GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 



131 



over 2,000 miles by rail and 100 miles by 

 stage to hunt, and you can possibly im- 

 agine what he thinks of the Marlin rifle. 

 Young man, take my advice and buy a 

 Winchester 30-40 or a Savage 303. They 

 are none too big and they can't be 

 swamped. The wire patched bullets are a 

 big improvement. The hunter above re- 

 ferred to bought a head from me to take 

 home, because the Marlin repeater would 

 not repeat. 



S. T. Stevens. 



SMALL SHOT. 

 In reply to H. J. Decker, Pritcher, N. 

 Y., I would say: I have used rifles on 

 the kinds of game he mentions for 30 

 years. The rifle which will best suit him 

 is the 32-20, model '92, Winchester. The 

 capabilities of that cartridge are not as yet 

 fully known to all shooters. 



C. O. Peake, Orange, Vt. 



In reply to H. J. Decker, Pitcher, N. Y., 

 as to the best rifle cartridge for small 

 game, would say I prefer the 32 long rim 

 fire. 'My brother likes the 22 long rifle. 

 Both are good. I use a Stevens Ideal 

 No. 44 and think it as good as any. 



Allyn H. Tedman, Ridgefield, N. J. 



In reply to H. J. Decker would say that 

 the Winchester repeating rifle is the best 

 for small game. Winchester take-downs 

 are superior to all others and are as strong 

 as any solid frame. They weigh only sVa 

 pounds. L. A. S., N. Y. City. 



In March Recreation I came across an 

 article headed "Lyman Sights on the Sav- 

 age Rifle" and signed W. F. W., Pittsburg, 

 Pa. The whole trouble is that the ivory 

 front sight on the Savage rifle was too 

 low. There are a number of Lyman ivory 

 bead front sights made by the Lyman 

 Company and sold for different rifles. 

 Dealers sometimes do not know that they 

 are of different heights, so they place on 

 the Savage an ivory bead sight designed 

 for another rifle, and in consequence the 

 sight does not give satisfaction. Sights, 

 like any other contrivance, must be prop- 

 erly fitted to give satisfaction. We shall 

 be pleased to send a catalogue showing all 

 our sights to anyone wanting it. 



Arthur Savage, 

 Gen. Mgr., Savage Arms Co., Utica, N. Y. 



I note in Recreation the opinions of 

 several small bore cranks. Mr. Barnes 

 must have been sleepy when he said 

 he could tear a 4 times larger hole in 

 a deer with his 25-35 than he could with 

 a 45-70. He would have to use a soft 

 point bullet of about 250 grains. It would 

 be impossible to tear as large a hole with 



even the 117 grain soft point factory bullet. 

 It stands to reason that a 117 grain bullet 

 will not expand so much as a 405 or 500 

 grain bullet. Then I think he was pre- 

 paring to start a meat market when he 

 killed those 40 deer. 



G. W. McGowan, Lawrence. Mich. 



Should like to know if any of your 

 readers have been bothered by poor 

 primers. I used one box of Peters cart- 

 ridges in my Winchester, model, '97. 

 They seemed to work all right, but in 

 3 of them the primers were no good. 

 Have used W. R. A. and U. M. C. shells 

 for the last 10 years and never had a mis- 

 fire. Recently killed 2 owls at one shot, 

 measuring about 4^2 feet each. 



N. W. Jackson, Clayton, Mich. 



Will some Southern reader of Recrea- 

 tion tell me what weight, length and bore 

 of gun is best adapted to quail shooting 

 in Virginia. I expect to spend the com- 

 ing fall there and want to have a gun 

 built for Virginia game. Here I hunt 

 nothing but ducks and am wedded to a 10 

 pound, 10 bore, 32 inch gun built for me 

 by the Ithaca Gun Co. 



Northwest, Butte, Mont. 



I prefer a 38-55 for all game up to and 

 including deer. For bear, moose and elk 

 a 45-70 or a 45-90 is better. A man too 

 weak to carry an 8 or 9 pound gun would 

 better content himself with fishing; he 

 was not cut out for a hunter. Give me 

 the black powder gun, and if I like I can 

 load it with bulk for bulk smokeless. 



G. H. Robbins, Hero, Mont. 



You are doing good work in roasting 

 the game hogs as they deserve. I agree 

 with J. B., Woonsocket, R. I., on barring 

 the shot gun. I believe in using the rifle 

 even on small game. It is more sports- 

 manlike and requires more skill, which 

 game hogs and pot hunters do not have. 

 A. A. Grexel, Glessner, Pa. 



I use Lyman sights and like them very 

 much. I have found U. S. cartridges un- 

 satisfactory, as the lubricant scales off 

 and makes the action work hard. I like 

 Peters' best, although I have had several 

 of them miss fire. I still use them be- 

 cause they are accurate and clean. 



L. T., Greeley, Colo. 



What is the use of carrying a gun 

 weighing g l / 2 to 10 pounds when you can 

 get a lighter one, say a 30-30 Winchester, 

 that will kill as well or better? The big 

 gun may be all right if you have a mule 



