3oo 



RECREATION. 



30-30, soft nose, has been overdone. The 

 bullets nearly always fly to pieces when 

 striking bone. The 45 does not often 

 leave the jacket, but if it should, there 

 would be enough weight and force of the 

 lead to go on and do effective work. 



V. P. Cutler, Canon City, Colo. 



SMALL SHOT. 



I do not like Peters cartridges. Out of 

 a box of 22 longs, 5 missed and 4 hung 

 fire. One of the latter hung so long that 

 I had removed the rifle from my shoulder 

 and was opening the breach, when it went, 

 off. No more Peters' for me. Three young 

 men of this place went out on the prairie 

 last fall to hunt geese. One man, after 

 firing the first cartridge from his Marlin 

 rifle, attempted to throw the lever, but it 

 stuck solid and he had to go back to town 

 and have the action taken apart. In what 

 fix would he have been .if he had shot a 

 bear and wounded it? The Marlin rifle is 

 simply an imitation of the Winchester, 

 made as nearly like it as possible without 

 infringing on Winchester patents, but the 

 less said about the action the better. If 

 Marlin would go into the single shot busi- 

 ness entirely he would 'probably do better. 

 Al. Kennedy, Post Falls, Ida. 



In answer to Pard Roll, the 25-35 is 

 powerful enough for the game he mentions, 

 if he can put his lead in the" right place. I 

 prefer the Savage .303 on account of the 

 neater hang of that rifle. There is no dif- 

 ference in accuracy between the .303 Sav- 

 age and the .30-30 Winchester. The Ste- 

 vens .22 caliber is not more accurate than 

 the Winchester model 1890 repeater. 



To E. W. Summers : I have used 4 Ste- 

 vens rifles and never noticed any serious 

 looseness in the working of the lever. One 

 loosened a little, after a year's use, but was 

 easily tightened. The 32-40 is not too large 

 for grouse if you can behead them, al- 

 though it would mangle the bird if hit 

 otherwise. 



To C. W. Linberger : The range of the 

 25-20 Winchester is about 200 yards, the 

 penetration J% one inch pine boards at 20 

 feet. 



Harry Braconier, Campello, Mass. 



In May Recreation B. L. Dingley in- 

 quires as to the safety of using nitro pow- 

 der in old guns. I have a Scott hammer, 

 12-gauge gun, made in 1880 and used con- 

 tinually ever since. I have used nitro 

 powder in it ever since that powder came 

 into general use, with heavy charges for 

 ducks, etc., without any trouble resulting. 

 It is the best shooting gun I ever saw, and 

 originally cost $125. The right barrel is 

 modified choke ; the left, full choke. Much 



depends on the quality of the barrels, of 

 course, but from my experience I should 

 conclude that Mr. Dingley would be per- 

 fectly safe in shooting nitro powder in the 

 gun he describes, if reasonable charges 

 were used. If heavy loads of powder were 

 used, I should recommend that the charge 

 of shot should not exceed one ounce. 



C. M. Coleman, Telluride, Colo. 



Why a true sportsman wishes to "use a 

 pump gun to shoot ducks, quails, etc., is past 

 my reasoning. Two shots are more than 

 enough to fire at a covey of quails. A sin- 

 gle shot and one bird scored is more sports- 

 manlike than 2 shots and one or 2 crippled 

 birds. Some get the idea that to take a dog 

 or 2, a pump gun, go to the field, flush a 

 covey, bang away as long as there is a bird 

 in sight, and pick up whatever falls, count- 

 ing 2 or 3 wounded, is sport. Why not use 

 a double gun and be satisfied with 2 shots 

 and less cripples ? Not 3 times in 5 do I get 

 2 shots at a covey. I would rather score the 

 first and run the risk of another single than 

 to cripple a bird and lose it. The quails 

 wintered well here and are numerous ; rab- 

 bits also. With a dry nesting season, there 

 should be good sport next fall. 



C. B. H., Markleville, Ind. 



In reply to Mr. Beckwith's question about 

 Lyman sights, would say I have a set of 

 them on a 38-55 rifle. They are good for 

 target or long-distance shooting; but give 

 me an open sight for deer and similar 

 game. 



Will readers tell their experience with 

 the new 35 caliber Winchester box maga- 

 zine? I believe it is a good gun for big 

 game. 



L. A. Dougherty, Three Rivers, Mich. 



There has been much talk in Recreation 

 about the all around rifle. Would not the 

 32-40 with nickel steel barrel to handle the 

 new 32-40 high pressure smokeless load fill 

 the bill? It gives higher velocity and 

 greater penetration than the 30-30 and .303. 

 Would it not give proportionate results 

 with black and low pressure powders, and 

 thus be available for all kinds of shooting? 

 M. E. Longstreth, Towanda, Kan. 



I am thinking of buying a rifle for wood- 

 chuck and squirrel shooting, but am un- 

 decided what caliber to choose. Would the 

 25-20, '92 model, Winchester carbine be 

 suitable? What is the heaviest charge that 

 can be used with that gun? What would 

 make an accurate light load for gallery 

 practice? 



Henry Wiggen, Jr., Middletown, N. Y. 



