GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 



MERITS AND pEMERITS OF THE 3°-4°- 



Editor Recreation: Have just returned 

 from a long trip and want to express my- 

 self on the gun and ammunition question. 



I will lay J. J. Adams' letter before me, 

 and take it line by line. 



He says Mr. Van Dyke advocates the 

 50 calibre and M. P. Dunham a 25-35; and 

 remarks " How doctors disagree." Both 

 these men are perhaps correct. One man 

 can handle a cannon, and not be troubled 

 by the noise and recoil. Dunham possibly 

 is " not built that way," and uses what is 

 best adapted to his peculiar organization. 

 I know him personally and he is one of the 

 great army of small bore men. 



J. J. A. does not think a 25 or 30 will 

 stop a bear or elk, as quickly as a 45 or 50. 

 To this I must say I know better. I have 

 shot 7 elk with the 30-40, and with one ex- 

 ception, they dropped the second they were 

 struck; while I have shot deer, and seen 

 them shot, with 45 and 50 calibres that went 

 long distances before falling. 



The statement that it requires a heavy 

 ball to stop a bear, is in one sense correct. 

 I have killed several, and would prefer Mr. 

 Dunham's 25 through the neck of a big 

 bear, rather than Mr. Van Dyke's 50 

 through its abdomen. In a case like that 

 one 25 would be worth 6 or 8 50s. 



Now as to the 44-40-200: The most of my 

 bear killing was done with that calibre; but 

 after a little experience with a large black 

 bear, in which he was shot through the 

 heart twice, heart grazed deeply once, and 

 8 other holes through different parts of his 

 anatomy, I concluded that a larger gun 

 would be in or*der. 



Having used all makes and calibres for 

 some years past, on large game, I must 

 say the killing power of the 30-40 soft point 

 suits me the best of any I have yet used. 

 Where there is no snow, it is the gun par 

 excellence, as the beast drops and you don't 

 have to hunt wounded game by a scanty 

 blood track. One of my elk was gut shot, 

 and was found about 50 yards off, dead. 



So far I have said nothing about the 

 sighting, or lock work of the 30-40. Its 

 killing power is superb, but the sighting is 

 too high by about 200 yards. The trigger 

 action is a miserable fake, on account of 

 the crawl it has. The box magazine is so 

 placed as to make it awkward to carry the 

 gun, either in the hand or on the shoulder. 

 It is slow and clumsy to load, and from the 

 way the lever splits and works over the box 

 or pocket, the lock gets full of dust or 

 water very easily. Another point that has 

 been overlooked, about the small bore, is 

 the nuisance they are to clean. No stick 

 can stand the pressure. My advice to any 



person who wants a gun with great killing 

 power, and very low trajectory, equal or 

 superior in these respects to the best makes 

 of English express rifles, is to get a 30-40 

 single shot; but leave the repeater alone. 

 E. T. Conyngham, M.D., 



Philipsburg, Mont. 



Editor Recreation: After using rifles 

 for 25 years, and of 12 to 15 different makes 

 and calibres, I think I may venture to ex- 

 press my opinion of the new fad — the, 

 smokeless rifles. The commendatory let- 

 ters about the 30-30, smokeless and soft 

 nose bullets does not, in the opinion of 

 every rifleman, make that arm the ne plus 

 ultra of the hunter. The killing of men, is 

 the province of such a dangerous arm, and 

 it was primarily invented for that purpose. 



Smokeless powder no doubt has come to 

 stay. For shot and shot guns it is an im- 

 provement over black powder, but not for 

 rifles. 



The yearning of the rising generation, 

 for a rifle that will weigh but a few ounces 

 and will kill up to 300 yards, without 

 changing sights, is painful indeed. They 

 want no recoil; no smoke; no noise; no 

 weight; handsome enough to be framed, 

 and hung in the parlor. 



Seventy to 100 grains of black powder, in 

 a 38, 40 or 45 calibre rifle, has range and 

 killing power for any animal on this con- 

 tinent. Then why this cry for a rifle still 

 more deadly? 



Game is not killed at a greater distance 

 than 300 yards, except in rare instances, 

 and 90 per cent, of it, at 100 yards; what 

 does a man want of a gun to kill up to 800 

 yards. And why does he want to endanger 

 the life of a fellow man? 



Hank Hunkamunk, Evanston, 111. 



AS TO LYMAN SIGHTS. 



A rifle fitted with, the Lyman combina- 

 tion rear sight, leaf sight and ivory hunt- 

 ing, or ivory bead, front sight, will do 

 nearly twice as good work as one with 

 open sights. 



It is more difficult to see the front sight, 

 when using open sights, than with a tang 

 sight; because with the former, you see 

 only the tip of the front sight, while with 

 a Lyman tang sight, you see it all. 



I use no middle sight except when shoot- 

 ing in the evening. Then, by turning up 

 the ivory triangle on the leaf sight, I can 

 shoot when I would not otherwise know 

 just where the front sight is. If one thinks 

 his sights are not in line, he can turn up the 

 crotch of the leaf sight, and find out by 

 aiming at some object, if the 3 are in line. 



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