GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 



ENGLISH GUNS. 



Utica, N. Y. 



Editor Recreation: I read Recreation 

 every month and congratulate you on your 

 clean work. There is much to amuse and 

 instruct even an old stager like myself and 

 I think it is just such a work as our boys 

 should read. 



There appear to be still some who think 

 black powder is better than nitro. If those 

 who think nitro is slow and lacks penetra- 

 tion would have some U. M. C. smokeless 

 shells loaded with 36 grains, 3 drams by 

 measure, of Nitro Powder, No. 2, and ij4 

 or i}i ounces shot, they will have a load 

 heavy enough for targets, or for quail, 

 grouse, and snipe. For ducks they should 

 use the regular Nitro and from 45 to 50 

 grains. Do not use more than 36 grains of 

 the No. 2, as that powder is very quick, 

 and a heavier load would be of no ad- 

 vantage to the shooter. This load has little 

 report, hardly any smoke and the recoil is 

 not so great as with- the same size load of 

 any other kind of nitro. I am not wedded 

 to any kind of powder nor shells. When 

 one reads of the good scores made by Gil- 

 bert, Heikes, Elliott, Budd, Dicky, and 

 others, he is bound to confess that with 

 powder, as with men, " there are others." I 

 am also in favor of machine loaded shells 

 for target and ordinary field shooting, both 

 on account of cost and uniformity. I know 

 I am touching on debatable ground, but 

 the years' experience I have had gives me 

 confidence in my position. 



In regard to guns, I have used about as 

 many as any other man in this country and 

 for years I would not hear of anything but 

 an American made gun. I have changed 

 my mind on that question, though for or- 

 dinary field shooting and at targets I use 

 a Baker gun, which gives me entire satis- 

 faction, and it is safe from accidental dis- 

 charge. When it comes to shooting pig- 

 eons, or using ducking loads, where an 

 extra dram of powder accidentally intro- 

 duced in a shell means disaster, give me 

 a first class English or a fine grade French 

 gun. There are poor guns made in Eng- 

 land as well as in other countries, but 

 when one has in his hands such a gun as 

 Cashmore makes, I mean his nitro gun, he 

 is not afraid of an extra dram of powder. 

 Purdey has the reputation of making the 

 best gun in London, and if price is any- 

 thing of a guide — he charges $450 for his 

 gun — it ought to be the best, but I would 

 prefer a Grant, Boss, or Churchill. Bir- 

 mingham made guns are not thought much 

 of in London, simply because they are 

 made in the country, something like the 

 prejudice of a Chicago man against any- 

 thing not originating in the Windy City. 



Advertising often brings a poor gun to the 

 front and many an intending purchaser is 

 misled by a well worded advertisement. 

 The gun made by W. & C. Scott & Sons, 

 is well known all over the world, but there 

 are fewer of these being used in this coun- 

 try each year, for what reason I do not 

 know. The Greener is well advertised and, 

 by some, well liked, but to me this is the 

 "slowest" gun I ever handled. 



I do not say that our American manu- 

 facturers cannot make as good a gun as 

 is made in England, but I do say that they 

 do not make as good guns, dollar for dol- 

 lar of cost. Why do our American makers 

 charge so much for guns when they have 

 no duty to pay on unfinished gun barrels? 

 If you were to ask them to make a pair of 

 Whitworth barrels for $75 you would be 

 laughed at. Still, I can get a pair in Eng- 

 land for that price and, what is more to 

 the point, bored to shoot as well, if not 

 better than any made here. In buying an 

 English gun you are confident that it has 

 been thoroughly tested. While our own 

 makers say they test all guns made by 

 them, and have tags attached to all guns, 

 I have had guns with a test tag attached, 

 stating the pattern made, when in fact it 

 was impossible to shoot the gun at all. 



Do not use any kind of nitro powder in 

 a poor shell nor with a slow primer. 

 Neither should any nitro be primed with 

 black powder. On the other hand, you 

 cannot get good results from black pow- 

 der by using it in shells having the strong 

 primers. Doc. 



SPORT OR BUTCHERY? 



Editor Recreation: I note the remarks 

 of Mr. W. Adams, of South Africa, who 

 takes 3 or 4 shots, with a 44-40, to kill a 

 100 pound deer. 



The buck fever evidently rages with ex- 

 treme virulence, down there. 



What Mr. Adams wants is, not a 30 

 smokeless, but a Zalinski dynamite gun. 

 It is extremely effective at long range, and 

 has one signal advantage over the 30; as 

 the shell needs only to strike within 20 

 yards of an animal to produce instant 

 death. 



For short range work, I would recom- 

 mend a Parrot rifle, one of the smaller 

 pattern, using chain-shot ammunition, or 

 a few fathoms of pump chain. It would, 

 no doubt, hobble the deer long enough to 

 enable Mr. Adams to run up and kill it 

 with a club. 



We are at present living in the smoke- 

 less powder era, the high velocity, metal 

 patched, hit-them-where-you-can, era. 



Hunters are no longer required to stalk 



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