
ae : 2 RECREATION. 
THE POWDER HE REFERRED TO. 
Hackensack, N.Y 
Editor Recreation: erate 
I have read the communication on 
smokeless powder by “E. H. L.,” in your 
April number. Although no powder in 
particular was mentioned the writer un- 
doubtedly referred to the Laflin & Rand 
smokeless powder, as it is the only powder 
in existence made in the form of a string 
and then cut into grains, instead of being 
granulated in the usual manner and then 
screened. The advantages of this former 
system for producing a perfectly uniform 
powder are so manifest that no comment 
is needed. Another fact which confirms 
my belief that Laflin & Rand powder was 
the one referred to is the statement that the 
powder mentioned was waterproof. Laflin 
& Rand’s is the only powder that actually 
possesses this quality. Makers of other ni- 
{ro powders say their powders can _ be 
soaked in water and then dried out and 
fired. Many other smokeless powders can 
be dried out and then burned, but with the 
single exception of the L & R. the wetting 
and drying of these powders completely de- 
stroys their ballistic properties, and though 
they can be fired they will not throw shot. 
They are just as effectually ruined by water 
as black powder would be. But this is not 
the case with the powder referred to by 
your Cincinnati correspondent, which is 
just as strong after being wet and then 
dried as when first made. 
I have had many years’ experience at the 
traps and in the field, and can conscien- 
tiously say I believe the powder above 
mentioned is the best made. I believe the 
United States Government also thinks well 
of the output of the Laflin & Rand Co., 
for I am informed that all of the cartridges 
for the .45 caliber Springfield rifles with 
which the troops are armed, are being load- 
ed with smokeless powder made-by this 
concern. Since the beginning of the Span- 
ish-American war thousands of pounds of 
this powder have been loaded; yet this is 
but a small percentage of the amount of 
30-caliber smokeless made by the Laflin 
& Rand Co., and loaded for Government 
use. 
Many years ago I began the se of 
smokeless or nitro powders, bu. my ex- 
perience was not a happy one. Some pow- 
ders I got hold of were good but many 
cthers were bad. None of them was en-. 
tirely satisfactory, and all had an unpleasant 
way of either absolutely losing all their 
propelling properties when stored under 
certain conditions, or of developing a 
strength which brought the shooter close 
- to the danger line. The first smokeless 
powder I ever used that was not affected 
by climatic changes was the old American 
Smokeless Powder Co.’s W. A.; but this 
had one bad fault and that was that.it did 
not burn perfectly in the gun. After fir- 
ing a shot a glance through the  bar- 
rel would reveal a dozen or two grains of. 
powder that had not been burned and 
which seemed not to be even discolored 
by the discharge. : 
Recently the American Smokeless Pow- 
der Co. was absorbed by the Laflin & Rand 
Co. and a series of changes was at once 
made in the smokeless powder. The new 
output to a certain degree maintained the 
same appearance as the old, but the compo- 
sition was changed. It became more crys- 
taline in appearance and the grains were 
larger in diameter than before. The Laflin | 
& Rand Powder Co. further set about do- 
ing away with the unburned grains, and 
worked steadily along this line until with- 
in the past 6 or 8 months this trouble 
has been reduced to a minimum. I still find 
some unburned grains of this powder, but 
the composition is such that instead of fall- 
ing back into the breech mechanism they 
adhere to the barrels and do not cause the 
least trouble. 
Many sportsmen noticed and complained 
about these unburned grains of the old 
powder. A few have even objected to the 
slight residue that is left in the barrel after 
firing a charge of the latest output. Ad- 
herents of other smokeless powders have 
used this as an argument against the Laflin 
& Rand Smokeless, claiming superiority 
for their own favorite explosive. For this 
reason I wish to make a plain statement 
concerning the burning of powder in a gun 
barrel: There is not a powder made 
that when fired will not leave a residue that 
can be scraped from the gun and burned. 
Because the residue left in a gun with 
some powders is discolored and seems to 
be merely an.ash is no evidence that it has 
been burned. I repeat there is no powder 
made that burns up entirely and as to this 
the Laflin & Rand Smokeless is no worse 
~than anv of the ethers. The chemical action 
of the gases at the time of the explosion does 
not discolor the grains that do not burn; 
therefore the fact of their being unburned is 
apparent to a casual observer who perhaps 
would not notice it in other powders. 
It is neither my intention nor desire to 
decry other makes of powder. What I de- 
sire is merely to endorse the views ex- 
pressed by “E. Ei, a” and to mame the. 
powder which he has written of. 
The Laflin & Rand smokeless powder is 
the best I have used. It gives a very high 
velocity with slight recoil, and what is 
more important, it stands up under all kinds 
of weather and never loses its strength, no 
matter how long it may have been loaded 
nor where it may have ‘been stored. It is 
only necessary that this powder should be 
loaded according to the maker’s directions, 
and when this is done the result is a shell 
that can be depended on at all times and 
under all circumstances. John R. Banta. 
” . — 
SS A TS oa YET 

