GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 



Anybody can shoot all day but a gentleman always quits when he gets enough. 



MUZZLE LOADING RIFLES. 



I read everything Recreation says about 

 rifles and pistols, and as frequent inquiries 

 are made relative to old fashioned muzzle 

 loaders I take pleasure in stating some of 

 my observations of noted shooters, from 

 here to the Rocky mountains, and South to 

 Florida. 



I commenced shooting 57 years ago with 

 a so called smooth bore rifle, 50 balls to 

 the pound. It had a flintlock, a barrel 4 

 feet long and weighed 8 pounds. It had a 

 good reputation for long range shooting, 

 with shot, and I killed many wild pigeons 

 with it at 75 yards, using large shot. With 

 bullet it shot well enough for me to win in 

 matches at 35 yards offhand.- 



About 1850, percussion locks came into 

 general use, so I had one. put on the smooth 

 bore and the barrel cut to 36 inches. This 

 ended the effectiveness of that gun for 

 shooting either shot or ball. 



On inquiring of a gunsmith as to the bad 

 shooting, he said the "powder burned too 

 rapidly; that gas could not escape as in 

 the pan of the flintlock ; that a hole must 

 be drilled in the cylinder.'' This was done 

 and the gun shot much closer. 



I do not remember seeing a percussion 

 lock gun 50 years ago without a pinhole in 

 the cylinder. The smooth bore was the 

 best all around gun we had in those days. 

 Loaded with BB shot we could kill any- 

 thing from a robin to a turkey or a fox. By 

 using a patched ball and caliber of 50 to 

 60 the ball would make such a large hole 

 in a bear or a deer that he could not run far. 



A friend of mine who was a good hunter 

 up to 75 years of age always used a large, 

 smooth bore, and I once saw him have 

 3 large bears in a heap. I should not like 

 to tell you how many deer he killed with 

 the same gun. 



In those early days the man with a 

 smooth bore at a match shot only 35 yards 

 offhand, while the man with a rifle shot 60 

 yards offhand and 100 with a rest. 



I have often seen men with these old 

 smooth bores make strings of 3 shots at 

 35 yards offhand measuring only one inch. 



There were tricky shooters in those days 

 as well as in our time. For instance, one 

 old man in our place, now 78 years old, 

 told me not long ago that he had a small 

 bore rifle reamed out smooth a few inches 

 down from the muzzle so the rifling be- 

 low could not be seen, so that he could get 

 in the short range class. Of course, he won 

 every turkey match for a while ; but he got 

 his Waterloo one day when the ground 



was covered with snow. The shooters knew 

 he was tricky and were watching him 

 closely. Finally, one of the shooters saw 

 a patch from the old. man's gun drop on 

 the snow. The traces of the rifling showed 

 plainly on the patch and Uncle Eli's game 

 was up. 



In those days no elbow rest was allowed 

 in offhand shooting. The left arm must be 

 held straight. Some tricksters would have 

 a spring made to buckle to the arm inside 

 the coat sleeve, and this spring, with a lit- 

 tle jerk, would fly into a slatted breastplate 

 making the arm rigid. 



At 14 years of age I got a real twist rifle 

 with barrel made of old horseshoe nails; 7 

 deep grooves; metal % inch thick, and 

 carrying 100 round balls to the pound. It 

 was sighted at 60 yards, and shot low enough 

 at 20 or 30 1 yards, by taking a low sight, to 

 hit anything. 



Of the hundreds of deer and bear I saw 

 killed 50 years ago" I fiever saw one killed 

 at over 60 yards. The method of hunting 

 deer in those days was to station men at 

 the runways, from mountain to creek or 

 river, and have one man take the hounds to 

 drive the deer to the runways, where I have 

 often seen them shot at less than 20 feet. 



Few shooters thought themselves able to 

 own a gun that was good enough to shoot 

 100 yards, though a few had special heavy 

 rifles made for shooting at rest at 100 

 yards. These were generally about 50 cali- 

 ber and usually weighed about 20 pounds. 

 I have one of them now, which is in as 

 good condition as it was 46 years ago. 



The bore of those rifles had 9 grooves, 

 one turn in 40 inches, whereas most modern 

 rifles have one turn in 14 inches. The balls 

 for these old rifles were generally patched 

 with heavy drilling. 



On going to a match a man would buy 

 one or more boards, as his purse permitted. 

 The boards at a pig or ox match usually 

 sold at 50 cents to $1 each, allowing 3 shots, 

 string measure from center of ball to cross. 

 After buying his boards he would be al- 

 lowed one trial shot. He would then make 

 a cross on his board, and all measurements 

 would be made from that. 



If the shooter bought 6 boards he would 

 usually make one shot at each and then 

 lay them aside. If the sun was shining 

 he would take the last board and put a 

 second shot into it ; then one into each of 

 the others in succession. Sometimes he 

 would not complete the boards until nearly 

 dark, waiting for the sun to get right, or 

 for the wind to stop blowing, or for the 



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