GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 



SMALL BORE GUNS. 



ARTHUR DU BRAY. 



Believing that a few lines on the subject 

 of small bore guns might be of interest 

 to some of your readers, I venture to 

 send the following in the hope that others 

 may benefit by what I have learned from 

 actual experience afield and by scientific 

 tests over the chronograph. I wish it un- 

 derstood that I am warring with no cali- 

 ber or make of gun, neither am I exploit- 

 ing any kind of powder, but simply narrat- 

 ing facts as I have found them. While 

 only an average. shot afield, I can fairly lay 

 claim to at least a great deal of experience 

 gleaned over a vast extent of territory and 

 stored during the last 40 years. 



During 1899 I found myself in print 

 ventilating a few crude, but honest opin- 

 ions on small bore guns. As might have 

 been expected, those ideas and recom- 

 mendations met from some quarters ad- 

 verse criticism, principally, however, 

 based on theories; for if my memory 

 serves me, no one having actually shot 

 afield with a small bore gun made com- 

 plaint against it. 



In writing, I purposely refrained from 

 going into technicalities and elaborate de- 

 tails, fearing that in the controversy sure 

 to follow, the main facts in the case stood 

 a good chance of being entirely obscured. 

 So I contented myself with telling others 

 what a 20 gauge gun had actually done in 

 my hands when field shooting, and then 

 sat mum until such time as I could be 

 backed by irrefutable proofs coming from 

 a scientific source to corroborate what ex- 

 perience had already taught me. 



I knew that a 20 bore gun properly 

 loaded and decently pointed would give a 

 good account of itself at any reasonable 

 distance on all upland game. I also knew 

 that such a gun, if correctly choked, could 

 pull down very tall ducks, and that for 

 decoy shooting, by the man satisfied with 

 killing one bird at a shot, nothing larger 

 need be used. In the event, however, of 

 wanting to mow a swath through a flock 

 of birds, a compact shooting gun of any 

 caliber could never appeal to the person 

 with such inclinations, for no mathematics 

 can possibly make % ounce of shot cover 

 as much space as 2 ounces if all the pellets 

 are equidistant. 



However, it is not as a duck gun that I 

 uphold a 20 gauge, nor have I ever 

 thought so small a caliber equal to a 12 

 bore in actual execution. But I firmly be- 

 lieve that a good 20, weighing 6 to 6% 

 pounds, properly bored according to what 

 the gun is intended to kill, and properly 



loaded, is a good enough gun for any 

 sportsman to carry; especially when long 

 tramps are made and when one must 

 carry his own ammunition. In all fair- 

 ness, I admit that the 12 bore gun is 

 unquestionably a more powerful weapon 

 than any tube of smaller gauge, and in all 

 vital points superior to such when weight 

 of gun and ammunition are no object. 



But I maintain that where the minimum 

 of weight and maximum of comfort are 

 to be considered, then the 20 is the bet- 

 ter. I do not mean the toy 20 that handles 

 like an umbrella, but one of sufficient 

 weight to withstand its full charge without 

 undue recoil and still sufficiently light to 

 be carried all day without fatigue. I con- 

 sider 6 pounds the proper weight for a 20, 

 and 6 l / 2 , for a 16 gauge. These are both 

 guns of full weight, and it is not wise to go 

 over that, for if one is willing to carry 

 more iron and wood, then by all means 

 get a bigger gauge. A 16 gauge gun at 

 over 6^4 pounds, as a field gun, is simply 

 a monstrosity. You would better carry a 

 7 pound 12 bore and have done with it, 

 or even a 12 bore of 6}i pounds. It is 

 equally absurd to use a 9 pound 12 gauge 

 as a wild fowl gun, when one of that 

 weight of 10 gauge is so much more deadly 

 a weapon. 



In the matter of ammunition, there can 

 be no conflict of opinion, for here are offi- 

 cial figures which can easily be verified. 



Fifty ordinary 12 gauge loaded cart- 

 ridges weigh S 3 A pounds when using 3 

 drachms of bulk nitro powder and i^§ 

 ounces of shot. The same number of 20 

 gauge shells containing 2 l /> drachms bulk 

 nitro powder and % ounce of shot weigh 

 only 4%. pounds; a net saving of i 1 /^ 

 pounds in weight, to say nothing of space. 



Often an extra pound or 2 in gun and 

 as much more in ammunition will convert 

 what might have been a pleasant day's 

 sport into a most laborious task. 



As to recoil, it is my opinion that more 

 men have gone off in their shooting in 

 the last few years by overloading their 

 guns than from all other causes combined. 

 Light 12 bores have certainly not helped 

 things much in this direction, albeit an 

 underweight, overloaded small bore will be 

 equally vicious as a kicker. 



In support of what I have said regard- 

 ing 20 bores, I submit ballistic tests made 

 at the famous works of the Union Metallic 

 Cartridge Co., of Bridgeport, Conn. I 

 am deeply indebted to the officers of the 

 company for their courteous treatment and 

 for having placed at my disposal their 

 splendidly equipped testing range. 



299 



