GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 



217 



stand if the grain ran in a spiral course. 

 Besides, the twist barrels are made of the 

 best Norway iron and steel, welded to- 

 gether in spiral form. 



Again, the writer referred to says twist 

 barrels are no longer made. This is a mis- 

 take. All barrel makers make them, al- 

 though the old stub-and-twist, which were 

 made of old horseshoe nails, are no lon- 

 ger made. I have it from so good an au- 

 thority as Mr. Josette, of Pagnoul & Jo- 

 sette, the barrel makers of Liege, Belgium, 

 that the twist or Damascus barrel will 

 stand a much greater strain than the de- 

 carbonized steel (iron) barrel. 



Anyone who frequents the Northwestern 

 duck fields will see that many more cheap 

 blue barrels than twist are burst with the 

 heavy loads used for ducks. I pin my 

 faith to an Ithaca twist duck gun, and feel 

 safe with 4 drams of Dupont's smokeless. 

 Northwest, St. Paul, Minn. 



NOTES. 



Since the last issue of Recreation many 

 accounts have been given of accurate 

 shooting by naval gunners, but one of the 

 most remarkable of these tells of a won- 

 derful shot made by Gunner Hartman, of 

 the auxiliary cruiser St. Paul. 



It was at San Juan, Porto Rico. The 

 Spanish torpedo boat destroyer Terror, and 

 the Spanish cruiser Isabella II., had at- 

 tacked the St. Paul but could not withstand 

 the withering fire of the Yankee gunners, 

 and both vessels retreated. 



As the Terror was running for cover, 

 and after she had gotten 3 miles from the 

 St. Paul, Gunner Hartman trained his 5 

 inch rapid fire rifled gun on her and let go. 

 The sharp pointed shot went shrieking over 

 an expanse of water 3 miles wide. Its 

 target was a craft as big as a small yacht, 

 making for the shore as fast as her power- 

 ful engines could take her. The projectile 

 caught her in the stern and crashed through 

 her engine room, killing the chief engineer, 

 an assistant engineer and another man in 

 the room, and wounding 11 others by frag- 

 ments of flying steel. 



The Spaniards will learn, one of these 

 days, that it is dangerous to monkey with 

 the Yankee buzz saw. 



I have noticed several inquiries in Rec- 

 reation, asking the opinion of readers of 

 the merits of the Winchester repeating 

 shotgun. I have used one for several 

 years, and have always found it a gun that 

 could be relied upon in all cases. They 

 are unexcelled as close, hard shooters, and 

 if a hunter cannot kill game at 65 and 70 

 yards, there is something wrong with the 

 man. 



I would suggest to the prospective buy- 

 er, who can afford to own only a cheap 



gun, to be sure and give the Winchester a 

 trial before making the purchase. 



Some correspondents have, without due 

 reflection, branded the user of the " pump 

 gun " as a game hog. Now, I do not think 

 sportsmen should be branded as game hogs 

 because they see fit to use a repeating shot- 

 gun. So far as my observation goes, I 

 think a few people in this section who 

 handle the double barrel weapon, will stand 

 a good deal of watching. The use of fer- 

 rets and seines is quite common in this 

 neighborhood, but may the Lord help the 

 hog I catch practicing any of his tricks in 

 my bailiwick; for I will surely give him a 

 rocky road to travel. 



F. W. Bibb, Pittsburg, Pa. 



I was delighted at the promptness of the 

 Marlin people in getting the .30-30 rifle to 

 me. I am a crank on Marlin rifles. This is 

 the fourth I have owned in the last 8 years. 

 I first used a .40-60, and am now using a 

 •38-55, and will say a good word for this 

 gun. I have killed with it probably 2 

 dozen deer and antelope. Have shot them 

 in all positions, at 50 to 350 yards. Have 

 never yet found a bullet in one of them. 



I have used a .45-70 Marlin and a .40-82 

 Winchester, and can not see but the .38-55 

 has as good killing powers on deer and 

 antelope as either. When hit in the right 

 place, the .38 does the work. When not 

 hit right, they carry off the .45 bullet just 

 the same. 



I think the .38-55 and the .40-60 Marlins 

 the best black powder rifles made, for ante- 

 lope and deer shooting. I have not had 

 an opportunity as yet to use the .30-30 on 

 game. It is certainly a liberal premium for 

 the amount of work done, and I thank you 

 for it. 



F. Horton, M.D., Newcastle, Wyo. 



In reply to the inquiry of E. R. Wilson, 

 I will say the Ithaca is one of the best 

 guns I ever used at the trap. To me, the 

 12 gauge hammerless is the perfection of 

 guns, though at present I am using a Ba- 

 ker, also a fine gun. 



I would like to add my voice in favor of 

 small bore rifles. While on the West coast 

 of Africa, last year, I used a .30-30 Marlin, 

 which proved most satisfactory. I could 

 score a clean kill on the large crocodiles 

 when my friend Wilson, with a .45-70, 

 would often fail to penetrate their hard 

 skulls, though we both had much sport in 

 seeing their jaws fly open, when hit in the 

 cervical vertebra. I also found its killing 

 power ample for deer, leopards, monkeys^ 

 and even larger game. While it is a dan- 

 gerous gun in the hands of a tenderfoot, 

 the cool and thoughtful sportsman can ex- 

 claim, " Eureka." 



Some time in the near future I hope to 

 send you the story of my trip up the Gam- 

 bia. W. N. Fowler, M.D., Bluffton, Ind. 



