298 
the subject, one letter will suffice. If 
he will purchase a gun as I suggest, he 
will not only be satisfied but profit by it. 
I have no guns to sell. [ am only a 
miner in Colorado, but I have severely 
tested the merits of guns. 
J. A. Logan, Crested Butte, Colo. 

In a recent issue of RECREATION some 
one scoffs at the idea of a bullet’s passing 
through the hide of an animal (a moose, 
I think) and then mushrooming; imply- 
ing that it would mushroom on impact, 
instead of against the muscle under the 
skin. 
Some years ago I assisted in skinning 
a large elephant, into which had been 
fired, from point-blank range, I0 or I2 
shots’ from ~a ‘45 Winchester. The 
points of entrance were but large enough 
for the bullets to enter, but as the skin 
was removed we came upon the bullets, 
between the skin and the first layer of tis- 
sue underneath, flattened as large as a 
25-cent piece, with a wide bruised area 
around each, though they were leaden 
and unjacketed. Not one had penetrat- 
ed beyond the inner surface of the hide. 
Could not the mushrooming, in this 
case, be accounted for as follows: The 
outside of the bullets, in passing through 
the tough hide, 3 inches thick, met such 
great resistance in forcing its way, that 
it was held back, allowing the core to 
pass on, until, when through the skin, the 
mushroom was formed by the bullet 
opening from the center as a_ rosebud 
does, until the lead at the back of the bul- 
fet passes to the front? 
This would account for the mushroom- 
tng just when through the skin, and not 
the toughness of the muscle underneath. 
“Sepia,” Philadelphia, Pa. 

Will the rifling of a Winchester .38-55 
€eommon barrel) be injured by the use of 
@ smokeless powder cartridge, with soft 
point, jacketed bullet? ©The Winchester 
people claim the gun is capable of hand- 
ling this cartridge, but whether it is harm- 
ful or not they do not mention. I have 
heard men say the jacketed bullet was ruin- 
ous to the rifling and to the accuracy, un- 
less used with the nickel steel barrel. No 
doubt many of RECREATION’S readers would 
like to use this more powerful cartridge in 
their now accurate rifle, but for the liability 
of their being ruined. Please let me hear 
the experience of some of the friends of 
RECREATION. 
R. C. G., Merriam Park, Minn. 
I referred this inquiry to the Winchester 
Repeating Arms Co., and they reply: 
Our .38-55 rifle will not be injured when 
.38-55 smokeless cartridges of our make are 
used. The bullet will not harm the rifling. 
RECREATION. ie po 
Smokeless powder is more difficult to clean ~ 
than black. Where smokeless powder cart- 
ridges are made to take the place of black 
powder cartridges in guns which were in- 
tended for black powder, such smokeless 
powder is used as will give the same pres- 
sures and same velocities as were obtained 
with black powder in the black powder 
cartridges intended for the gun originally. 
We do the best we can to have the combina- 
tion gave the same velocity as before, with- — 
out which it would be difficult to get the 
same accuracy. 
The Guns and Ammunition Depart- 
ment in RECREATION is very interesting, 
showing the honest prejudice of each 
writer for his favorite gun. As a descend- - 
ant of the Pilgrims I would say purchase 
an American gun. It will outlast and out- 
wear a foreign weapon, is more easily re- 
paired, and is cheaper. 
Any one wanting a double gun can not 
go amiss in buying a Baker, Ithaca or 
Remington. I prefer a takedown re- 
peater for an all-round gun. The Win- 
chester 1897 takedown shotgun is hard 
to beat at the trap or in the field, and has 
been so popular that the company could 
not supply it fast enough. 
There is another gun well worth look- 
ing to which has not been advertised in 
RECREATION, which I chanced to hear of 
through the kindness of the Ideal Co., of 
New Haven; but it is not advertised in 
RECREATION and so I will not name it. 
It is a splendid gun, so nicely bal- 
anced, so easily sighted- and such a 
splendid action that I fell in love 
with it at once, and sent the barrel to 
the Gun Bore Treatment Co. for treat- 
ment, saying to myself, Warner, this gun 
you keep for your own use. Perhaps I 
am mistaken in my choice between the 2 
repeaters; and others might differ from 
me, bat I am satisfied. 
L. Warner, Lanesville, Conn. 

How can I take lead out of a rifle bar- 
rel; and how can I blue parts that have 
been worn bright? 
Milton E. Murphy, Wyandotte, Mich. 
ANSWER. 
To take the lead out of the barrel of 
either rifle or shotgun, cork the barrel at 
one end; fill it say % full of quicksilver. 
then cork the other end and turn the bar- 
rel back and forth several times. The. 
quicksilver will amalgamate and remove 
the lead. 
Blueing steel is a trade of itself and J 
would not advise you to undertake it. If 
you do, you are liable to rust and corrode 
the parts. The best way is to send them 
to a gunsmith, or to the Gun Bore Treat- 
ment Co., 7 and 9 Warren St., this city 

