

FARMER’S BOY NOT GUILTY. 
The article in March Recreation by 
W. J., of Philadelphia, Pa., moves me to 
reply. As an advertisement of the killing 
power and deadly effect of the automatic 
gun, this article is a distinct success; but 
the picture he draws shows a lamentable 
lack of knowledge concerning the small 
game conditions throughout the more set- 
tled portions of the country. 
I speak from personal observation and in 
behalf of the farmer’s boy, whom W. J. and 
some other sportsmen would deprive of 
owning a modern gun, if they could make 
the price. To the man who has hunted all 
day in this country, walking up his birds 
and taking occasional snap shots at long 
range in heavy cover, the picture of the 
farmer's boys going forth with the auto- 
matic_gun, “Firing 2 shots, killing 5 birds 
on the ground and 3 more on the rise, 
making 8 out of a covey of I 5,” is amusing. 
The thing more likely to occur is this: 
murderous farmer boy, who, by the way, 
owns the land on which the gentleman 
sportsman usually goes forth, during his 
work about the farm in the summer and 
early autumn marks a brood of quails, 
which he watches with jealous care, and 
waits impatiently for the opening of the 
season when the law is off that he may 
have a few days’ hunt, after the summer’s 
work. This game butcher owns no trained 
bird dogs and seldom has a modern gun. If 
by any luck he gets a brace of birds in a 
day’s hunt he is proud and satisfied. But, 
supposing he defers his hunt a few days 
after the opening of the season. What are 
his chances for exterminating the game 
then? Just visit the city stations, during 
the first of the shooting season. There you 
will see the man, bound for the country, 
who will use the automatic gun, the 2 or 3 
dogs and every known facility that money 
can buy, for bringing home the required 
number of birds for his game dinner. If 
these fail he pays liberally to local hunters 
for assistance; but he gets the birds, and 
any local game warden having the presump- 
tion to ask the number, gets little satisfac- 
tion. I am not a champion of the automatic 
gun or the repeater. In fact, I do nearly 
all my shooting with a single shot rifle; 
but the man who so often contributes the 
idea to REcREATION that a shooter has only 
to go into the brush with his automatic 
or pump, swing his gun around, shooting 
the 6 rapid shots, and pick up the remains 
of a covey of birds, has only to try it to be 
convinced that all is not “dead bird” which 
gets up before a repeater. Moreover, this 
The ° 
373 
GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 
Anybody can shoot all day, but a gentleman always quits when he gets enwugh. 
same engine of destruction is seldom found 
in the hands of the country sportsman or 
the despised farmer’s boy. 
F. B., Lisle, N. Y. 

ANOTHER VOTE FOR ROBIN HOOD. 
About 25 years ago I commenced shooting 
with black powder, of course, and since that 
time have shot nearly all the well known 
brands of black, bulk and dense smoke- 
less. Still I am always looking for some- 
thing better, hence I always carefully read 
the Gun and Ammunition department of 
RECREATION. 
Of all brands of powder used by me to 
date, Robin Hood, in my opinion, is the 
best. For cleanliness, penetration and uni- 
formity of pattern, especially at long range, 
it excels any bulk powder I have ever 
seen; while considering the high velocity 
given by it, the. recoil is much lighter 
than any of the dense powders with a 
load that gives equal velocity. It is, as its 
manufacturers claim, a slow burning pow- 
der, starting the shot slowly but reaching 
great velocity by the time it leaves the muz- 
zle, giving remarkable killing power. Since 
shooting Robin Hood I have had fewer 
crippled birds than ever before. 
The best brands of dense powder give 
about the same velocity as Robin Hood, but 
they explode so quickly that the recoil is 
much greater and the pattern not so good. 
The only fault I can find with Robin 
Hood, and I have shot a lot of it, is that 
is makes enough smoke in thick woods and 
on damp, still days to interfere slightly with 
the use of the second barrel. On such days 
I have made a practice of taking along a 
few dense powder shells for the right bar- 
rel; then if I miss with that the bird scaree- 
ly ever fails to fall to the left if T hold 
true. a 
As a rule I load my own sills for T 
have experimented at target tin P have 
found what will give the? Best: resiilts 
with my guns. No set ‘fofmiila'”’ can, in’ 
my opinion, be given to ‘apply f° AI ating 
and conditions; in sss ok et * sa bést 
results out of a given gui ents must 
be made with it at- sina 
My favorite loadfor-tta vet brush Shoot- 
ing is 3 dramsoRobin! Hood! inow@sqidnch 
Leader shellj:one! Bi show wad) j¢black) edie 
wads cappedy by: idnathér!Bs shot ‘wad, OTe 
ounces chillethishotiaridea»G shot! wad; with 
% inch round crimp. For duck shootin; T 
increabesthei!powder: tg draniso!o With 
that load obi get omy! !bied 146 cit list avithin 66 
yards and I can hold true, and I do not 
