50 



RECREATION. 



all sportsmen. This magazine has ever 

 stood firmly for game protection, while its 

 editor handles the game and fish hogs in 

 a commendably vigorous manner. By this 

 means Mr. Shields has made enemies, and 

 has lost subscribers innumerable, but it is 

 worthy of note that the circulation of 

 Recreation is rapidly capering upward, 

 and right here I call the attention of ad- 

 vertisers to this fact. I am, of course, 

 paid foi saying all this ; paid as enumer- 

 ated above. When some of the big gun 

 manufacturers and dealers pay their pa- 

 trons in the same coin — courtesy, and a 

 desire to please customers by furnishing 

 the best goods, they will find it will 

 pay, and that more Cash will flow into their 

 strong boxes. As to sportsmen receiving 

 any pay, save courtesy and fair dealing, 

 for booming Recreation, there is nothing 

 to say only that the lovers of gun and rod 

 are gentlemen ; and as gentlemen, they 

 can stand with equanimity the insults of 

 the howlers. Those sad eyed mortals who 

 worry about pay would better go 'way 

 back and stand on their heads till sufficient 

 blood to properly work their brains flows 

 down into their think-tanks. 



Gentlemen of the plaintive howl, it is up 

 to you either to quit the fight and retire 

 from the field, or else to lay down your 

 scalping knives and your poisoned arrows, 

 and take up modern weapons of warfare. 

 The methods and the weapons you are 

 now using will not go in this era. The 

 days of savagery are past, and real men 

 do not now tomahawk their enemies either 

 literally or verbally. 



A. L. Vermilya, Columbiaville, Mich. 



PREFERS THE 44-40. 



All the various rifle calibers are good, 

 and should be used for what they were de- 

 signed by the originators. The way to 

 make this department interesting and in- 

 structive is to write the facts as they are, 

 the caliber of the rifle, the kind of ammu- 

 nition and the distance the game was hit, 

 and then let each reader judge for himself. 



The 30-30 and 30-40 when used with steel 

 or full mantled bullets are military arms, 

 of course ; but with soft pointed bullets 

 their effect on big game is deadly. In 

 face of the evidence that has been pro- 

 duced, any man who says the 38-55 is 

 equal or superior as a game killer to the 

 30-40 stamps himself as ignorant and 

 inexperienced. It also makes most 

 sportsmen tired to read about the 25-35 

 making a hole 4 times larger than a 45. 

 Those of us who have had experience with 

 the 30's know such claims for the 25-35 

 are nonsensical. To my mind the 30 cali- 

 bers should not be compared with black 

 powder guns as they are entirely different. 

 My favorite is the little 44-40, but I hate to 



see men ignore facts and set at naught the 

 merits of an arm so powerful and effective 

 as the 30. 



The Winchester people do not say the 

 32-40 and 38-55 are the best all around 

 cartridges. Those loads were designed for 

 target shooting in the old Ballard rifle. 

 They became popular at once and soon 

 Stevens, Remington, Winchester and other 

 makers built more target rifles for those 

 calibers than for any others. Those cart- 

 ridges hold nearly all the finest rifle rec- 

 ords up to 500 yards; showing that the 

 originators knew their business. But ac- 

 cording to the Winchester tables the 32-40 

 and 38-55 as big game killers, are not in it 

 with most of the cartridges named on 

 that list. Most all the 38, 40, and 45 

 calibers shoot flatter, have a higher velocity 

 and more penetration. The 40 and 45 

 calibers have a much larger diameter. It 

 is not necessary for a hunting rifle to put 

 16 consecutive shots into a 2 inch circle at 

 200 yards. Killing pover, not extreme 

 accuracy, is the ihing of prime importance. 

 Penetration, diameter and striking power 

 constitute killing power. The 32-40 and 

 38-55 do not possess those qualities to any 

 great extent. We also must not forget that 

 90 per cent, of big game killed is shot with- 

 in 200 yards, and almost any rifle will 

 shoot with enough accuracy to hit game at 

 or even beyond that distance. Many of the 

 40 and 45 calibers shoot well up to 2,000 

 yards. The Winchester table is both 

 interesting and instructive, and every 

 sportsman ought to get a copy and study 

 it. If he can reason and does not forget the 

 simple law of cause and effect, he must 

 come to the conclusion that a large bullet 

 that penetrates a goodly number of boards, 

 must be a much better killer than a small 

 one that penetrates' fewer. 



Wenzel Mashek, Kewaunee, Wis. 



DENOUNCES MUTILATION. 



Saylesville, R. I. 

 Editor Recreation : 



In reading the letters in January number 

 by Terry Smith and W. W. Prentice, rela- 

 tive to the work of the 30 caliber rifle, I 

 was filled with disgust at the mutilation 

 recorded. 



I own a 30-30 rifle which I bought some 

 time ago, but have not yet used on game, 

 and, in my present frame of mind, I shall 

 not use it. For 6 or 7 seasons I used a 

 38-55 for deer shooting and found it a 

 perfect rifle for the work. There are, of 

 course, several cartridges of more or less 

 similar power, which answer almost as 

 well ; but I caught the craze, sold my 38 

 and bought a "modern weapon." How- 

 ever, if I can not shoot deer without 

 tearing 7 inch holes or disemboweling them, 

 I will go out of the business. 



