GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 



Anybody can keep on shooting all day, but it takes a gentleman to quit when he gets enough. 



INFORMATION FOR MR. INGALLS AND 

 OTHERS. 



Replying to the inquiries of L. O. Ingalls, 

 would say that for a load for foxes I ad- 

 vise him to find out by a series of tests 

 what sizes of coarse shot his gun will shoot 

 best. A gun sometimes handles one size 

 much better than another. Then 'by testing 

 different proportions of powder and shot 

 he can decide which is most suitable in 

 pattern and penetration. 



I once owned a gun which seemed espe- 

 cially adapted to No. 3 shot, and when hunt- 

 ing anything that required coarse shot I 

 used that in preference to either Nos. 5, 

 4 or 2. 



I never saw the 32-40 soft point bullets 

 used, but as soft nosed bullets require a 

 high velocity to mushroom perfectly, I do 

 not think they would do so as readily as 

 one cast with a split joint, such as is 

 recommended by the Ideal Manufacturing 

 Co. Close the mould on a narrow strip of 

 paper and pour in the lead. The paper may 

 be half as wide as the length of the bullet if 

 desired ; but set it back a little from the 

 point so the split will not reach quite to 

 the end, thus holding the point together 

 until it is opened by striking some object. 



For loading buckshot I have tried every 

 plan I ever heard of. Dipping them in bees- 

 wax is unsatisfactory, as there is no cer- 

 tainty about when they will separate. I 

 have seen smaller shot carry 80 yards when 

 waxed, and go through a board like a bul- 

 let. Besides, the wax fouls the gun to a 

 great extent. 



Wire cartridges are good but the cases 

 are expensive, and do not always open at 

 the same distance. I have made cases by 

 rolling tough paper around a stick, gluing 

 a wad in the front end and folding the 

 paper together at the back; but they also 

 are uncertain. The most satisfactory way 

 I know of is this : Select a size of shot that 

 will chamber loosely in the muzzle of the 

 gun. Some of the larger sizes will take 3 

 in a triangular layer. Of smaller buckshot 

 you can select a size that will take one in 

 the center and 4 or 5 around it, leaving a 

 little room so they will not clog in the 

 muzzle. When loading shells put in a layer 

 of buckshot and fill the spaces with No. 10 

 or No. 12 shot, then another layer of buck, 

 and so on. It is surprising how close the 

 fine shot will hold the buckshot together. 



Smokeless powder does not ignite so 

 readily as black, as may be seen from the 

 necessity of using such powerful primers. 

 A strong crimp is necessary, to hold the 



shot a small fraction of a second, until 

 combustion is thoroughly under way. 



I was rather surprised to see the state- 

 ment by some of Recreation's readers that 

 a .303 Savage would outshoot a 30-40 Win- 

 chester, or, as some say, "any gun on earth." 

 The penetration of a 30-40 is given as 58 

 boards, % inch thick, against S3 f° r the 

 Savage. 



I have shot a Winchester 30-40 against a 

 Savage .303 for penetration, both guns 

 using soft point bullets, and the Winchester 

 was the winner. As for a .303 outshooting 

 "any gun on earth," it does not seem rea- 

 sonable that a .303 bullet, with a velocity of 

 less than 2,000 feet a second, should be 

 more effective than a 40 caliber, with a 

 velocity of 2,500 feet a second. 



I have made many experiments with bul- 

 lets ; one of them resulted rather disas- 

 trously. About 4 years ago a writer in 

 Recreation told about making explosive 

 bullets by placing a 22 caliber cartridge in 

 a mould so that the base of the cartridge 

 would be at the point of the bullet, and 

 casting the lead around it. He said k could 

 be done with safety. First I tried several 

 cartridges in the stove, and as they did not 

 explode for some time I thought the scheme 

 was all right, so placed one in the mould 

 and poured in the lead. After I had picked 

 the melted lead out of my hair, skin and 

 eyebrows, and straightened up the cutoff 

 of the mould, I wondered if I was the only 

 idiot in the business. It was surprising 

 how that little 22 scattered things. 



E. L. Stevenson, Honolulu, H. I. 



I advise D. F. N., Los Angeles, Cal., not 

 to file down a notch to make a single trig- 

 ger pull easily. Instead, take the hammer 

 to a tinner and have him fill the too deep 

 notch with solder. That can be done with- 

 out drawing frhe temper of the hammer. 

 Then with a knife cut away the solder to 

 the depth you want the notch. If you at- 

 tempt to file you remove the tempered sur- 

 face, and the new surface, being soft, soon 

 wears away. 



In reply to L. O. Ingals, West Durham, 

 N. Y., for a 12 gauge a good fox load 

 is 3 drams ducking powder, No. 4, 

 or its equivalent in nitro, with good 

 double felt wads ; 1 ounce No. 4 shot, and 

 1 black edge wad. The 32-40 soft nose is 

 effective on deer. The best way I have 

 ever loaded buckshot is as follows : Pow- 

 der to suit, and buckshot that chamber 

 loosely in muzzle of gun. If 3 chamber, 

 place them as near center of shell as pos- 

 sible and cover wilh enough No, 10 soft 



*M 



