RECREATION. 



sight for those loads. Then I got a 30-30 

 but had the same trouble. Now I have a 

 new 303 octagon Savage and the line is so 

 nearly the same I do not use any extra 

 sight. It does fairly well, as per target 

 enclosed, when yon take into considera- 

 tion that I am an old man and did not 

 use a dead rest although I did steady the 

 muzzle on a twig. 



I find a great difference in different 

 makes of cartridges for the same gun; 

 for instance, for 303 one make measures 

 less than 308, although the caliber of a 303 

 measures 308. The bullet should fill, to 

 get all the benefit of the gas and rifling. 

 The full jacket of the same company's 

 make measures .311. Why this discrep- 

 ancy? If .311 is right for full jacket, what 

 is wrong about having same size for soft 

 nose, for this is the game bullet and we 

 need all the force and tearing power pos- 

 sible for large game. Then it does not 

 stop too quickly with these small calibers. 

 The smaller copper jackets do not take 

 the same line vertically or horizontally 

 We are too apt to condemn a good gun 

 because we have bought a cartridge not 

 well adapted to the gun. In order to get 

 loads that take same line I have been 

 obliged to buy one make of expansive and 

 another of full jacket. The new Savage 

 rear sight will simplify matters somewhat 

 in the matter of different loads. 



I have yet to find a company so willing 

 to do all that is right in regard to their 

 guns as the Savage Arms Co. I had one 

 of their guns that was faulty to some ex- 

 tent, and I wrote them in regard to it. 

 They wrote me to send the gun in, and 

 they put in a new barrel, a new cartridge 

 carrier and refinished the gun through- 

 out, returning it free of charge. I only 

 asked that the chamber be changed slight- 

 ly. The magazine had always been satis- 

 factory ; but the new carrier is an improve- 

 ment to anyone who is careless in hand- 

 ling the gun. I could not but compare 

 the action of the Savage Company with 



that of the Snarlin people, as reported 

 when their guns are sent back. 



The enclosed target was made at 30 

 yards without going to target, and with 

 the same sight and no change from 100 

 yards. This knocks my former theory 

 out, for neither of my other rifles would 

 have put the lead nearer than 3 inches of 

 the center of mark. Some one tell why. 

 Stubb, Orwell, Ohio. 



DEFENDS THE PUMP GUN. 



I saw a scathing letter in Recreation 

 signed "Double Barrel," against the pump 

 gun, which might have been written more 

 guardedly and have conveyed the desired 

 effect. The pump gun is the gun for those 

 who know how to use it properly. For 

 instance, when a covey scatters, the 

 U6er may come on a pair, get both, and an- 

 other may get up at a little distance which 

 possibly he may also bag; but the average 

 shooter fires to kill, not to wound. 



I have had experience at all sorts of 

 game in Scotland, including pheasants, part- 

 ridges, black game, woodcock, ducks, snipe, 

 hares and rabbits. Reckless shooting at 

 wide ranges, say 50 yards and upward, is 

 disliked, and if persisted in results in the 

 shooter being omitted from the next shoot- 

 ing party. 



I have had opportunity of seeing battues 

 where the birds came overhead at a great 

 pace and the shooters were crack shots 

 who fired anywhere from 5,000 to 15,000 

 shots a year. A shooter would have 3 

 double barrel guns and 2 loaders beside 

 him and would hit bird after bird in the 

 head, leaving the body fit for table use and 

 not a mess of bones, lead, feathers and 

 flesh. I mention this as I consider the head 

 the proper part to shoot at and it is a 

 small target at 30 or 40 yards. 



I have killed a pair of birds at a moder- 

 ate range with one shot or a bird at long 

 range, but in both instances it was met 

 with criticism. My opinion of true sports- 

 men in this country, whether they use the 

 pump gun or the double barrel, is that they 

 lack nothing, comparing them with British 

 sportsmen. 



As regards W. E. Heist's statement that 

 a charge from a 16 bore gun goes faster 

 and does more effective killing than from 

 a 12 bore, I consider that no<nsense. 

 Charge and loading have a lot to do 

 with the effectiveness of a gun, but in 

 99 cases out of 100 it is the man who is at 

 fault. 



In India 28 bores are largely used for 

 shooting snipe; weight $V 2 poundfs, 

 charge, 28-30 grains G. C. or Shultze pow- 

 der and 94 ounce shot. I have had 

 experience in bringing some of those 

 smart little gentlemen to bag. I have had 

 to wait often on lost birds till the retriev- 



