GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 



53 



their game and plant a bullet in a vulner- 

 able spot. The new rifles do away with this 

 trouble, and enable us to exterminate the 

 game, with a minimum of exertion and a 

 maximum of sensation. 



Letters to Recreation teem with de- 

 scriptions of jagged holes, shattered shoul- 

 ders and congested vitals, produced by the 

 soft nose, hard shell bullet. If that is sport, 

 let us all get jobs in a slaughter house. 



Where will this smokeless epidemic end? 

 Already many sportsmen, not satisfied with 

 the 30 calibre, are reloading larger shells 

 with high velocity powder and its metal- 

 patched complement. 



D. L. Von L, writes, in October Recre- 

 ation, that he is using a 40-82, after this 

 fashion, on woodchucks. With this can- 

 non he manages to hit them at from 15 to 

 100 yards; and he describes how the bul- 

 lets reduce the unfortunate little beasts to 

 hash. This is sport with vengeance. It is 

 a maxim with anglers — " The lighter the 

 rod, the greater the sportsman." Why 

 should not the same rule hold good in rifle 

 shooting? 



What we need is, not more powerful 

 rifles; not any new fangled shot concen- 

 trators; but more game, more stringent 

 game laws, and last, but not least, a higher 

 standard of sportsmanship. 



Let us not deify the smokeless rifle, with 

 its metal patched abnormity; nor recount, 

 with a self-satisfied smirk, the sensational 

 slaughter we have wrought with it. Let us 

 eschew the unsportsmanlike weapon, and 

 be content with the guns of our fathers. 

 Let us kill game by skill, and not by ma- 

 chinery. And if an animal does occasion- 

 ally escape with its life, we have the con- 

 solation of knowing that we are not butch- 

 ers, and are not paid by piece work. 



Wm. S. Crolly, Pleasantville, N. Y. 



RELOADING SMOKELESS SHELLS. 



Artman, Col. 

 Editor Recreation: As small bores are 

 attracting so much attention and so many 

 questions are being asked about them in 

 Recreation, I will tell what success I've 

 had in reloading the 30-40-220 shells, for a 

 model '95, box magazine gun. Few seem 

 to have obtained good results with reloaded 

 small calibre smokeless ammunition. With 

 the 150 grain ball mould, advertised by the 

 Ideal Co., and known as the Beardsley, I 

 have made bullets which give the best of 

 results when properly alloyed and loaded. 

 Have used both Dupont's and Savage 

 (high and low pressure) powder; and bul- 

 lets varying from pure lead to pure zinc. 

 With 40 grains, by measure, of Dupont's 

 low pressure powder and a 150 grain ball 

 of 1 to 6, the powder being loose in the 

 shell and the shell crimped, I have found 

 the penetration to be 2 inches of pine. The 

 shell so loaded gives good results on tar- 



gets at 50 to 300 yards. I have found 

 such a load, big enough for antelope, also. 

 With 15 grains of Dupont's low pressure 

 and a pure lead ball of 100 grains the gun 

 will do good work at short range for target. 

 With 48 grains of Savage high pressure 

 powder and the full 150 grain moulded ball 

 of pure zinc (such a ball weighs less than 

 93 l /2 grains) the penetration is 30 inches of 

 pitch pine with the grain, or 13 inches of 

 seasoned oak, with the grain. Such a bullet 

 is of no account at long distances, but up 

 to 200 yards I have found the trajectory 

 as flat as the regular soft point or hard 

 point ball. Have fired with such a load and 

 zinc ball at 120 yards and it shot true; pen- 

 etrating a large gunny-sack of earth when 

 the steel jacketed ball would fly to pieces 

 after entering but a few inches. Before 

 using the 30-40 my favorite was the 38-56 

 Winchester, and I agree with Mr. Springer 

 that it cannot be beaten as a black powder 

 rifle; especially when used with a 300 grain 

 ball. I have killed both deer and elk with 

 mine, and until I got my 30 it was the only 

 gun for me. In all work with the reloaded 

 shells, in the 30, the sight must be adjusted 

 to suit the load, for no ordinary charge or 

 ball will carry with so slight an elevation. 

 W. B. C. 



SMASHING POWER OF THE SAVAGE 

 RIFLE. 



Lander, Wyo. 



Editor Recreation: I have just finished 

 reading, in December Recreation, Mr. 

 Wells's article about the new small bores.' 



I must say he had a very peculiar ex- 

 perience in shooting his cougar. He states 

 that the core of the bullet lodged just under 

 the skin of the animal, while the jacket 

 went on and penetrated the lung. In all 

 my shooting with the Savage rifle, if able 

 to find the ball at all, I have always found 

 the core or lead portion considerably in ad- 

 vance of the jacket, and I cannot account 

 for the phenomenon he speaks of. 



Yet, a few lines farther on in his criticism 

 he makes this assertion: " In my opin- 

 ion the new rifles are all right for that class 

 of sportsmen who use express rifles, cover 

 their game any way, as they would with a 

 shotgun, and depend on the bullet to so 

 mutilate the animal, no matter where hit, 

 that he cannot escape." This seems a curi- 

 ous opinion when coupled with his experi- 

 ence with the lion. 



My experience with the Savage rifle and 

 smokeless powder is entirely different. 

 While I have never had a shot at a bear 

 since I began using it, I have made a good 

 showing with it on deer and elk. I send 

 you the core and jacket I took from a big 

 bull elk last September. The shot was de- 

 livered at 157 paces from the game. The 

 ball struck the shoulder, where the arm 

 bone joins the shoulder blade, smashed the 

 joint and tore the lungs into shreds. I 



