130 



RECREATION. 



REMINGTON VS. STEVENS. 



In the February issue of Recreation Mr. 

 Stokes speaks favorably of the Stevens 

 people as contrasted with the Remingtons 

 of the old regime, and, while he admits the 

 courteousness of the new management, he 

 says : "I fear it is too late to regain their 

 old place, even with that most excellent 

 and most beautiful repeater, the Lee-Rem- 

 ington, which they now place on the mar- 

 ket." I have had some experience with the 

 Stevens Favorite. It has their Ideal ac- 

 tion, lever, link, and breechblock, and is 

 presumably as well made and as durable 

 as the same action on one of their larger 

 and more costly rifles. 



A friend asked me to get him a rifle. 

 With full knowledge of the accuracy of the 

 Stevens weapons, and an abiding faith in 

 the excellence of their mechanism ; allured, 

 too, by the cheapness of the arm, I bought 

 him a Favorite. We set up a target and 

 proceeded to try the acquisition. As my 

 weapon I had a Remington No. 4, which I 

 had bought a year earlier for my boy, who 

 had loaned it to a juvenile friend, who, 

 after shooting it with black powder shorts 

 until it was as foul as a pigsty, set it in 

 the stable for a month. When I got pos- 

 session of it, it was a discouraging propo- 

 sition, but I put in a half day of hard work 

 with the wiping rod and hot water, and at 

 last got it into shape for use. 



This I pitted against the little Favorite. 

 The latter had all the famed accuracy of 

 the Stevens output and a delicacy of trig- 

 ger which made it a delight to use, and my 

 friend was soon handling it in great style. 

 Bulls-eyes and centers were in order at 25 

 yards, off hand. 



For a time my friend was the happiest 

 man in Maryland. Presently, however, the 

 lever began to droop, and hang loose. The 

 manufacturers gave instructions, in such 

 cases, to tighten, or loosen, I forget which, 

 a screw in the extension of the breech- 

 block. This helped matters for a time, but 

 it had soon to be done again, and as age 

 grew on the gun it became more and more 

 clanky. The screw would work back again 

 into the droopy place at once. 



At last he grew discouraged. I took the 

 little rifle off his hands, made him a pres- 

 ent of a .25-20 repeater, and disposed of the 

 Stevens elsewhere. It is in good, careful 

 hands ; its present owner can make a bulls- 

 eye look like 30 cents ; and the accuracy of 

 the rifle is up to the high standard of the 

 Stevens goods. Its former owner, still de- 

 siring a 22, has bought a Remington No. 4, 

 and is happy again. 



W. H. Nelson, Washington, D. C. 



straight grooves, and asks if any reader 

 has seen a similar gun. In reply, I will 

 say that such weapons are known as 

 straight cut rifles, and were once much 

 used and well liked for their accuracy, 

 hard shooting and small powder charge. 

 Both shot and round ball can be used in 

 them. They were noted as close shooters 

 with shot, and were much used at shooting 

 matches. 



I have one of those rifles which my 

 father used as a match and squirrel gun. It 

 has a 5-foot octagon barrel, on rifle stock, 

 and was made by J. Baer, but where I 

 can not say. It was originally a flat lock, 

 altered to percussion, and was my first 

 rifle. The stock extends the full length of 

 the barrel. There are 8 grooves. It uses 

 about 60 balls to the pound. Guns of this 

 class, together with the smooth bore, were 

 made by Lehman, Gompf, Eichholtz and 

 several other gunsmiths of Lancaster, Pa. 



I have another gun, known as a 2 groove 

 rifle. It is a double barrel express, muzzle 

 loading, percussion, made by I. Blanch 

 Sons, London, England. The material is 

 of the finest, the finish artistic, and the 

 locks clear as a bell. It weighs 7^2 pounds. 

 The barrels are 28 inch, and there are 2 

 sets ; one rifled with 2 grooves and the 

 other bored for shot. The grooves of the 

 rifled barrels are % inch wide and 1-16 

 inch deep, and have a slow twist. The 

 balls used are both round and conical. The 

 conical balls have on the sides at the base 

 2 wings, which fit into the grooves, and the 

 spherical ball has a zone or belt entirely 

 around its circumference for the same 

 purpose. The round balls are 10 to the 

 pound and the conical balls 8. The bore is 

 about 14 gauge. 



I have lately come into possession of a 

 Mauser automatic repeating pistol made in 

 Spain. It is graceful and elegant, with a 4 

 inch barrel, nickel plate, blued body, receiv- 

 er and base, and pearl stock. I have found 

 it not entirely satisfactory, as it does not 

 always discharge, and a cartridge some- 

 times flies from the top of the magazine. 

 Neither does it always extract as it should. 

 E. E. Stokes, New York, N. Y. 



OLD WEAPONS AND A NEW ONE. 

 In April Recreation A. Kennedy, Mis- 

 soula, Mont., describes a peculiar rifle with 



PREFERS THE SAVAGE. 

 L. G. S., of Brooklyn, asks in Septem- 

 ber Recreation if the Savage rifle ever 

 balks. When Winchester cartridges are 

 used it will balk. The Savage rifle car- 

 tridges made by the Winchester Co. are 

 longer than those made by the U. M. C. 

 and Savage companies. With cartridges 

 manufactured by or for either of the last 

 2 named firms it is absolutely impossible 

 for the Savage to clog, whether working 

 the lever fast or slow. I have repeatedly 

 tested the 'extracting properties with other 



