484 



RECREA TION. 



shells as follows: 3 drams powder, 1 ounce 

 shot; 334 drams powder, 1^ of shot; 2> l A 

 drams powder, 1% of shot and zYa drams 

 powder and i l /+ ounce shot. I used an 8 

 gauge wad starter or rammer, and put 3 8 

 gauge wads over powder and one over shot, 

 using Dupont's smokeless and chilled shot, 

 same size as I had in factory loads. 



I took these and some Winchester leader 

 shells and found that the brass shells with 

 same load powder and shot would outshoot 

 the factory load in every way ; and that the 

 load of 3J/2 drams powder with 1% ounce 

 shot was best. This load would have better 

 penetration, better pattern, and throw 20 

 per cent, more shot in same sized target. 



What I disliked about the factory load 

 was that it didn't kill. And I mean by kill — 

 to find a dead bird. I tried the brass shell 

 loads on the birds, loaded as above, 3^ 

 drams powder i l /$, ounce shot. The first 

 bird flushed at about 10 rods and it would 

 have done you good to see him drop to my 

 right barrel. There was no guess work 

 about it, I knew I would find him when I 

 wanted him. All the birds I shot that day 

 not one gave me any trouble to pick up. My 

 experience with the factory load had been 

 that out of 10 birds dropped most all would 

 be alive when found. With the brass shells 

 I had no further trouble. 



I do not mean by this that I did not miss 

 or wing any more birds; that would not be 

 true ; but when I drew on a bird within 

 fair distance with a brass shell, if hit at all, 

 he generally lay where he fell. 



I found further, that heavy loads are 

 simply a waste of good powder and shot. 

 The penetration is slightly increased, but 

 the pattern is not so good and the shot scat- 

 ters more. Besides these advantages the 

 brass shell loads cost only about one half 

 what the factory loads cost. 



Mr. Wise says the No. 3 W. primer is not 

 strong enough — without the use of black 

 powder. I found them fully equal to the 

 No. 4 in the factory loaded shells. 



A. B. Goodinck. 



GENERAL ADVICE. 



I would inform Air. A. E. Snyder that the 

 guns most used for big game shooting in 

 Africa are : 4 bore single barreled, breech- 

 loading rifles, weighing 21 pounds and 

 shooting 12 drams of powder and a round 

 ball ; 8 bore double barreled breech-loading 

 rifles, weighing 15 pounds, and firing 12 

 drams of powder with a round bullet : and 

 .577 and .500 double barreled expresses 

 shooting 6 drams of powder, and solid, har- 

 dened, conical bullets, for elephants, rhi- 

 noceroses and hippopotami. 



For lions, buffalo and antelope, .577, .500, 

 .450, .400 and .360 double barreled express 

 rifles using long conical bullets with a small 

 tapering hole in the point. 



A gun which is coming into great favor 



among big game hunters is the 8 bore 

 " Paradox " gun which weighs much less 

 than other rifles of the same bore and is just 

 as effective at ranges under 100 yards (and 

 not much big game in Africa is killed at 

 longer ranges). The recoil is less as the 

 "Paradox" is rifled only at the muzzle; 

 and a very good pattern can be obtained 

 when used with shot. 



The " Paradox " is made in 8, 10, 12, 16 

 and 20 gauge and shoots conical exoress 

 bullets. 



To Mr. J. W. Brown : Increase the 

 powder charge, and divide the charge of 

 shot into 3 parts with wads between, which 

 gives an open pattern with full choked guns. 



To Mr. F. Cortright : A good gun should 

 place 300 pellets of No. 8 shot on a 30 inch 

 target at 40 yards. 



Mr. X. Y. Z. will find the 12 bore the best 

 kind of shot gun for general use and I 

 should recommend the Winchester forearm 

 action repeater. 



I would say to Mr. W. Blake that I pre- 

 fer the .40-82-260 repeater, model 1895, 

 special smokeless steel, with 28 inch bar 

 rel, trie best all round rifle, using 33 grains 

 of Dupont's No. 1 smokeless rifle powder 

 and a 260 grain soft pointed bullet for big 

 game ; 82 grains of King's semi-smokeless 

 powder and a 260 grain (1 part tin to 

 50 lead) bullet for long range target 

 practice, and 20 grains of King's semi- 

 smokeless powder and a 195 grain (pure 

 lead) conical bullet for small game and 

 bullet, for small game and short range tar- 

 get practice. 



Fit this rifle with Lyman sights, large 

 aperture ; get Ideal reloading tools and 

 moulds and rest assured you have the best. 



To Mr. J. Hauser: The person who 

 recommended the .25 caliber Stevens R.F. 

 cartridge for use on small game knew a 

 good cartridge when he saw it. Use this 

 cartridge on a Stevens Favorite rifle, and 

 bag the small game. 



For the benefit of Mr. T. B. S., I would 



say : A good charge for a 16 gauge gun is 



2 l / 2 drams of powder and 4-8 ounce No. 8 



shot. This is the best for rabbits and quails. 



.40-82. 



BIG BORES TO THE FRONT. 



When a man becomes an advocate of 

 small bores he becomes a crank. There are 

 cranks on skates, cranks on wheels, cranks 

 on fighters and cranks on religion ; but the 

 small bore crank takes the cake. 



Such is my impression on reading the 

 highly interesting contribution of Mr. H. 

 E. Wads worth, of Lander, Wyo., in which 

 he takes me to task for presuming to infer 

 that the old .44 and .45 buffalo rifles and 

 Springfield musket possessed greater killing 

 power than the new smokeless small bore. 



Bro. Wadsworth places me in Colorado 

 Springs, if he will read my letter again he 

 will see that it was written in Pueblo, 45 



