GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 



5* 



a rifle at a critical moment, can we take the 

 chance ? 



Jas. C. Stark, M.D., West Phila., Pa. 



DEFENDS THE SAVAGE. 

 Replying to G. W. McHay, Kelseytown, 

 Minn., who criticised the Savage, I have 

 owned 2 .303 Savage rifles, and have never 

 used any rifle more to my liking. For 

 shooting, neatness and perfection of bal- 

 ance, they are uneqnaled, while for pene- 

 tration the Savage people guarantee 50 

 inches of white pine, with full mantled 

 bullet of their own make; and their word 

 is good. The soft point will penetrate a 

 5-16-inch steel boiler plate. If the trigger 

 lock works loose and the trigger pulls too 

 hard, a remedy is to take off the buttstock, 

 exposing most of the lock. Cut a piece of 

 rubber the right thickness to fit in the 

 slotlike screwhead in the rear of lever 

 lock ; or a piece thick enough to make the 

 trigger lock extend enough to work at the 

 desired pressure. To make the trigger 

 pull easier, hold trigger back with finger, 

 which will pull the sear down until it can 

 be reached with a small file. Round off 

 the corner next to the magazine slightly, 

 closing the action, now and then trying the 

 pull until it suits. It may be cut down to 

 almost a hair pull if desired. This was my 

 treatment for 2 Savage rifles. 



C. E. Wilson, Mt. Carbon, Colo. 



SMALL SHOT. 

 In experimenting with a 30-30 Winches- 

 ter carbine, using Winchester and U. M. C. 

 factory-loaded, soft point bullets, I fired 

 at Y% inch iron plates, at 10 paces. The 

 bullets made dents y<\ inch deep and y 2 

 inch in diameter. Firing at a ^ inch iron 

 plate, the same distance, the bullets cut 

 clean holes y> inch in diameter and car- 

 ried the pieces of iron punched out 2 

 inches into hard pine. Reloaded shells, 

 using factory-made bullets and 27 grains 

 Savage smokeless powder, would not go 

 through % inch iron. Went through 3-16 

 iron after bending the plate badly. Was 

 this the fault of the powder, or because 

 the Winchester reloading tool does not 

 crimp the bullet tight in the shell? Bul- 

 lets fired into soft pine mushroomed beau- 

 tifully, but one fired at a 16 inch cedar 

 telegraph pole went through it and 4 inches 

 into a clay bank without expanding. The 

 soft point was worn off even with the 

 copper jacket, which goes to show that 

 you can not tell what a bullet will do. 



W. A. Trussell, Chicago, 111. 



that caliber be reloaded with smokeless 

 powder? 



Bernard Andrews, New Durham, N. J. 



I referred this to the Winchester people, 

 whose reply follows: 



The penetration of the 56-50 Spencer at 

 100 yards we find to be 8 %-inch pine 

 boards. This, of course, might vary con- 

 siderably as the lumber varies, but think 

 this is a good average result. With regard 

 to reloading these shells with smoke- 

 less powder, we can only say that it has 

 never been done, and in our judgment it 

 would be unwise to do so, as the initial 

 pressures generated with smokeless pow- 

 ders would probably be great enough to 

 rupture the shell about the head. This 

 cartridge was, of course, made up for black 

 powder, and no attempt has been made to 

 adapt it to smokeless. — Editor. 



I notice in the February number of 

 Recreation "Enrique" claims that the Sav- 

 age miniature bullet is worthless beyond 25 

 yards. After reading that, I took my 

 model '99 Savage, and went out to prove 

 that he is wrong. The following was the 

 result: Four bullets were fired at a target 

 100 yards' distant ; one struck y 2 inch from 

 the center, one 1^2 inches from the center, 

 one 2^4 inches and one 3^2 inches. I then 

 fired 4 bullets at a target 150 yards distant. 

 One bullet struck the target 1^/4 inches 

 from the center, one 3 inches, another 

 3Y 2 inches, and the 4th struck above the 

 target. I then fired 2 shots with a 200- 

 yard range. One struck 2> Z A inches from 

 the center, and the other missed the target, 

 but struck above it. 



All the bullets were the Savage miniature 

 .303, and were fired without using a rest. 

 A. D. Ostrander, Franklin, N. Y. 



Can you tell me the penetration, at 100 

 yards, of the 56-50 Spencer cartridge made 

 by the Winchester Company? Can shells of 



I am not much of a hunter, nor a crack 

 shot, but am fond of a good rifle. I have 

 owned lots of them ; Remingtons, Spencer, 

 Maynard, Evans, Colt, Chaffee-Reece, Stev- 

 ens, Hopkins & Allen, Sharps, Quacken- 

 bush, Springfield, F. Wesson, and most 

 all models and calibers of repeating and 

 single shot Winchesters. I now have a 

 Winchester, '94 model, 30-30 carbine, and 

 would not swap it for anything I ever used,. 

 It just fills the bill and is light and hand- 

 some. _ I use all kinds of loads, from 6 to 

 30 grains of either black or smokeless pow- 

 ders, _ and am satisfied that the little car- 

 bine is O. K. for any game to be found in 

 New England. The Savage is also a great 

 rifle. Recreation is all right. Could not 

 get along without it. 



Leman Dawes, Harrison, Me. 



I consider the Lee straight pull, 6 mm, 

 the nicest little saddle gun, the longest 



