2l6 



RECREA TION. 



tented until I had tried it. The first was a 

 .30-40 model '95 Winchester. This gun 

 was good, but had too much recoil. It 

 was accurate, long ranged, and gave a flat 

 trajectory. I did not use it with soft point 

 bullets, but my partner, to whom I traded 

 it, says it seemed to be as great a tearer 

 as a .45-70. He uses full mantle bullets. 



About 3 months ago I bought a .30-30 

 Winchester. This gun is simply immense. 

 There is no perceptible recoil. It is fully 

 as accurate as any black powder rifle I ever 

 used. Up to 250 yards one need make no 

 allowance for distance. I have not tried 

 this on big game, but it is the gun for 

 coyotes. The first one I shot was 310 

 yards away, and running. The bullet tore 

 a hole through his neck large enough to 

 insert 3 fingers. I crippled another at 400 

 yards, and afterward got 3 more shots at 

 100 yards, killing him. All were running 

 shots. Another was killed at 465 yards. 

 I shot one to-day at 210 yards, running. 

 Fired 4 shots, hitting 3 times. I shot one 

 this morning, trying to run off with 2 

 traps, at 250 yards. All of these coyotes 

 were badly torn. 



When I got the rifle I shot a coyote in 

 a trap, to see what effect the soft nose 

 bullet would have. He was struck back 

 of shoulder, and a hole torn, where bullet 

 entered, about 3^2 inches in diameter. 



I have killed 16 beeves with this rifle; 

 some with full mantle bullets. They were 

 either shot in the forehead or just back of 

 the ear. The full patch tore as badly as the 

 soft nose. I shot a dog through the head 

 with a full mantled bullet, tearing it to 

 pieces. .1 have shot about 40 jack rabbits 

 and a dozen cotton tails, most of them 

 with soft nose bullets, which expanded in 

 every case. Most of the rabbits were shot 

 at over 100 yards and several as far as 200, 

 while one was crippled at 350 yards. I did 

 not raise the sight once, but at the longer 

 ranges made slight allowances. 



There are 2 things about these rifles I 

 do not like. One is, the shells cannot be 

 reloaded with any degree of success. I 

 tried loading with 20 grains of black pow- 

 der, and a lead bullet of 115 grains. This 

 charge was accurate, but could not be used 

 without elevating the rear sight. It also 

 leaded badly. 



The other fault is in the cleaning. I find 

 by using a bristle brush and finishing with 

 an oiled rag, I get the best results in clean- 

 ing. 



A. A. Haines, Armington, Mont. 



CALCULATING TRAJECTORIES. 



Toledo, O. 

 Editor Recreation: Can good results 

 be obtained by reloading the .25-20 Win- 

 chester single shot cartridge? Is it advis- 

 able to purchase factory bullets? What 

 black powder is best suited to this calibre? 



Another subject I would like to see dis- 

 cussed is that of trajectories. I believe the 

 highest point of the trajectory is not at the' 

 centre of flight, but beyond that point. 

 For instance, on a 200 yard range, the bul- 

 let, I believe, reaches its highest point at 

 about 125 yards. Is this constant or does it 

 vary with different cartridges? In other 

 words, will the distance to the highest point 

 always be a certain fraction of the whole 

 flight? With this determined, cannot the 

 approximate elevation of the rear sight be 

 calculated for long distance shooting? 

 Suppose a rifle with tang sight is being 

 used, on a 300 yard range. The bullet rises, 

 at _ its _ highest point, 36 inches. If this 

 point is 2-3 of the distance, or 200 yards, 

 then the bullet would rise, if not acted on 

 by gravity (36" = f— 18"=*— 4'— 6 = f) 

 4 feet 6 inches at the end of the range. 

 We would then have 2 similar triangles; 

 the base of one being the distance from 

 muzzle to rear sight and the base of. the 

 other being the range. The 2 perpendicu- 

 lar sides of the triangles would be rep- 

 resented by the proper elevation of rear 

 sight (as yet unknown) and by the theo- 

 retical rise of the bullet. We would then 

 have the following equation: 



Height is to base as Height is to base, or 



4-5 x 3 



2 : 3 r :: 4-5' : 9°° = = 2 = .oi5 / 



goo 



which = 3-16 of an inch, very nearly. Is this correct ? 



E. Wager-Smith. 



ANSWER. 



Many powders are used in reloading .25- 

 20 shells. Have found Dupont's f.g. and 

 f.f.g. as good as any. Factory bullets al- 

 ways give good results. 



The greatest height of the trajectory is at 

 mid-range, in theory, when considering the 

 trajectory in vacuo. In air, the highest 

 point is necessarily slightly beyond mid- 

 range. For ordinary sporting ranges it is 

 generally 52 per cent, to 54 per cent, of the 

 whole range. Theoretical angles of eleva- 

 tion will be approximately correct only, I 

 think, when applied to rifles so heavy as to 

 be free from jump. The subject is in- 

 terestingly treated in " Problems in Direct 

 Fire," by Capt. J. M. Ingalls; published 

 by Jno. Wiley & Son, New York. 



W. E. Carlin. 



STRENGTH OF BLUE BARRELS. 



A writer in Recreation claimed that 

 blued barrels, such as used on some, of the 

 cheaper American guns, are as strong as 

 the imported twist barrels. My observa- 

 tions teach me this is a mistake. Anyone 

 who is familiar with gun making kno.ws 

 the cheap blue barrels are all made from 

 a good grade of rolled iron, which is bored 

 at the factories where used. The grain of 

 the metal must necessarily run lengthwise, 

 and consequently will not stand the burst- 

 ing strain which the same metal would 



