5oo 



RECREATION 



44 caliber, (g) Wurflein, 10 inch barrel, 44 

 caliber. 



Also please tell me what bullet you would 

 choose from the Ideal Hand Book No. 16 

 for short and mid-range target shooting with 

 the Smith & Wesson, 44 target revolver. Do 

 you consider bullet No. 429,239, weighing 

 125 grains, preferable to a round ball for 

 accuracy, and who makes the best cartridges 

 and the strongest for reloading with black or 

 smokeless powder, and who are the makers 

 of the best front and rear sights for target 

 shooting? 



John Marcofi, Lieutenant, 

 St. Petersburg, Russia. 



All the standard pistols mentioned by you 

 are believed to be capable of the greatest 

 accuracy up to the range mentioned, and 

 some of them at a much longer range. Per- 

 sonally, we should choose the 44 caliber, or 

 the 45 caliber, and a barrel of not less than 

 6]/ 2 inches for this kind of shooting. There 

 is no difference in accuracy between the re~ 

 volvers and the single shot pistols. 



For shooting at twenty yards range in the 

 open air, we should prefer a short, conical 

 bullet of about 130 grains, to a round ball, 

 but we should choose the 205 grains Ander- 

 ton bullet in preference to either. The 125 

 grain Herrick is a very good bullet, possibly 

 preferable to a round ball for gallery shoot- 

 ing. 



The cartridges made by the three leading 

 American cartridge companies, the U. M. C, 

 Winchester, and Peters companies, are as 

 near perfection as human skill can make 

 them. You cannot go wrong in using any 

 of these cartridges. As to reloading: cart- 

 ridges that have been used with full charges 

 of high pressure, smokeless powder are apt 

 to become unreliable, but shells that have 

 been loaded with black powder, or low pres- 

 sure smokeless, will stand reloading many 

 times. 



All the makers named by you manufac- 

 ture front and rear target sights that are 

 suitable for the pistol to which they are 

 affixed. It is a matter of choice which sights 

 you use, and all our good shots have their 

 own preferences. Eye sight and habit are 

 the determining factors. — Editor. 



HIS 38-55. 



Editor Recreation : 



I am pleased with the new Recreation. 

 It has improved fifty per cent. I have al- 

 ways been interested in it, especially the 

 gun department, which I have been reading 

 attentively for the last five years. But it has all 

 been 30-30, and 30-40 and 303 Savage, which 

 we must all admit are good guns, but there 

 are others just as good — especially since the 

 introduction of the 32-40 and the 38-55 high 

 velocity cartridges. I have been experiment- 



ing with both of them. I was looking for 

 an all-around gun, one that would kill a 

 grizzly bear or a rabbit, and I have found 

 it in the 38-55. It is unreasonable for a man 

 to say that the smashing power of 30-30 is 

 as great as that of 38-55. Now, for example, 

 you take a small stone the size of a hickory 

 nut, and another the size of your fist, and 

 throw the small one with a high velocity, 

 and the large one with a slower velocity, 

 which will hurt the worst, or do the most 

 damage if you throw them through a win- 

 dow glass ? 



As to weight, the one I have weighs 7%. 

 pounds. (Remember I am not running any 

 make of gun down.) For large game I use 

 the 38-55 H. P. load, having the velocity of 

 1,700 feet per second. It penetrates fourteen 

 boards, %-inch thick, while the 30-30 pene- 

 trates 11^2 boards. 



The trajectory of the 38-55 at 200 yards 

 shows a' height at mid range of 7.86 inches 

 and the 30-30 shows 5.14 inches, a difference 

 of but 2.72 inches in snooting at 200 yards 

 at game, which means 5 inches more drop 

 than the 30-30. Game is mostly shot inside 

 of 100 yards, consequently the difference of 

 trajectory amounts to nothing. 



Now as to the short range load, which 

 is the most interesting part, I have a load 

 that costs me $3.75 per thousand. I shoot 

 DnPont shotgun smokeless, and have placed 

 ten consecutive shots in a 1/2 inch circle at 

 165 feet, and five consecutive shots in a 1/2 

 inch circle at 300 feet, and fifteen consecu- 

 tive shots in a 1 inch circle at 120 feet, using 

 open hunting sights. I speak of this merely 

 to show the accuracy of the load and gun. 



I use six grains of powder and 175 grains 

 of lead, but no wadding, and I do not crimp 

 my shell. The ball is one of my own de- 

 sign. The secret of it all is to have every- 

 thing gas tight. 



V. E. Covert, Leslie, Mich. 



HUMANITARIAN ARGUMENT. 



Editor Recreation : 



An article appeared in a recent issue of the 

 Army and Navy Journal, written by Dr. 

 Leigh K. Baker, of Cleveland, and this same 

 article has been referred to in complimentary 

 terms by the Cleveland Leader, yet it is some 

 time since I have read a more misleading 

 letter. Dr. Baker contends that a rifle bullet 

 inflicts less pain than shot pellets, and de- 

 clares a shotgun to be the pot-hunter's 

 weapon. Moreover, he states, and no one 

 will deny this, that pot hunters would not 

 be able to deplete a stock of game to any- 

 thing like the same extent if he were using 

 a rifle instead of a shotgun, and he thinks 

 that, although compulsion would be diffi- 

 cult, it would not be impossible to force our 

 Nimrods to take the field armed with the 

 rifle in every case. 



