GUNS AND AMMUNITION 



*35 



io gauge shotguns. Forty years' experience 

 has taught me that the bigger the gun (other 

 things being equal) the better the results. 

 For all around shooting, in this section, 

 give me a 12 gauge, 7 pound, hammerless, 

 with 28 inch barrel. Left full choke, right 

 open. The gun must either be a Baker or 

 some other which has not only the trigger 

 block but a firing pin block also. A gun 

 which may be jarred off by falling or by fir- 

 ing the first barrel is not a safe gun to use. 

 A 10 bore should, at 35 yards, put No. 4 

 shot through a one inch pine board. The 

 charge being 4% drams black powder and 

 1% ounces shot. For a 7 pound, 12 bore 

 I consider zV\ drams of black powder quite 

 as heavy, a load as 4J4 drams, in a 10. I 

 have never been able to put No. 4 shot 

 through an inch board with a 12 bore gun, 

 nor have I ever seen it done. Perhaps some 

 Recreation readers have had a different 

 experience from mine. If so let us hear 

 from them. 



D. T. Tuthill, Orient Point, N. Y. 



A NEW EXPANSIVE BULLET. 



In May Recreation, page 391, is an ar- 

 ticle on " How to make explosive bullets." 

 The bullets described, however, cannot be 

 worked through a magazine. I have per- 

 fected a bullet that can be used in a repeater 



ft*^^. .T*& 



Fig. I. 



with perfect safety. From its appearance or 

 weight it cannot be distinguished from an 

 ordinary bullet. It contains no gun-cotton 

 or other explosive substance, yet its effect is 

 wonderful. Cut No. 1 shows the bullet be- 

 fore and after being fired through a 2 inch 



dry rcck-maple plank, distance 75 yards. 

 The rifle used was a .38-55-330 Winchester. 

 Cut No. 2 is a section of a 2 inch spruce 

 plank (the effect is the same in spruce or 

 maple) sawed to show track of bullet. At 

 the entrance the hole is clean, round and of 



Fig. 2. 



the diameter of bullet; at the exit it is from 

 ^A to 3 inches in diameter. I have never 

 used this bullet on man nor beast, but think 

 it adapted for large game or Spaniards. 

 S. A. Skinner, M.D., Hoosac Falls, N. Y. 



STILL DEFENDING SMALL BORES. 



A. S. Marshall writes in Recreation, that 

 I, after saying the .32-40 was large enough 

 for any game in America, am now using a 

 still smaller gun. That is not exactly the 

 case, as the .25-35 I now use is larger in its 

 work than a .50-100. So 1 really have a gun 

 larger than the .45-90 he advocates. The 

 .22 is all right in its place, and that is for 

 birds and squirrels; though I have killed 2 

 antelope with a .22 short. As to attacking 

 a big bear with a club or a pop gun, I have 

 never done either. But I have killed over 

 100 bears with a .32-40, and never gave one 

 of them a chance to show fight. I have 

 known a man shoot a bear with a .50-120, 

 and get badly wounded himself. W. W. 

 Babcock, of Galesburg, 111., can tell some 

 interesting stories. I know him and will 

 •/ouch for his having killed several full 

 grown bears with a club. A .30-40 smoke- 

 less is more destructive to game than .50- 

 120 English exprecs rifle. Borrow a .25-35, 

 Mr. Marshall and give it a trial; then let us 

 hear from you again. 



M. P. Dunham, Woodworth, Mont. 



THE RIFLE FOR BIG GAME. 

 I endorse the opinion of Hank Hunka- 

 munk on the rifle question, as given in Feb- 

 ruary Recreation. The small bores may 

 be all right for those who want to pump 

 shot after shot into an animal so long as it 

 moves. I have handled rifles 45 years, and 

 have compared the killing power of small 

 and large bores, with light and heavy pow- 



