376 
THE .308 SAVAGE FOR DEER. 
In March Recreation, Arthur A. Brock 
asks to hear from someone who has used 
the 44-40 on deer. I used a 44 Winchester 
several years, and killed many a fine buck 
with it. I considered it a fine gun, and so 
it was for its time, but it has outlived its 
usefulness. It is no comparison to the more 
modern small bore smokeless rifles for big 
game. If Mr. Brock really wants a good 
deer gun, I advise him to get a 303 Savage. 
They cost a little more than some of the 
other makes, but they are worth the differ- 
ence. If he believes in the preservation of 
game, I advise him to get a Marlin. I car- 
ried one 2 or 3 years, and I know of sev- 
eral big bucks still at large that would 
not be if I had had a Savage. I have 
used nearly all makes of sporting rifles, 
commencing nearly 30 years ago with a 
muzzle loader, and I consider the 303 Sav- 
age superior to them all. 
I buy RECREATION every month from our 
dealer, and it is a great magazine. If it was 
not for ReEcREATION the game hogs would 
never get roasted. I like the fight it is 
making against the automatic shot gun. I 
used to be a game hog myself, before I got 
hold of. RECREATION, but it has made a de- 
cent sportsman of me. I hand it around to 
my friends, knowing that it will do good. 
F. S. Carter, Gilroy, California. 

SMALL SHOT. 
Your action against the manufacture, sale 
and use of automatic guns is certainly in 
the interest of game protection, and as 
such should be approved and aided by all 
sportsmen. Repeating guns are to a great 
extent responsible for the rapid destruction 
of the game. They are built for that pur- 
pose and are fast fulfilling their object. 
The plea of the manufacturers that the 
game can be protected by law by prohibit- 
ing its sale, limiting the season and amount 
of game to be killed, would be all right if 
the law was thoroughly enforced and re- 
spected; but such is not the case. Everyone 
knows how game is smuggled in to dealers 
and how they dispose of it to private cus- 
tomers ; 
difficult it is to police large game districts 
and that where one offender is convicted 
and punished a hundred equally guilty es- 
cape even suspicion. 
It is evident that the manufacturers be- 
lieve the game: is doomed and that it is a 
case of making the most of a good thing 
while it lasts. 
Geo. A. Tremper, Helena, Mont. 

READERS PLEASE ANSWER. 
I should like to have your readers tell 
what they think of a 16 gauge gun, for all 
and every sportsman knows how — 
RECREATION. 
R kinds of shooting, including ducks occa- 
sionally. I should also like to know if a 
gun bored for nitro powder will make 
equally as close a pattern when black pow- 
der is used. I have owned a cheap gun 10 
years, stamped on frame “Prize Machine 
Gun.” It is a 16 gauge, with 36-inch bar- 
rels. Don’t laugh at the length. Before I 
strained the choke out of this gun by usinz 
buck shot I could outshoot any other gun 
I ever saw. I once killed a duck with my 
16 gauge at the longest distance I ever saw 
game killed with a shot gun. Two years 
ago I went to Great South bay to shoot 
ducks. I borrowed a 10 bore gun that 
weighed 11 pounds and killed as many as I 
expected to, but before I finished shoot- 
ing I wished for my old 16 bore. I could 
have done as well, and my own gun is so 
much lighter. I always use No. 4 shot 
and black powder in my 16. Smokeless 
powder scatters the shot in this gun. 
E. Kelly, Arkville, N. Y. 

I own a Winchester pump gun and like 
it, but will not defend it, for | see the point 
you are trying to impress on sportsmen. A 
man may use a repeating or an automatic 
shot gun and quit when he has a fair bag, 
but a game butcher may also use one and will 
not quit as long as there is game in sight. 
Anyone who has used both the repeating 
and the double gun knows the former is 
more destructive in the hands of a game 
hog. I sincerely hope you may be the 
means of inducing the manufacturers of 
automatic shot guns to stop making and 
putting them on the market. 
I now own a .303 Savage, and after try- 
ing and comparing it with other rifles I 
find it leads them all. The short, strong 
action and the hammerless feature are 
among its many good points. It is in a 
class by itself, and anyone who is in doubt 
what kind of a rifle to buy wilt make no 
mistake if he gets a .303 Savage for a high 
power or a 38-55 Savage if he prefer one 
not quite so et, 
. S. Ferm, Hurley, Wis. 

As a constant reader and a sincere ad- 
mirer of your magazine, and of. your work, 
I wish you would tell me, through REcrEa- 
TION, the advantage or disadvantage of the 
square nosed cartridge. As an illustration, 
take the old and well known 44 C. F., bot- 
tled necked and square nose. Has the 
square nosed bullet any advantage over the 
round or sharp pointed bullet? Has the 
bottled necked cartridge any qualities over 
the straight shell? 
I am a stranger in this great city of 
