
GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 
in which the magazine was not blocked 
would be an inducement toward spending 
the 50 cents. 
The repeater must go. 
work along. 
Push the good 
C. L. V., Kalamazoo, Mich. 

GET NEW BARRELS. 
I have an old 12 gauge Parker hammer 
gun. It is in good condition save that both 
barrels are pitted. The bore is unusually 
large for a 12 gauge, so large that a No. 12 
will almost fall through. I did pretty well 
with it last fall while grouse shooting, but 
got most of my birds within 20 yards. At 
a greater distance it scatters badly. Would 
II gauge wads improve its shooting? 
Would it be advisable to use smokeless 
powder in this gun? 
Charles Gun Crank, Phila., Pa. 
ANSWER. 
About 15 years ago Parker Brothers 
made and put out some guns chambered and 
bored to use either brass or paper shells, 
and, of course, black powder. The best re- 
sults were obtained in those days by mak- 
ing a so-called 12 gauge gun with a slightly 
larger bore than had previously been used 
and than is used now in that grade. Many 
shooters used in such guns No. 9 wads, and 
some of them used No. Io, but it was in- 
variably found necessary to use as large as 
No. 10 wads in order to get the best re- 
sults. 
Since the introduction of smokeless pow- 
der and the practical abandonment of brass 
shells, 12 gauge guns are bored so that they 
measure exactly what they purport to be, 
and it is not necessary to use in them such 
large wads as were formerly used in order 
to get the best results with modern loads. 
Furthermore, it is likely that your gun 
has worn out to some extent, and that the 
openings in the barrels are larger now than 
when the gun was made. A barrel that it 
pitted will never do as good shooting as one 
that is in perfect condition. 
The only remedy, therefore, is to get a 
_ new pair of barrels made. 
I would not advise you to use smokeless 
powder in the barrels you now have. That 
would be a dangerous experiment.—EDITor. 

HIS CHOICE, 
I note in March RecrEATION that a reader 
asks which is the better to take into the 
Maine woods, a 32 Winchester Special or 
a 38-55, to which I say, by all means take 
the 38-55, which will be more popular in the 
near future than ever before. [ am not 
using this caliber myself, but, if I were to 
choose between the 2 mentioned, I should 
certainly buy the 38-55 for hunting pur- 
poses. I have a Savage 32-40 which is as 
strong a shooting gun as the 32 Winchester 
437 
Special, and a 38-55 is certainly stronger 
than either, whether it be Winchester or 
Savage. I consider the 32-40 large enough 
for anything that walks in America; if I 
did not, I should have a larger caliber rifle. 
I also have a 25-35 Savage rifle, with 22-inch 
barrel, which is the strongest shooting gun 
of its size and the most accurate I have 
ever used, considering the charge and 
caliber. 
I reload the 32-40, using as a high pres- 
sure load 25 grains of 30 caliber Dupont 
smokeless or 24 grains Laflin & Rand Light- 
ning, with metal patched bullet. For me- 
dium load I use 18% grains Dupont No. 1, 
with bullet cast in cylindrical Ideal mould 
No. 31954, paper patched. In patching the 
smooth bullets, I use enough paper to pro- 
ject over the base, so that the bullet can 
not touch the smokeless powder. The 
weights of powder I have given are by 
scales. I use an Ideal measure or loader, 
but the scale on the loader will not prove 
correct on all powders by weight. To get 
the 25 grain load of Dupont 30 caliber 
smokeless, I set the loader at 27 grains. 
The loader set at 40 grains on No. 1 Du- 
pont will give 18%, and for the regular 17 
grain load, as recommended, the loader 
should be set at 37 grains. I use both U. 
M. C. and Winchester shells, but the U. M. 
C. work better in the Savage gun. There 
is a slight difference in these shells as to 
muzzle and base measurements. I have 
calipered them both before they had been 
shot, and I find one larger at the base and 
smaller at the muzzle than the other. I also 
have to keep on hand 2 different sizes of 
primers, as the U. M. C. requires a smaller 
primer than the Winchester. I use black 
powder primers with black powder loads, 
which give the shells more durability than 
if smokeless primers were used. 
There is much more recoil from the me- 
dium black powder charge than from a 
charge of high pressure smokeless used in 
the same rifle. 
I take great pleasure in reading REcREA- 
TION. In fact, I have recommended your 
publication to a maker of hunting boots 
as an advertising medium, and would 
do the same to others should they ask my 
opinion in regard to such a matter. 
J. W. Smith, Bonner, Mont. 
THEY ROAST THE AUTOMATIC GUN. 
After trying a 45-70, a 45-90 and a 50 
caliber, all Winchesters, I am now using a 
30-40 of the same make. It has been my 
good fortune, during trips in the Maine 
woods to kill moose, deer, caribou and black 
bear. For such game give me a 30-40 every 
time. The gun is not only light, which 
means a great deal when one is alone on a 
long carry, but is also more powerful than 
the other calibers I have mentioned. I shot 

