GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 



THE BEST RIFLE FOR BIG GAME. 



Salt Lake, Utah. 



Editor Recreation: Yours is the best 

 sportsmen's publication I ever read. While 

 its contents are all interesting, there is no 

 part of it more so, to Western hunters, 

 than " Guns and Ammunition." The ques- 

 tion " What is the best gun for big game," 

 is an important one, and I have heard it 

 discussed in many lonely cabins and around 

 many campfires, throughout the North- 

 west, during the last 18 years. 



The " Old Reliable " Sharps was a favor- 

 ite with old timers; but the advent of the 

 repeater has so widened the field for in- 

 vestigation that there is now a great range 

 of opinion as to the relative merits of dif- 

 ferent guns and ammunition. 



We see Mr. Van Dyke advocating the 

 50 calibre, while Mr. Dunham says the 25- 

 35 is the best " all-round " rifle he ever 

 used. Both these gentlemen are Western 

 hunters, of many years experience. " How 

 doctors disagree " ! 



I have owned and used more than 20 dif- 

 ferent rifles, during the past 18 years; have 

 studied their merits closely, and my experi- 

 ence and investigation lead me to favor big 

 bores. I do not think it possible to make a 

 25 or a 30 calibre that will stop a bear or an 

 elk as quickly as will a 45 or 50. The small 

 bores will do for deer or antelope; but of 

 all the old hunters I know, and have talked 

 with, I have yet to meet one who would 

 willingly face a grizzly with one of these 

 small bores. 



I once saw a grizzly shot 8 times, with a 

 40-82-260, and the ninth shot, from a 50-110, 

 dropped him. It requires a heavy ball — 

 one with great smashing power — to stop a 

 bear. The deadliest shot that can be given 

 is by a heavy ball, with a large striking sur- 

 face, which will go almost through the 

 animal, but which stops in him; thus giv- 

 ing him the full shock of the ball without 

 any loss of its energy. It is the shock that 

 kills quickly. The 45 calibre ball, weighing 

 405 grains, and travelling at 1300 feet a sec- 

 ond, has more energy and power, and will 

 do more damage, than the 30 calibre ball 

 travelling 2,300 feet a second. The 30 ball 

 has the greater penetration, but it is not 

 penetration you want; it is foot pounds of 

 energy; it is weight and momentum. It is 

 the difference between striking a blow with 

 a light cane and one with a heavy club; 

 between a pebble and a brickbat. 



" Syracuse " may do good work on a 

 dead horse with his 30-30; but let him face 

 a live grizzly, in a patch of willows, and he 

 will pray for a gatling gun — or a tree. 



I have not seen the new 50-100-450; but 

 agree with Mr. Van Dyke in thinking it will 



be almost the ideal gun for big game. The 

 ball is certainly a good one, but a little 

 more powder might be better. 



I notice several of your correspondents 

 speak favorabiy of the 44-40-200. This gun 

 was the favorite with cowboys, in the 70's, 

 but is now obsolete. One of your readers 

 asks, " Where should I aim at a grizzly 

 walking slqwly by at 50 yards?" My an- 

 swer is: " If your gun will break both 

 shoulders, aim at the centre of his shoulder 

 and cut loose. If it will not, either do not 

 aim at all, or, pick your tree before pulling 

 the trigger." John J. Adams. 



TRYING IT ON CATTLE. 



Editor Recreation: Although I have 

 not hitherto been a subscriber to Recrea- 

 tion (the leading sportsmen's journal), I 

 have been a constant reader, by obtaining 

 it through a newsdealer. Enclosed please 

 find $1 as my subscription for one year. 



I am deeply interested in many articles 

 found in your magazine, especially those 

 on repeating guns and rifles. I have a new 

 30-30 Winchester, and am very much 

 pleased with it. I have not tried it on game 

 yet; but went out to the slaughter house 

 and tried it on " domestic game." I shot 2 

 cows and a large bull, and all were killed 

 instantly. The first one I shot with a soft 

 nose bullet. It entered the centre of the 

 forehead. There was about a Y% x y 2 inch 

 hole through the skull. Then the bullet 

 mushroomed, so that it shattered bone and 

 tissue over a space 2 inches in diameter. 

 The bullet — or what was left of it — lodged 

 just under the skin, on the under side of the 

 jaw next the throat. 



The next 2 animals were shot in the same 

 place, but with full jacketed bullets, the re- 

 sult being about the same. The bull had 

 his head raised, so that his bullet ranged 

 higher, and I could not find it at all. It 

 passed through the skull, making a hole 

 the size of the bullet. Then it must have 

 broken and upset considerably, as the bones 

 in upper part of the head were terribly 

 shattered. The bullet struck the large joint 

 that joins the spinal column to the skull, 

 and made a hole in it about one inch in 

 diameter and about 34 inch deep. The bul- 

 lets must have been as fine as the bones 

 were, by this time, for I could only find 

 fragments of lead among the bones, and 

 could not find the jacket. The casing was 

 all I could find of the other bullets, the lead 

 being completely gone. 



I intend to go hunting this fall, and try 

 this rifle on game, and if it gives as good 

 satisfaction there, as it does at target, and in 

 killing these cattle, it will be a great way 

 in advance of the old black powder rifles. 



397 



