910 RECREATION. 
45. The scores made at Wimbledon 
Dollymount and Creedmoor will not be 
forgotten; and Bodine and Fulton can not 
soon be discredited. The brilliant record 
of the U. S. troops as sharpshooters was 
made with the .45, and I have so far 
failed to hear of any phenomenal shooting 
by our men, armed with the .30 and 236, in 
Cuba or the Philippines. 
I have used Sharp, Remington, Spencer, 
Springfield, "Lee, Winchester, Martini, 
Peabody, What Cheer, and other .45’s. 
Have also used the .30 and fail to note any 
general superiority in it over the others 
named. In range and penetration the .30 
is a little the best; but for reliability and 
accuracy it falls far short. 
The range of an arm is by no means a 
test of its adaptability for hunting, as old 
sportsmen will agree. 
Eug. E. Stokes, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

EXPERIMENTAL SHOOTING. 
Hoosac Falis, N. Y. 
Editor RECREATION: 
Rifles are all a fleeting show, for man’s 
delusion given; they are loaded with pow- 
der, stuffed with lead, and shoot all right— 
sometimes. 
. They are like pretty women, we all 
love them and hug them to our shoulders, 
and caress them. We find that what will 
do for one will raise the devil with an- 
other, and cause her to kick like a mule. 
Another will lie passive in our arms and 
receive our caresses with a kiss. So it is 
with the rifle. One .38 cal. wants 55-330- 
1-16; another .38 cal. 50-300 I to 32, one 
a Chase patch, another Leopold’s lubri- 
cant, one a metal clad, another the fiber 
clad bullet covered with a peculiar long 
and strong fiber, so prepared that when it 
it applied to a chemically treated bullet it 
will adhere even when shot through a 
plank or into sand. The bullet can not 
jump its covering nor wear the rifling like 
a metal clad, and it will mushroom much 
more than a paper patched or lubricated 
De almost as much as an express bul- 
ets 
Why it should I do not know, but it 
does. 
I have meditated much on the perver- 
sity of inanimate nature and the woman. 
Did you ever try to drive a woman? You 
can not do it. You may coax her with 
a new hat, or a bicycle. So with the 
rifle. Take it to the range one day and it 
will put all its shots in the 12 ring ex- 
cepting one—and that may be a 9. The 
next day it may scatter the shots all over 
the target. I have been to the range feel- 
ing that I could beat the record and did 
it—but backward—and could find no ex- 
cuse in wind or weather. 
Another time weather conditions bad, 
and I not feeling in trim yet score 115 to 
118, using the same rifle and ammunition 
and case. 2 
Still I admire the woman and the rifle 
as much as in my youth, and shall cling 
to them as long as they remain a mystery. 
“Medicus.” 

SAYS THERE IS NO BEST. 
Kalamazoo, Mich. 
The notes and comments on _ guns, 
rifles, cartridges and loads wherein var- 
ious contributors express their opinions, 
are very interesting. Many of the sugges- 
tions given are of great value to sports-_ 
men. “A difference of opinion is what 
makes horse races,’ and a difference of 
opinion as tn guns, will always exist so 
long as guns are used. 
I have used the various makes of re- 
gauge and weight, and believe there is no 
“best gun’ on earth; but when it 
comes to perfection in gun-making the 
high-priced English makers lead the 
world. Their guns cost too much money 
for the ordinary pocket-book, and, there- 
fore, must be classed as luxuries for the 
wealthy only. American guns are good 
enough, and so are the powders, cart- 
ridges, shot and wadding. There are 
none better so far as wear and tear, safety 
and killing powers are concerned, it be- 
ing but a matter of choice with the 
sportsman as to which he shall use. 
I have used almost every make of re- 
peating shotguns, and _ discarded them, 
though their shooting qualities cannot be 
beaten. They are clumsy weapons, but 
are game-destroyers in the hands of a 
good shot, who takes care of his gun. 
They clog up and are difficult of manipu- 
lation in snowing, freezing weather, or 
where there_is much fine sand or dirt fly- 
ing, and when the cartridges get wet are 
often quite useless because of the cart- 
ridges bulging or upsetting at the crimp. 
The pressure of the magazine spring as- 
sists in bulging them sometimes, so much 
that they can not be forced into the 
chamber. 
In purchasing a repeating shotgun one 
shows his nature very plainly, and, al- 
lows his bristles to stick out. He wants 
the whole covey or every duck in the 
flock, without thought of leaving any for 
seed. He does not consider that 2 shots 
well placed are better than 5 or 6 fired 
promiscuously, and that one or 2 birds 
killed dead are better than 4 or 5 wound- 
ed which escape to die without being re- 
covered. Thousands of ducks, geese - 
and game birds are annually wounded by 
the reckless and indiscriminate use of re- 
peating shotguns. e 
Will it ever cease? Not until there is 
legislation to prevent it. 
Old Shooter. 

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