4C0 



RECREATION. 



small shot, it is as good as any at 

 long range with coarse shot. The same 

 faults exist in Schulte, except in pattern. 

 Schultze has also a disagreeable smell. Du- 

 pont is all right, except a little too much 

 smoke and a good deal too much noise. 

 There are 2 points in which L. & R. needs 

 to be greatly improved ; unburned grains 

 are left in the barrel and it makes alto- 

 gether too much noise. . Blue Ribbon I dis- 

 card as worthless. It has no force. I shot 

 a red squirrel at about 4 rods distance with 

 No. 6 shot. It killed him dead as a door- 

 nail. I filled him with shot and knocked 

 him 4 feet away from the log on whicii he 

 was running, but not a shot went through ; 

 they lodged against the skin on the other 

 side. I call that a decided lack of pene- 

 tration. I have found that Blue Ribbon 

 powder will cause pitting in gun barrels 

 unle s extreme care is taken in cleaning 

 the weapon. 



Troisdorf has the least smoke of any 

 powder I ever used, except Walsrode. It 

 makes little noise and is as quick as the 

 quickest, with but light recoil. It will put 

 as many shot in a 30 inch circle at 40 yards 

 as will E. C, and with much better dis- 

 tribution. However, it is a soft powder 

 and requires careful loading. If loaded 

 in the following manner it will give 

 as good results in pattern and pene- 

 tration as can be obtained from any pow- 

 der : Winchester's Leader shell, 2^ inch ; 

 2^4 or 3 drams powder, never more for 

 a 12 gauge gun. On the powder put a 

 trap wad with just 35 pounds pressure, 

 then a Ya and Y% inch black edge wad. 

 Use not more' than i l /% ounce shot, and if 

 as coarse as 6's, 1 ounce is better. Cover 

 with a thin top wad, and crimp well. A 

 load that will kill a woodcock anywhere 

 inside of a 3 foot circle at 16 yar^s is 

 2]A drachms Troisdorf trap; 2 ^-inch black 

 edge wads. Take B thickness card wads 

 and punch the center out with a 32 calibre 

 wad cutter; make a dipper that will hold 

 V% ounce of shot, No. 9 or 10. Put in a 

 dipperful of shot, then a punched wad. Do 

 this 3 times until you have i l / 2 ounces of 

 shot in your shell, cover with a top wad, 

 and crimp. Using a cylinder bore you will 

 get your bird at 25 yards if you aim within 

 2 feet of it. 



To load buckshot : Take small size 

 buckshot, 2^4 drams powder, 1 trap wad, 

 \Y% inch white felt and 1 A thickness 

 card wad. Put in about 2 deep of No. 10 

 shot, then buckshot, placing them in the 

 center. Cover with fine ' shot and repeat 

 until you have 9 or 12 buckshot in your 

 load, cover the last 3 wads and crimp. 

 Fired from a medium choke gun at 35 

 yards, this charge will put all the buckshot 

 inside an 18 inch circle. 



W. E. Stoddart, Montpelier, Vt, 



CONDEMNS THE REPEATING SHOT GUN. 



Jamesville, Mo. 

 Editor Recreation : 



I have noticed many articles in Recrea- 

 tion in regard to the pump gun. Some 

 writers denounce it as a game hog's weap- 

 on without going into details. Then some- 

 one will deny the charge and defend the 

 weapon by such arguments as: "It is the 

 strongest shooting gun in the market. I 

 keep my Parker to look at; my pump gun 

 to shoot. For a target smasher and game 

 getter it discounts the double barrel." 



I can not understand how any true 

 sportsman and advocate of game protection 

 . can use or defend this monstrosity among 

 guns. If some one should invent a gun 

 that would throw a continual stream of 

 . shot at a flock of birds until they were out 

 of sight there would be instant protest 

 from game protectors, and probably laws 

 would be enacted prohibiting the use of 

 such a weapon. Yet who can denv that 

 the pump is a near approacjh to such an 

 engine of destruction ; and is it not safe 

 to assume that a great majority of the 

 present users of pump guns would gladly 

 adopt a still more murderous arm? Many 

 users of this weapon give us as an excuse 

 that they are the only first; class gun ob- 

 tainable at anything like the price. That 

 is not the case ; there are many first class 

 hammer guns to be had at prices ranging 

 from $16 to $25 ; among them are the 

 Ithaca, Syracuse and Forehand. For dur- 

 ability and shooting qualities the guns 

 named are the equal to any made at any 

 price, hammer or hammerless. 



Some advance the theory that the pump 

 is a humane weapon, enabling its user to 

 quickly put wounded birds out of misery. 

 Nine out of 10 users of the repeating 

 shot gun will pump lead at a flock of birds 

 until they are out of sight or until the gun 

 is empty. The first 2 or 3 shots kill most 

 of the birds hit. The last 3 make more 

 cripples than could ever be made with a 

 double barrel. The man with the double 

 barrel gets in 2 shots in quick succession 

 at short range, thus dropping the highest 

 possible per cent of hit birds and before 

 he can reload the remainder are out of 

 range. In chicken shooting, when a covey 

 is found, only the first 2 birds that 

 take wing are killed; while if a pump gun 

 was used there would be no chance for the 

 remaining birds to escape while the hunter 

 was breaking his gun and reloading. No, 

 the hog behind the pump stands with finger 

 on trigger and 5 charges still at his com- 

 mand and it is a cold day if any birds es- 

 cape. 



George Harne of Syracuse, New York, 

 was granted a patent on January 14th for ' 

 an automatic shot gun, This gun is prac- 



