134 



RECREATION. 



with 4 shots at 75 yaras with a Stevens 22 

 and they all drop dead in their traeks. Mr. 

 Van Dyke forgot to send salt along with the 

 story. Silver Tip, Sicamous, B. C. 



I move that E. E. Van Dyke be awarded 

 a leather medal for his article in February 

 Recreation. 



A. M. Hare, Bay City, Ore. 



STILL HITTING PETERS. 



Schenectady, N. Y. 

 Peters Cartridge Co., 



Cincinnati, Ohio : 



Dear Sirs : — As a friend of Recreation 

 and fair play, allow me to suggest that you 

 promptly renew your advertising contract 

 with Mr. G. O. Shields. It is, in a sense, 

 none of my business : but I think Mr. 

 Shields is right. Unfavorable comments 

 occasionally act as salt to the dish, and do 

 a good article far more good than harm. 



Yours truly, John A. Learned. 



Penn Yan, N. Y. 

 Messrs. Peters Cartridge Co., 



Cincinnati, Ohio : 



Dear Sirs : — I notice in Recreation a 

 letter of yours that looks flunkey. Why 

 don't you widen the rim of your cartridge 

 a little, to fit the best brush you make, and 

 not kick because some honest sportsman 

 finds an honest fault with an honest fact. 

 Hope your difficulties will be amicably 

 arranged. Shooters are watching. 



Respectfully, H. R. Philips. 



HOW TO RELOAD 30-30 SHELLS. 



I thank H. B. Rantzau for the in- 

 formation he gave in October Rec- 

 reation about loading 30-30 shells with 

 round balls. I tried his load and found 

 it extremely accurate. I used a 22 long 

 shell full of Laflin & Rand sporting 

 smokeless powder. It is clean, but not 

 more than half the charge burns. That 

 does not seem to affect the accuracy, but 

 the unburned powder runs back into the 

 action when the gun is turned up. In- 

 stead of a tack hammer for seating the 

 bullets, I use steady turning pressure 

 against a soft pine board. This ammuni- 

 tion will run through the magazine of my 

 30-30 Savage if the balls are firmly seated. 

 I like to read the opinions of Jack Pattern, 

 F. J. Grube and others who understand 

 guns. It would be a great treat for read- 

 ers of the gun and ammunition depart- 

 ment if the editor would publish an 

 illustrated article describing one of the 

 large gun factories and telling how rifles 

 and ammunition are manufactured. 



M. P. R., Tylerhill. Pa. 



PREFER THE 23-20 WINCHESTER. 



In reply to A. J. Lang, Rondout, N. Y., 

 will say I have owned a number of rifles 

 of various makes and calibers, and have 

 found the 25-20 single shot as good a target 

 rifle as any. It is extremely accurate with- 

 in its range. As a game gun, I have not 

 used it much except on woodchuck. One 

 day last summer I killed 9 in 2 hours at 

 various ranges up to 100 yards. 



C. W. Ditsworth, Lanark, 111. 



Tell A. J. Lang that the 25-20 Win- 

 chester as a target and hunting gun is all 

 right. I have killed ducks with mine where 

 it would have been impossible to reach 

 them with a shot gun, and where a larger 

 rifle would not have left anything but 

 feathers. For target work there is no 

 more accurate arm, not excepting the 

 Stevens. J. B. Watson, Muncie, Ind. 



SAPOLIO WOULD SCRATCH RIFFLE 

 BARRELS. 

 I noticed in January Recreation an 

 article by George McLean on how to keep 

 small bore, smokeless powder rifles clean. 

 He recommends the use of Sapolio. That, 

 no doubt, will do the work effectively, but 

 how about the scratching? I had occasion 

 the other day to use Sapolio in removing 

 spots from the surface of a lamp chimney. 

 I succeeded; also succeeded in scratching 

 the chimney so as to almost ruin it. 

 Flint glass is harder than even Krupp 

 steel. Of course the abrasion would be 

 slight each time and not noticeable at first, 

 but I am mistaken if it would not ruin the 

 rifle in time ; and I wonder by what reason- 

 ing he arrives at the conclusion that by 

 leaving the breech block open, the inside of 

 the barrel will not rust whether cleaned or 

 not, providing the inside is dry? I never 

 heard of that theory, but there are doubt- 

 less many good things I never heard of. 

 A. L. Hull, Denver, Colo. 



SMALL SHOT. 



In March Recreation I notice W. H. 

 May's comments on W. D. Gruet's squirrel 

 shooting with a telescope sight. I have 

 one of Cummins' 'scopes on a 38-55, and 

 from my experience should say that such 

 shooting as Mr. Gruet's would be almost 

 impossible off-hand. I am glad to see W. 

 H. Long stand up for the old 38-55 Win- 

 chester. With the smokeless, soft point 

 bullet, I believe it powerful enough for any 

 game in this country. It is one of the 

 easiest shells to reload, being straight. An- 

 other advantage is that everlasting shells 

 can be had in this caliber. They do not 

 need to be resized, and are practically in- 

 destructible. I use them for practicing 





