GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 



129 



nor the right to find fault with your meth- 

 ods of doing business, but I may be per- 

 mitted to remark, ?s an impartial outsider, 

 that denouncing all criticism of your prod- 

 ucts as manifestly false and malicious may 

 be a manly and independent way to answer 

 a critic, yet it is scarcely a satisfactory 

 and businesslike way to treat prospective 

 customers who consult a sportsmen's mag- 

 azine for information concerning ammuni- 

 tion. I feel sure your products will stand, 

 the test of a free discussion by their 

 users, but your action in this matter does 

 not strengthen this belief. As a timid 

 man I should hesitate about making pur- 

 chases of a firm whose salesmen, instead 

 of making a civil explanation of an arti- 

 cle's merits or defects, promptly kicked a 

 critical or ignorant customer out of doors. 

 I take the liberty of addressing you in 

 this way merely to show you how your 

 action looks to disinterested readerr of 

 Recreation, and I trust you will receive 

 this letter in the friendly spirit in which 

 it is written. 



Yours truly, Angus Gaines. 



Gouverneur, N. Y. 



Messrs. Peters Cartridge Co., 



Cincinnati, Ohio : 

 Dear Sirs : — I have read the corre- 

 spondence between your representative and 

 the editor of Recreation. I judge your 

 advertising manager is a sedentary dyspep- 

 tic and consequently irascible and unrea- 

 sonable. Mr. Shields is president of the 

 L. A. S., a society which, through Recrea- 

 tion and its members, is doing much to 

 protect game, birds and fishes throughout 

 the United States. The withdrawal of 

 your patronage means limiting to that ex- 

 tent the facilities of Recreation to prose- 

 cute the work in which it is engaged for 

 the benefit of all. As a member of the 

 L. A. S., and a staunch supporter of Mr. 

 Shields in his good work, I feel it a pleas- 

 urable duty to thus express to you my 

 strong disapproval of your conduct, and 

 to claim before you that you are allied with 

 the game hogs, since you are opposed to 

 Mr. Shields. I trust all the sportsmen in 

 the country will, by withdrawing their pat- 

 ronage from you, make you see yourself 

 as others see you. Yours respectfully, 

 Dr. B. W. Severance. 



Stony City, Iowa. 

 Peters Cartridge Co., 



Cincinnati, Ohio : 

 Dear Sirs: — Have read Recreation's art- 

 icle on your withdrawing your advertise- 

 ment from its pages, and think your rea- 

 son for so doing is far from sufficient. I 

 have used your shells for 6 years past, 

 and have read Recreation only 3 years. 

 My admiration for the little magazine that 



is putting up such a gallant fight for game 

 protection is great, and I believe the 

 sportsmen of the country generally will 

 disapprove of your action. Let us see 

 your advertisement back in the journal 

 next month. Respectfully, 



W. A. Kelley, 

 Secretary Stone City Gun Club. 



HINTS T0 THE REMINGTON PEOPLE. 



Much valuable discussion has lately been 

 indulged in regarding the symmetry of the 

 Remington rifle, and attributing its fail- 

 ure in popularity to that point. 



This is not the case, for their long range 

 target rifle, with pistol grip and checkered 

 stock of fine wood, was never surpassed in 

 appearance by any rifle, and it is equal in 

 beauty to its far famed rival, the Sharp.s 

 "the champion of the world." 



With the Sharps, the Remington shared 

 the championship of the world, for they 

 both helped win the greatest and last great 

 international matches ever held — Wimble- 

 don, Dollymount and Creedmoor. 



The Remington people at one time pos- 

 sessed the finest machinery for rifle mak- 

 ing in the world, and rose to the height 

 of popularity with their production ; 

 but success and popularity, aided by the 

 marksmen of the country, made them con- 

 ceited, and feeling they alone were the au- 

 thors of the success of their arms, they 

 refused to assist the men who made their 

 record possible by such guns as these men 

 requested. Their position was, "Take the 

 stereotyped gun we make, or nothing." 

 The consequence was natural. Sportsmen 

 dropped them and took other arms. The 

 Remingtons, instead of losing their place 

 by unsightly finish, lost it by lack of cour- 

 tesy. 



Lately they are much more courteous 

 under new management, though I fear it is 

 too late to regain their old place, even with 

 that most excellent and most beautiful re- 

 peater, the Lee Remington, which they now 

 place on the market. 



The Stevens Co. is fast gaining popular- 

 ity by its willingness to help sportsmen; 

 and Mr. Barlow, of the Ideal Company, will 

 tell you it pays to cater to their judgment. 

 Sooner or later several of our large gun 

 and revolver manufacturers will receive 

 the Remington lesson. Among the latter are 

 the Colt and S. & W. people, who believed 

 nothing could supersede them because the 

 Government was partial to their product; 

 and a severe setback the Colts received 

 when the Government refused their auto- 

 matic pistol. _ In their arrogance they be- 

 lieved this impossible. Inroads are rap- 

 idly being made on their popularity by 

 courteous rivals, because of the arrogant 

 stand of the Colts and the insolent treat- 



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