
GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 
AN EXCHANGE OF OPINIONS. 
Pueblo, Colo. 
Mr. Perry Selous. 
Dear Sir: I saw your letter in RECREA- 
TION with regard to heart shots and 
thought I would disabuse your mind with 
regard to the small bore smokeless rifle. I 
have been using the Savage ever since it 
was put on the market and want to say this 
to you and every other big game hunter: 
Try it! Don’t condemn it until you have 
given it a thorough test; then if you go 
back to your .45-60, I shall be surprised 
indeed. I was a .45-70 man at one 
time, but that time is gone for good. 
Voure. lack’, of weigh!) to seamy all 
day, the confidence you can put in 
your gun, once you have become accus- 
tomed to it, and the perfect balance when 
it is at your shoulder wi:l convert you for 
all time. As to the gun being “dangerous 
to other hunters,’ I cannot see why. 
All guns carelessly handled are dangerous 
to other hunters. They are more merciful 
to the man on account of lightness; more 
merciful to the beast because they kill 
quickly. Now as to the question of in- 
stantaneous killing from a heart shot: Last 
fall I killed a buck with my Savage, as 
clear a heart shot as I ever saw—no heart 
worth speaking of left. Still he ran 50 
yards up hill and dropped dead; so I shall 
have to be shown before I am willing to 
believe. The same shot accidentally hit a 
fawn, broke its hips and it didn’t move out 
of its tracks. As to game shot with a 
Savage, I have never yet crippled an ani- 
mal and never shot but one twice. I put 
a bullet through the flanks of that one and 
put the second in the backbone. That is 
better than I ean say of other guns 
I have used. Of deer and antelope I 
have Ialled 9 since I began using a Savage. 
Last fall my- hunting companion used a 
.45-90 and crippled 3 deer that escaped 
from him and the one he got he shot 
several times. Three years ago last fall 
my companion used a .38-55 and crippled 
3; while I had no such ill luck. Now my 
advice is: get a Savage; use it, and you 
will never have cause to abuse it. 
i F. D. Green, A.M., M.D. 
Greenville, Mich. 
F. D. Green, A.M., M.D.: 
I have your interesting letter and am 
glad that with respect to heart shots, you 
are of my own opinion entirely, but with 
regard to the caliber and “danger to other 
hunters,” I think you fail to grasp my 
«4 

I con- 
cede the advantages of such weapons un- 
der certain conditions, but remain firm 
against their use under others, certainly 
in the Michigan woods. Most assuredly if 
the older rifles were dangerous in the 
hands of unskilful hunters, these are much 
meaning on more than one poimt. 
more so, for a variety of reasons. Every 
year there are hundreds, I might almost 
say, thousands of quondam hunters 
swarming in our North woods, who really 
ought not to be allowed the use of a gun at 
all until they had gained some experience 
under easier conditions. They never saw a 
live wild deer and as they go to work, they 
are hardly likely to do so, except by mere 
accident. They certainly could not hit 
one; but they blaze away indiscriminately 
at everything that moves and at much that 
does not, while the low trajectory, long 
range and great penetration of the bullets 
which will go through a fair tree and 
kill on the other side does not enhance 
their safety in such hands. Another rea- 
son is the noiseless discharge which makes 
it extremely difficult to locate the shooter. 
This gives an unprincipled person an easy | 
means of revenge and when I assure you. 
that the conviction that m-ny of the nu- 
merous hunters killed up North each year 
are not killed accidentally at all is shared 
by a large number of men well qualified 
to form an opinion, you will see that there 
is room for objection. A man who goes 
into the Northern woodsnow in November | 
carries his life in his hands, more so than 
he who hunts really dangerous game with 
modern firearms. If you were to come 
and spend a hunting season here and 
see and hear for yourself, you would prob- 
ably be surprised. Since these weapons 
have been introduced you may constantly 
meet hunters in flaring red mackinaws 
and gaudy colored clothing; donned in 
hope it may prove some slight protection. 
Were it not for the gravity of the situation 
it would be ludicrous. It is interesting to 
note that many men who tried the small 
bores have come back to the larger black 
powder guns. I could name several of 
my own acquaintance; men who have no 
need to ust a better arm than a .45-90 or 
70 or 60 in order to secure their game. 
Some men continually paunch their deer 
and this means a track more or less long 
it you are nqt a skilled hunter besides be- 
ing a poor shot, and press your animal. 
But as few shots are at more than 20 
rods it seems to me the larger bullet will 
do the needful; in fact it does and the small 
one too with the black powder if it is sent 
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