets pierced 

 the skull and splintered the bone in radiat- 

 ing lines. The bullets also tore the bones 

 of the legs into long splinters. 



The test was to ascertain the effect of the 

 bullets on human bones and it was proved 

 that they would not bore small, clean holes 

 through osseous substances, at less than 

 1,000 yards. 



After the shooting at the parts of cadav- 

 ers a few experimental shots were tried at 

 loose and solid earth. Bullets fired into the 

 solid earth went out of sight, but in loose 

 dirt they were stopped within 2 feet. One 

 bullet, fired from a distance of 20 yards, 

 into a pile of loose earth, was found in the 

 centre of the hillock. It was completely 

 flattened and its steel jacket was twisted 

 into a ragged shape. There was little re- 

 sistance to the earth, as one could easily 

 push a finger through it. 



Two Krag-Jorgensen rifles were used in 

 the experiments, one the infantry gun and 

 the other the cavalry carbine. The only 

 difference between them is that the car- 

 bine is a few inches shorter. They shoot 

 with equal accuracy up to 500 yards. 



