2*4 



RECREATION 



looking for. I wrote the Savage Company 

 full particulars Tuesday and the follow- 

 ing Friday I received a new patent spindle, 

 carrier and spring complete, which worked 

 to perfection. Could one ask for more? I 

 wrote twice asking to pay for it and they 

 replied, "with their compliments and hopes 

 that the trip would be a success." Mr. 

 Robertson will not make a mistake by giv- 

 ing the Savage a fair trial. Let us hear his 

 decision in the near future. 



Alfred T. Ives, Brooklyn, N. Y. 



EXPLAINS ABOUT COX SIGHT. 



Yours of recent date at hand and noted. 

 The sight that Cox made and showed me 

 was O. K. It was different from the one 

 he put on the market. It had the rear lens 

 in the rear Lyman aperture, but the front 

 lens was in the disk of the No. ij Lyman. 

 That sight was a good one for shooting 

 purposes. 



After he had me see and test that sight 

 he came to me and said he had improved it, 

 by putting the front lens in the rear slot 

 on a Beech combination front sight stem. 

 He asked me if I would write a letter to 

 Recreation endorsing the new sight. I 

 said I would, thinking the sight would be 

 the same as, or better than, the one he 

 showed me. That is where I was lame. I 

 own to-day the gun he had the first sight 

 on, but it is not there now. I do not know 

 anything of Cox's business, but I do know 

 his partners are all honest men, and if they 

 are in trouble it is by a misrepresentation 

 on someone's part. You may draw your 

 own conclusions. 



I am sorry that trouble has come from 

 my letter, as I do not think the new sight 

 Cox is putting out is worth anything. 



J. W. Stapleton, York, Neb. 



COMPOSITION OF RIFLE BULLETS. 

 Will Recreation kindly give a reader in- 

 formation on the composition of rifle bul- 

 lets and laws governing them? I have a 

 Winchester 32 Special and do not know 

 what composition is best, reloading with 40 

 grains of black powder. As far as I can 

 see, the Winchester do not give the com- 

 position of these bullets in their catalogue. 

 Joseph A. Anderson, Goldfield, Col. 



I referred this inquiry to an expert rifle- 

 man who replies as follows : 



No law governs the composition of tin 

 and lead or any other alloy to make bullets 

 harder than pure lead. Bullets are generally 

 hardened to avoid too much upsettage. 

 The higher the pressure generated from the 

 powder and the quicker the twist, the harder 

 the bullet should be. In almost all 16 inch 

 twist rifles, which means one turn in 16 

 inches, lead bullets are usually about one 



part tin to 20, or one part to 40, of lead. 

 For the 32 Winchester Special rifle with 

 40 grains of black powder I recommend 

 one part tin to 25 of lead. With high 

 pressure powders, the quantity of tin should 

 be increased to make the bullet correspond- 

 ingly harder. 



NO FAULT OF PUMP. 



Noting the attacks on pump guns and 

 bird dogs in Recreation, I claim, although 

 I am not an advocate of the pump, that 

 because a man uses a repeater and a bird 

 dog he is not necessarily a game hog. I 

 am the owner of a Winchester pump gun 

 and 2 bird dogs, a pointer and a setter, 

 both thoroughly trained ; yet I would rath- 

 er be called a thief than a game hog. A 

 man may use any weapon best suited to 

 his wishes, and yet be a gentleman if he 

 has decency enough to quit when he has 

 enough. I derive more pleasure from 

 watching the working of my dogs than in 

 procuring large bags of game. 



Mr. Double Barrel's article in December 

 Recreation is all right, but these "murder- 

 ous engines of destruction" will be used as 

 long as there is no law prohibiting their 

 use. As soon as there is, I shall be the 

 first to take mine by the barrel and throw 

 it into the lake. The brute with a double 

 barrel can make just as big a fool of him- 

 self as the swine behind the pump, for he 

 can follow the flock and clean up just the 

 same. It only takes longer. 



O. E. Raynor, Meadville, Pa. 



A LOVER OF THE REPEATER. 



I am the owner of a 30-30 pistol grip, 

 half magazine, take down rifle fitted with 

 3 Lyman sights. The gun is light and em- 

 bodies all that can be desired in a rifle for 

 general hunting purposes. I also own a 

 12 gauge repeating shot gun, which is a 

 good all around firearm, but think the 16 

 gauge has an advantage in not being quite 

 so heavy. However, the repeating shot gun 

 in either gauge is ahead of the double gun, 

 and seems to me more humane, as a wound- 

 ed bird or rabbit has small chance of get- 

 ting away. 



Deer were numerous around here last 

 fall, but had more than an even chance 

 with the hunter on account of the first fall 

 of snow forming a hard crust which would 

 break underfoot and make such noise that 

 a deer could hear and see the enemy long- 

 before the hunter could locate the game. A 

 notable feature of the hunting last fall was 

 that few does were killed. Full grown and 

 unusually large bucks suffered the most, 

 which fact can, I believe, be attributed to 

 the ground being covered with snow. 



Wm. S. Ferm, Hurley, Wis 



