GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 



Anybody can shoot all day, but a gentleman will quit when he gets enough. 



THE EXPERIENCE OF J. D. BUCK. 

 King and Bartlett, Maine. 

 Marlin Fire Arms Co., 



New Haven, Conn. 



Dear Sirs : 1 had an experience with one 

 of your .30-30 rifles last fall, and as 1 am 

 highly pleased with the outcome, I think 

 it but just I should tell you about it. 



There had been no rain for many days ; 

 the fallen leaves had become so dry and 

 crisp that but little care was required for 

 one to keep at a distance from all things 

 one wishes to avoid. I had been roaming 

 several days over the higher ridges, trying 

 my antlers against sundry saplings and 

 longing for a chance to test them in conflict 

 with an antagonist worthy of them and me. 



On the day of which I am telling I left 

 my usual fall haunts on King and Bartlett 

 mountain and went to lower ground. I 

 circled around Little King lake and took 

 to the top of 'he "horseback," which ex- 

 tends for a way parallel to Spencer steam. 

 The day was bright and the sky cloudless. 

 By the middle of the forenoon it was so 

 hot that had there been a few black flies 

 pestering me, I should have thought it 

 surely was lily-pad time. As I weigh some- 

 thing like 300 pounds, my exercise had 

 warmed me up and I began to be uncom- 

 monly thirsty. On one side of where I 

 stood was low ground with almost stag- 

 nant and unpleasant tasting water ; while 

 on the other side was the sparkling, cool 

 Spencer stream. I immediately started for 

 the good water, keeping a sharp lookout 

 for anything suspicious. 



I had just reached the bank of the stream 

 and was putting my head down to drink 

 when a strange looking log, with a squat, 

 thick, limblike growth sticking up at each 

 end, came silently and swiftly around the 

 bend above me. 



Great guns, how it startled me ! The log 

 swung .instantly head toward me. I could 

 not make out just what it was, although 1 

 studied it carefully while it drifted swiftly 

 toward me. There was a movement in the 

 forward hump and I could see a smaller 

 limb, with a little black hole in its center, 

 which was pointed directly below the hand- 

 some patch of white on my throat. 



"Now give it to him, Belcher !" came 

 from the rear stump, and I suddenly real- 

 ized that the log was a canoe, and what I 

 had taken for squat limbs were in reality 

 those horrid smoky smelling beings that 

 walk on their hind legs and are called men. 

 I thought my doom was sealed and even 

 when I heard a sharp little click, such as 

 one pebble makes when falling on another, 



47 



I did not have power to move, even to save 

 my life. 



"Jack in another," came from the rear 

 again, and the man in front made a louder 

 clicking. 



"Dod blast the blank, blank thing; it's 

 stuck !" the front man said. A shiver ran 

 over me, I came to myself and with 2 

 mighty bounds was back in the thicket, 

 well hidden and safe. 



My curiosity caused me to linger a few 

 minutes in the vicinity, and I learned from 

 what the men said, although much it would 

 never do to repeat, that the man in the 

 stern had warned his companion to get 

 ready for just such an opportunity as that 

 which I gave them, and was taking him 

 severely to task for not having had his rifle 

 loaded. The other asserted in no uncer- 

 tain tones that he had filled the magazine 

 with cartridges and had pumped one into 

 the chamber, or at least he had worked the 

 lever, and, of course, supposed he had 

 loaded the weapon. He went on to say 

 that I had stood like a blamed fool while 

 he had snapped once and thrown down the 

 lever to reload, and had the action worked 

 properly my name would surely have been 

 Dennis. 



I gathered that the rifle was made by 

 yon, was brand new, and although they 

 decided it wasn't fit to take into the woods, 

 yet it meets not only with my entire ap- 

 proval, but also the hearty commendation 

 of those of my friends to whom I have re- 

 lated this incident. 



May your business so increase that 

 in the years to come every hunter who 

 journeys this way will carry one of your 

 rifles ! 



Yours thankfully, 



James Dandy Buck. 



A .303 TARGET. 

 I am much interested in guns and ammu- 

 nition, and that is where I commence to 

 read Recreation as soon as I have taken 

 a look at the pictures. I often see the 

 question _ asked, "What is the best all 

 around rifle?" The question implies a gun 

 to use on large game and on small game 

 as well. I am partial to the 303, as the 

 cartridge is, to me, the best for large 

 game up to the 30-40. If the 303 is large 

 enough for the heavy shooting, surely the 

 100 grain bullet and 3 to 5 grain miniature 

 powder is small enough and cheap enough 

 for anything; and I have found it accurate 

 for close work. With my first 303 I shot 

 one inch to the left and one inch low for 

 every 10 yards. That called for a separate 



