GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 



129 



tigue. The barrels are 28 inches. Right, 

 modified; left, full choke. Load, 2 l / 4 drams 

 Shultze and -)4 ounce Nos. 6 or 7 shot. 

 With such a gun quails or grouse may be 

 shot at 20 to 40 yards without being cut to 

 pieces, as often happens with a full choke 

 12 gauge. The 20 gauge seems just as ef- 

 fective as a 12 gauge. The lighter gun ap- 

 pears to have the best of it in the brush, 

 while the 12 gauge, with its closer pattern, 

 gives more time for deliberate shots in the 

 open. The 20, with % ounce of shot, gives 

 good results at target thrown from a Ma- 

 gan trap. I see the Remington people ad- 

 vertise 24 and 28 gauge guns. These 

 should be nice, light little guns, but would 

 have to be held near the right spot, as the 

 spread of shot would be still more limited 

 than with the 20 gauge. F. C. King says 

 he loads his 16 gauge with 7 /s ounce of No. 

 1 shot and kills woodcock at 40 to 55 yards. 

 When I used a 16 I loaded with one ounce 

 of No. 7 or 8 shot for woodcock and snipe. 

 Hewlin, Shamokin, Pa. 



E. C. Statler wishes to hear from sports- 

 men who have used 20 and 28 gauge guns. 

 I have used the different gauges from 10 to 

 44, and find a 20, 24, 28 or even 44 effective 

 for squirrels, grouse, quails, rabbits and 

 woodcock. I think it better to have them 

 cylinder bored. I am using a 44 gauge 

 now, and have killed with it rabbits at a 

 distance of 6 rods. 1 use a brass shell 

 loaded with 2 drams black powder and J /2 

 ounce No. 8 shot, and can kill a bird, squir- 

 rel or rabbit 5 or even 6 rods nearly every 

 time. I like the 24 and 28 gauge better, as 

 with them I can use paper shells and ni- 

 tro powder. Parker Bros., who advertise in 

 Recreation, manufacture guns as small as 

 28 gauge, and they are beautiful arms. The 

 Lefevre Arms Company makes guns of 20 

 gauge and larger. I have been a reader of 

 Recreation 5 years, and regard it as the 

 best sportsmen's journal published. It is 

 doing wonders for the preservation of our 

 game. 



Dr. E. F. Preston, Ticonderoga, N. Y. 



Tell E. C. Statler, Grand Island, Neb., 

 and G. C. G., Indian Head, N. W. T., that 

 I have as a knockabout gun an Acme Dav- 

 enport 20 gauge. They are advertised in 

 Recreation. Our expert gunsmith, Dan 

 Gerhart, put an old fashioned egg-choke 

 in the barrel. This improvement has made 

 the gun a powerful little arm. At the trap 

 I have done 80 per cent shooting on blue 

 rock targets at 12 yards rise. Use Win- 

 chester repeater shells, with No. 6 primers, 

 2% drams of DuPont smokeless powder 

 and y% ounce No. 7V2 chilled shot. In the 

 field use £4 ounce of No. 8 chilled shot. 

 M. L. Herbein, Reading, Pa, 



THE MERITS OF SEMI-SMOKELESS. 



For the sake of Brother Stubb, of Oswell, 

 Ohio, and others, 1 want to answer his 

 question in January Recreation, regarding 

 semi-smokeless. 



Our Mr. Wordcn won the King tourna- 

 ment trophy last February, with a score 

 of 25 straight, at Blue Rock targets, un- 

 known angle, using 2^ drams of semi- 

 smokeless in brass shells. He made the 

 only straight score, and was the only man 

 using semi-smokeless exclusively. The 

 boys here are well pleased with semi- 

 smokeless for trap and field use. It is a 

 sulendid load at a moderate price; and as 

 a rifle powder our experts consider it un- 

 equaled. As a result of repeated tests, 

 would say that ffffg. is best for trap work 

 at targets, as it is quickest. The fffg. 

 is better for field work, for though a trifle 

 slower, it is a harder hitting load at long 

 range. 



Always use black powder nrimers with 

 it, as nitro primers set it off too quickly, 

 causing excessive recoil. Semi-smokeless 

 appreciates good thick elastic wadding, and 

 nlenty of it ; though it can be used success- 

 fully if wadded as you wad for black pow- 

 der. Would advise Brother Stubb to use 

 one nitro card wad, 11 gauge, and 2*4 inch 

 nitro felt wads 10 gauge, in his No. 12 

 brass shells, over powder ; thin wad over 

 shot. He would do well to begin with a 

 scant 2 dram load, and work up by experi- 

 ment to the best load for his particular 

 gun. 



As he is perhaps already aware, semi- 

 smokeless is the discovery of our old friend 

 Milt Lindsley. which should be enough for 

 those who knew and admired his earlier 

 product, the old American wood powder. 

 E. L. Tiffany, M.D., Wilson, N. Y. 



I noticed an inquiry from Stubb, Or- 

 well, O., about a semi-smokeless that could 

 be used in brass shot shells. Here is a 

 load that will give the best of results in 

 brass shells, and will do them no more in- 

 jury than black powder. Use new shells, 

 or old ones will do, if they can be made 

 perfectly clean. Take a thin tube about 

 Z J A inches long, the size of an ordinary lead 

 pencil, and place it inside shell, over the 

 primer pocket. Put 12 grains fine grained 

 black powder into the tube ; DuPont is 

 good. Then put into the shell outside the 

 tube 2*/> or 2-34 drams (black powder meas- 

 ure) of DuPont shot gun smokeless. Re- 

 move the tube, and wad as an ordinary 

 smokeless load with one cardboard and 3 

 black edge. Give powder only a snug 

 hand pressure. This load will work equally 

 well in paper shells. Any primer will do. 

 If any readers of Recreation try this load, 

 I shall be glad to hear how they like it. . 

 O, E. Raynor, Meadville, Pa. 



