GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 



379 



There are always plenty of unthinking ones 

 who swallow it all and sigh longingly for 

 the good old days. 



No doubt there was formerly a larger 

 percentage of good shots than now, due 

 partly to the fact that nearly everyone 

 was more or less dependent on his rifle 

 for food and protection, and partly be- 

 cause in those days ammunition was scarce 

 and expensive. Nevertheless, there are 

 riflemen to-day, and plenty of them, too, 

 who are the equals of any of the old 

 timers, while there are some who can per- 

 form feats with the rifle which none of the 

 old school could have hoped to equal. 



W. H. Deaver, Dayton, O. 



WHAT SOME DEALERS SAY OF MARLINS. 



While hunting in Northern Minnesota 

 last fall, I met many people who had used 

 Marlin rifles and discarded them. 



I did not take a gun with me, intending 

 to buy one at my destination. In the first 

 store I visited I found a goodly number of 

 Winchesters and other standard guns, but 

 not a single Marlin. I asked the dealer 

 why he did not keep the latter. He said 

 he had used one himself and since then 

 wanted nothing to do with them. He added 

 that he would rather meet a catamount 

 with a crowbar than with a Marlin rifle. 



I entered another gun store and not see- 

 ing any Marlins there either, I asked for 

 them. The proprietor said he formerly 

 kept them in stock, but had had so much 

 complaint about them that he had quit 

 selling them. 



I met a man later in the day who had 

 an almost new Marlin which he offered to 

 sell to me for a price that would have been 

 exceedingly reasonable for any other rifle. 

 I declined to buy, but asked why he wanted 

 to sell. He told me he had seen a large 

 buck that morning at which he had fired 

 and missed. The buck, not knowing where 

 the shot had come from, ran within ioo 

 fet of him and stopped. He worked the 

 lever to throw in another cartridge, but 

 the empty shell clogged in the gun. He 

 broke both blades of his pocket knife in 

 trying to set it out, while the buck was 

 still standing there. He left the deer and 

 went home, and had to take the gun apart 

 to get the shell out. I met him a few days 

 later, and he told me he had exchanged 

 the gun for a plug of tobacco, and had 

 bought a Savage. I heard many similar 

 Stories. I saw a man exchange a Marlin 

 40-65 for a Flobert 22. 



W. A. Mason, Radcliffe, la. 



bursting in cold weather. I did not see the 

 guns nor the men who were using them, so 

 do not know the causes. I think there 

 must have been some obstruction in the 

 barrel, if nothing more than some hard, 

 frozen grease ; though I do not know 

 whether that would cause so much mis- 

 chief or not. Some also claimed that 

 smokeless rifles would miss fire in cold 

 weather, and blamed the nitro powder. I 

 never heard of a case where the powder 

 failed to do its work if the primer exploded. 

 As far as I could find out, all trouble was 

 caused by too much oil on the guns, that 

 froze and hindered the action of the firing 

 pin. I saw as much of that trouble with 

 black powder guns as with smokeless. 

 I used a 30-40, and all through the c Id 

 season kept it perfectly free from grease, 

 oil and moisture. It never failed to work 

 satisfactorily in all kinds of weather. 



E. L. Stevenson, Alhambra, Cal. 



DETERIORATION OF NITRO POWDERS. 



I have experimented with nearly all the 

 nitro powders. One that I know nothing 

 of is Ballistite. All smokeless compounds 

 I have used have invariably lost strength 

 with age. Many gunners, for reasons of 

 economy, prefer to buy loaded shells in 

 case lots, even though they may not have 

 the opportunity of firing 100 shots a year. 

 To such the keeping quality of a powder 

 is of prime importance and semi-smokeless 

 will not disappoint them. 



A friend, in November, 1899, used a cer- 

 tain dense nitro in chicken shooting, and 

 was so delighted with the phenomenal kills 

 made that he put aside the remaining cart- 

 ridges of the lot and kept them until the 

 next fall. By that time the powder had de- 

 teriorated to such an extent that the kill- 

 ing power of the cartridges was practically 

 nil, though it was a highly glazed powder 

 guaranteed against the influence of every- 

 thing supposed to be detrimental to pow- 

 ders in general. 



While my friend was away on that hunt 

 I was shooting quails with semi-smokeless 

 loads procured early in 1899, side by side 

 with others sent from the factory 18 months 

 later. I could not distinguish the slightest 

 difference in their range penetration. 



If this powder was smokeless it would be 

 perfect.- In consideration of its many good 

 qualities, I, for one, shall continue its use 

 both at the trap and in the field, in spite 

 of its trifling smoke. 



John Nordstrom, Gothenburg, Neb. 



NITRO GUNS IN THE FAR NORTH. 



While in the far North I heard of sev- 

 eral 30-30's, both Marlin and Winchester, 



SMALL SHOT. 



I get your magazine from our local news- 

 dealer every month and read it with pleas- 

 ure. I should like to be informed through 



