23° 



RECREA TION. 



Second, — it has a circular magazine, 

 thereby obviating the danger of exploding 

 shells in it. 



Third, — you can load it easily and rapid- 

 ly, when used to it. 



Fourth, — you can also use short range 

 loads, in the regular shell made for the rifle. 



Fifth, — it has a positive safety, making an 

 accidental discharge impossible, when the 

 safety is on. 



Sixth, — it is the easiest to manipulate of 

 any lever gun on the market. 



Seventh, — the extractor is positive and 

 powerful, ejecting the shell to the right 

 with great force. 



Eighth, — the gun is handsome, well bal- 

 anced and weighs but 7J/2 pounds. 



I have used the short range cartridges 

 and find them accurate at 30 yards, shoot- 

 ing at same elevation as the regular charge, 

 at that distance. Have never shot them at 

 long range. 



I have not had an opportunity to use a 

 Savage on game, but from the way the 

 soft nosed bullets tear holes in targets I 

 made, by setting up dry spruce boards, an 

 inch apart, I should think they had as much 

 stopping power as a 50 express, without 

 the weight, smoke or recoil of the 50. 



Percy J. Bowker, Wakefield, Mass. 



ABOUT LYMAN SIGHTS. 



Portersville, O. 



Editor Recreation: I notice some of 

 your readers are making inquiries as to 

 the Lyman sights, on rifles. In my 

 opinion a Lyman combination rear, and 

 ivory bead front sight, on any rifle, doubles 

 its value, for either hunting or target work. 

 More accurate shooting can be done, un- 

 der all weather conditions, and in all con- 

 ditions of light, than with any kind of open 

 sights. 



With a Marlin 32-20 rifle, and Lyman 

 sights, I have placed shot after shot in very 

 small targets, at distances of 20 to_50 yards, 

 after it was so dark I could not Tiave seen 

 through a crotch sight. If I could not get 

 another set I would not sell mine and use 

 open sights again, for the price of a new 

 rifle. 



One of my friends has a 25-20 Marlin 

 and was using open sights, but after using 

 my rifle one day he was thoroughly con- 

 vinced of the superiority of Lyman sights, 

 and at once ordered a set. The ivory bead 

 is much superior to the hunting sight, for 

 the front in my estimation. 



Now a word as to choice of rifle. For 

 an all round small game and target rifle, 

 the 32-20 Marlin can not be improved on. 

 Such a rifle will give the user more satis- 

 faction than any of the new models lately 

 brought out. It is more easily cleaned and 

 it is easier to clean and reload the shells 

 than it is the extreme bottle necked shells. 



By doing your own loading you can 

 shoot a 32-20 about as cheap as a 22. With 

 the 32, small game is generally killed if 

 only grazed; while with the 22 it takes a 

 centre shot to kill game dead. But what- 

 ever cartridge you choose, you can not 

 make a mistake in buying a Marlin. 



J. T. Maris. 



AMMUNITION. 



Having carefully tested both my guns with 

 the different nitros, I find the Cashmore 

 makes the best pattern with 2> l A drams of 

 nitro, 1 J4 ounces of chilled 7s, in smoke- 

 less or leader shells. The Syracuse does 

 the better with 3 drams nitro and 1% 

 ounces 6 shot. It also makes a fine pat- 

 tern with sy 2 drams of F. F. F. G. black 

 powder, which load I use in my second 

 barrel, in duck shooting. 



I should like some brother shooter, who 

 has used the new semi-smokeless, made by 

 the King Powder Co., to give us the re- 

 sults. The advance in price of Shultz & 

 E. C, makes trap shootinsr expensive sport, 

 and it would be good policy for us to find 

 some cheaper load until the price of nitros 

 comes down. 



Your correspondent "11 Gauge" sends 

 cut of what I consider a dangerous loading 

 block. No doubt it will seat the wads with- 

 out swelling the shell: but if a shell should, 

 by any chance, explode in the block it 

 may do more. It may also kill the opera- 

 tor. I once knew of a shell exploding in 

 a wooden block without doing much dam- 

 age, beyond making kindling wood of the 

 block. Suppose it had been a steel block. 

 The charge would then have come out like 

 a charge from a gun, at short range. Life 

 is too short to take such chances, or to 

 bother with loading one shell at a time 

 when a good 50 hole block can be bought 

 for a few cents. An 11 gauge wad can be 

 loaded in a wooden block, without swell- 

 ing the shell, if care be taken. 



You need not use 11 gauge wads in mod- 

 ern guns, bored for nitro powders, and 

 will get but indifferent results even if you 

 use 11 gauge wads in the "old style Ameri- 

 can guns which were not bored for the 

 new powders. 



Amateur, Des Moines, la. 



LYMAN SIGHTS AND REPEATING SHOT GUNS. 



Los Angeles, Cal. 

 Editor Recreation: I wish to say, in 

 answer to P. J. M., as to Lyman sights, that 

 I consider them the best in the market, and 

 I have used nearly all the others. The Ly- 

 man sights undoubtedly facilitate shooting, 

 both in the woods and in the open, and 

 strain the eye as little as possible, if any at 

 all. The game is readily seen, through and 



