302 



RECKEATIOX. 



ing acts well. I have hunted 3 years with 

 a friend who carries a .30-40 Winchester, 

 a hard shooter, but if he wants to shoot a 

 grouse with miniature bullet at 15 or 20 

 feet he must raise his sight to 2,000 yards. 

 Those bullets have a great drop, and the 

 .30-40 for miniature bullet is a failure. I 

 can place 10 shots in a 2-inch space at 80 

 yards and there is no drop to the Savage. 

 You know its killing power. I advise you 

 to send direct to the Savage people for- 

 powder and tools. I have hunted large 

 and small game, and my little gun comes 

 up to dots every time. No other gun 

 would suit me, as I have only one arm, and 

 all other guns that will drop a moose or 

 a caribou are too heavy for me. 



H. Cordes, Millersburg, Pa. 



PLACING THE SHOT. 



No gun of the present day will fail to 

 shoot to the mark, at short range, when 

 properly sighted ; and the smallest bullet, 

 driven with sufficient force to penetrate the 

 heart or brain, must cause instant death, 

 even to a grizzly. Hence Mr. Hoyt's ex- 

 perience does not prove the Savage supe- 

 rior to other guns. I once killed a buck 

 antelope, at over 300 yards, with a 38 ex- 

 tra long ; yet I would not care to face a 

 bear with that gun. At another time I 

 fired 5 times with a 45-70 at a running 

 grizzly. Although every shot tooiv effect, 

 the bear traveled 3 miles before falling. 

 Still, I favor large bore guns. 



With deer at short range, if the shot is 

 placed in the lungs, heart, head or kidneys, 

 no matter what size the bullet, the animal 

 will not go far. On the other hand, if the 

 shot does not reach a vital part, then the 

 advantage is with the larger gun as being 

 more likely to cause external bleeding. A 

 deer may bleed to death internally, but 

 that does not facilitate trailing, as does 

 external bleeding. 



As for penetration, the 45-70 has enough 

 for me. It will kill at goo yards, and hold 

 up at 500. What more does any man 

 want? 



W. R. Weed, Elmira, N. Y. 



CHAMPION OF THE 30-40. 

 T have been in a position to test the 

 merits and demerits of various grades of 

 ^uns and rifles by trials on targets, and 

 have finally settled down to use a .30-30, 

 a .32-40 Winchester and a '97 model Win- 

 chester repeating shot gun. They are the 

 only strictly up to date, scientific guns 

 made, and in the hands of an ordinarily 

 good shot they are deadly weapons. I have 

 killed a buck at 250 yards with my 32-40. 

 weighing only y l /> pounds smokeless cart 

 ridge. For an nil around gun the .32-40 

 has no equal. Do not be afraid to meet 



large game, even if the gun is small. It 

 will do the work. The .30-30 smashed a 

 black bear at 900 yards, cracking every 

 bone in his head. Every one should use 

 a gun to his own liking. There is not, 

 however, a double gun made that is to be 

 compared to a '97 Winchester repeater 

 with smokeless cartridges for any kind of 

 game. For a ducking gun it is the only 

 one suitable. I am not connected with 

 any gun embellishment, but my 15 years of 

 experience have convinced me that any 

 one wishing a moderate priced gun or 

 rifle will get all he desires in a light weight 

 gun. 



H. E. Greenhall, Rosendale, Mass. 



HOW GAUGE IS CALCULATED. 

 Please give the basis of calculating the 

 gauge of shot guns. Why are they 8, 10, 

 12, etc. ? What is meant by caliber of 

 rifles, 22, 45, etc. ? 



S. H. Lee, Saint Clair, Pa. 



ANSWER. 



The number of the bore of a shot gun 

 was originally based on the number of 

 spherical balls of pure lead of the same 

 diameter as that of the barrel (assumed to 

 be cylinder bored) that it took to make 

 one pound. The gauge of a gun is de- 

 termined by the size of the cartridge shell 

 for which it is chambered. In rifles the 

 bore of the barrel is termed the caliber. 

 It is expressed in hundredths of an inch 

 in this country and thousandths of an inch 

 by the English gun makers. The popular 

 calibers, such as 22, 25, 44, 45, etc., are 

 not always strictly correct and the actual 

 bore or caliber of the barrel sometimes 

 varies as much as 2-100 or 3-100 of an 

 inch larger or smaller in diameter than 

 the caliber as given in the lists and cata- 

 logues. Scientifically, the caliber is the 

 exact diameter of the bore of tho rifle bar- 

 rel, measuring from the bottom of the 

 grooves. — Editor. 



SMOKELESS IN STEVENS RIFLES. 

 Can smokeless or semi-smokeless pow- 

 der be fired in a Stevens Favorite rifle, 22 

 caliber? Will it take the 22-7-45 cart- 

 ridge? 



C. D. B.. Beverly, Mass. 



ANSWER. 



The rifle referred to would stand smoke- 

 less powder. The Peters Cartridge Com- 

 pany makes a smokeless powder and load - , 

 a full line of ammunition with it which 

 they guarantee equal in every respect to 

 any line of metallic smokeless cartridges. 

 You would, however, get better results in 

 every particular with the semi-smokeless, 

 as it is more uniform in regard to accuracy 

 and extremely clean in the parrel, In, 



