294 



RECREATION. 



ing with riflemen who know that a gun 

 that will shoot many cartridges can not be 

 depended on to shoot any one of them re- 

 liably. It lacks character, like a jack-of- 

 all-trades, and nobody has faith in it. If 

 one wishes a gun merely to play with, it 

 may serve; but a gun that does not require 

 extended experimentation and constant al- 

 teration of sights to suit different loads is 

 the gun that the practical rifleman wants, 

 and for tnat reason he turns to the Win- 

 chester, model 1895 ; of the reliability and 

 uniform shooting of which, his mind is sat- 

 isfied a priori. Even the Savage Com- 

 pany, itself, acknowledges its inability 

 to sight the guns at the factory 

 for accuracy before putting them on 

 the market. The reason they give is, 

 candidly, that if they sighted a gun for one 

 cartridge it would not suit the other cart- 

 ridges it takes, and they therefore leave it 

 to the purchaser to settle the vexed ques- 

 tion for himself, if he can. No Winchester 

 rifle is ever put on the market without first 

 being sighted and shot, for accuracy. When 

 you buy it you buy it ready for use and do 

 not have to experiment for months to find 

 out what it will do, and perhaps never 

 learn. I have not bought a Savage for 

 above reasons and I know many people of 

 similar views. I can readily conceive, how- 

 ever, that if the gun were made to take the 

 army 30-40, and that alone, and sighted for 

 accuracy for that cartridge and guaranteed 

 to shoot it accurately, I should promptly 

 buy one. We all know that the rifling to 

 shoot best a powerful cartridge, must have 

 a certain definite pitch and that this pitch 

 will not perfectly suit a smaller charge ; 

 therefore when it is claimed that any one 

 gun will shoot large and small charges 

 equally well, we know that it will not shoot 

 any charge in the best manner possible, 

 -and we suspect an effort at compromise in 

 the matter of twist that should cause the 

 gun to rate as a second class shooter. As 

 every well informed rifleman will be con- 

 tent with nothing less than the best shooter 

 obtainable and will tolerate nothing medi- 

 ocre, the Savage will not rate as first 

 choice until one gun is made, and exclus- 

 ively adapted, for one cartridge, be it pow- 

 erful or weak. I should like a Savage to 

 shoot the 30-40 cartridge as accurately as 

 the Winchester, model 1895, and should 

 also like one to shoot the 6 mm. navy cart- 

 ridge as accurately as the Lee straight pull 

 repeater. Each gun named has its fixed 

 and definite value. With a Savage, shoot- 

 ing the 6 mm., or 23 caliber, navy cart- 

 ridge, Lyman sights could be used; which 

 is imoracticable on the model now made by 

 the Winchester Company for that cart- 

 ridge. This would make the Savage the 

 ideal long range, flat trajectory rifle; in my 



judgment the best rifle in the world, mili- 

 tary or sporting. 



John F. Keenan, M. D., Washington, D. C. 

 I see in May Recreation, a letter from 

 T. Q. Rutherford, Chihuahua, Mexico, "A 

 Suggestion for Savage." I am using a 30- 

 30 Savage rifle for deer shooting, but I am 

 of the same opinion as Mr. Rutherford, 

 that a 30-40, made by the Savage people, 

 would be just what is wanted by a large 

 majority of the hunters in this section. I 

 am ready to buy one as soon as they are 

 put on the market. Should like to hear 

 what the Savage people say. 



J. Chester, Sarnia, Ont. 



You should read what the Savage Arms 

 Company says on this subject in August 

 Recreation, page 132. 



WINCHESTER AND REMINGTON-LEE. 



In May Recreation C. R. Benjamin 

 asks about the good points of the '95 model, 

 Winchester 30-40, and how it compares 

 with the 32-40 as a deer and bear gun. 



As to its good points, I will compare it 

 with the Remington-Lee, which is the only 

 other repeater on the market at present 

 that handles this shell. The Remington- 

 Lee and the Winchester both have box- 

 magazines which extend beyond the re- 

 ceiver ; but the Remington-Lee uses the 

 bolt, while the Winchester depends on the 

 lever to actuate the mechanism. In every 

 other respect these arms are practically 

 similar. It is simply a question of which 

 system you prefer. 



As far as actual hunting is concerned 

 one rifle is as good as the other. I prefer 

 the Winchester. The 32-40 bullet weighs 

 165 grains; the 30-40, 220 grains. The 

 32-40 has a velocity of 1385, while the 30-40 

 has a velocity of i960 feet a second. The 

 striking power of the 30-40 in foot pounds 

 is 1,887 and that of the far famed 30-30 

 only 1,269. I leave it to the readers of 

 Recreation to figure out the force in foot 

 pounds of the 32-40 with its 40 grains of 

 black or low pressure smokeless powder 

 and its 165 grain lead bullet. 



If Mr. Benjamin intends to hunt game 

 up to deer, a 32-40 is an excellent rifle ; 

 but if he wants an all purpose gun he will 

 make no mistake in choosing a 30-40. 



G. L. Watkyns, Pasadena, Cal. 



WHAT A 38 WILL KILL. 

 I should like to know what a 38 caliber 

 bullet, shot from a 38-56 rifle, would kill 

 at a distance of 30 yards or more. Also, 

 what a 38 rim fire bullet, shot from a re- 

 volver, would kill at 10 yards or more. 

 Thomas Kennelly, New York City. 



ANSWER. 



A bullet from a 38 caliber rifle, shooting 



