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RECREA TION. 



BLUING AND CASE HARDENING. 



Can you give a recipe for case-hardening 

 or bluing, for the purpose of refinishing 

 such smaller parts of guns and rifles as 

 become worn bright, by use, and to restore 

 their original color. G. U., New York. 



Answer. — For bluing, the general meth- 

 od is to polish the metal thoroughly and 

 then place it in heated charcoal, letting it 

 rest awhile, well covered from the air. Then 

 remove the metal and rub the surface down 

 with waste; then put it back again and re- 

 peat this operation 6 or 7 times, depending 

 on the work. Finally the rich blue color 

 will be obtained. 



For some of the small parts the method 

 of " dipping " is also used, this being to 

 dip the metal in a bath of saltpetre, man- 

 ganese, etc. If it is a very small part, or 

 only a portion of a part, the color can be 

 brought back by placing in a gas flame. 

 Heat it until it almost reaches the color you 

 wish; then dip it in cold water. 



For general refinishing and re-bluing of 

 parts, it is better to send them back to the 

 factory. The cost of having parts re-blued 

 would not be so great as the expense of 

 making ready to do the work. Parts like 

 sights, forearm tips, triggers, etc., you can 

 probably bring back to a proper color in 

 the gas flame. 



CASE HARDENING. 



The case hardening finish is obtained by 

 the following process: The part is polished 

 and then packed in burnt bone. This is 

 usually placed in a cast iron box, and care 

 should be taken to have the metal covered 

 by the bone. The pieces of steel must not 

 come in contact with each other. The box 

 in which the work is placed, covered by the 

 bone, is then placed in the furnace and 

 heated red hot. Then the box is removed 

 and the contents dumped in clear, cold 

 water, running water being preferable. In 

 order to give good colors a fairly large size 

 of bone should be used — that is, say about 

 the size of peas. Finer bone will harden as 

 well, but will not give the colors. 



J. V., Cleveland, Ohio, asks for the opin- 

 ions of some of the small bore cranks as to 

 the best rifle for shooting the 22 short and 

 long cartridge. 



I will recommend the Marlin every time, 

 for accuracy, style and workmanship, an'd 

 am glad to see it advertised in Recrea- 

 tion. I have a Marlin repeater, model '92, 

 32 caliber, using both center and rim-fire 

 cartridges and fitted with Lyman com- 

 bination front and rear sights. It is the 

 most accurate rifle I ever saw. I can drive 

 nails with it at 25 yards, and at 60 yards can 



hit V/2. inch pieces of paper nearly every 

 time. 



I load my own shells, with a set of Ideal 

 reloading tools, which are as near perfec- 

 tion as any tools can be. 



If anyone wants an accurate rifle let him 

 get a Marlin safety repeater, fitted with 

 Lyman sights, and he will have an arm that 

 will make him happy. 



Be sure to keep the rifle clean. For very 

 close shooting I clean after each shot, with 

 a clean woolen cloth. 



I have tried the square point, 32 caliber 

 cartridge, that O. J. B. speaks of, and am 

 convinced the killing power is very much 

 increased by cutting off the end of the bul- 

 let. The penetration is not so great but 

 I think the shock, to whatever the ball hits, 

 is greater; and it makes a hole as large as 

 that of a 38 caliber conical bullet. 



Recreation grows better every month, 

 and I am doing all I can to increase its 

 circulation. F. E. B., Brimfield, Mass. 



Editor Recreation: I notice in Rec- 

 reation one problem that has never been 

 satisfactorily solved; and that is how a 

 charge of shot can be held together and 

 made to go in a solid body a certain dis- 

 tance. I have given this subject careful 

 thought and have spent a great deal of time 

 experimenting on it. I have a 12 gauge 

 gun that was once full choked, but; it never 

 carried the shot close enough to satisfy me. 

 I took the barrels in my shop, made a steel 

 reamer and commenced scraping them in- 

 side. I kept at it until I gave them a true 

 taper, the variation being 1-16 of an inch 

 from breech to muzzle, this being what I 

 term a true taper choke. I have tested this 

 gun with U. M. C. loaded shells, No. 4 shot 

 and 3% drams powder. I shot at the end 

 of a log, a foot in diameter, at 135 yards, 

 placing 3 shot in the end of the log and 

 several under it. I found, on the snow, the 

 spread of the charge to be 4^2 feet. 



I think, therefore, a gun with a true taper 

 choke will give any shooter perfect satis- 

 faction. A friend who had a 12 gauge Win- 

 chester shot gun made a shot at the end of 

 the same log, with No. 8 shot, placed 4 

 pellets in the end of the log and 20 under it. 

 The spread was less than 4 feet. His gun is 

 also a true taper choke. 



M. B., Conway Centre, N. H. 



L. H. B. says he would like to hear from 

 hunters regarding the large bore rifles vs. 

 45-90 and 50-110. I have been hunting 

 since 1872 and have used all kinds of guns, 

 from a 22 caliber to a 56 caliber. Am now 

 using a 25-35 Winchester smokeless, and 

 there are but 2 guns on the market that can 

 beat it for stopping qualities. These are 

 the 30-30 Winchester, or Marlin, and the 

 30-40 Winchester. 



Two of my neighbors are using 30-30 



