4 8 



RECREATION. 



hear lots about the difficulty of cleaning the 

 25. If you go about it right it is as easy 

 as any other small caliber.. 



R,. A. Powell, Eureka, Cal. 



STILL THEY WRITE PETERS. 



Auburn, N. Y. 

 Messrs. Peters Cartridge Co., 



Cincinnati, Ohio : 



Dear Sirs : 



After reading your article in Recreation 

 I feel obliged to write you my experience. 

 In the fall of '98 I bought a Winchester 

 repeating shot gun, 1897 take down model, 

 and a package of Peters' New Victor shells 

 loaded with smokeless powder and No. 8 

 shot. When I tried to load the gun it was 

 impossible to make the carrier push the 

 shell into the barrel, nor could I push it in 

 with my fingers. When I tried to use the 

 gun as a single shot, the shells stuck in 

 the' barrel half way up the brass rim. The 

 dealer I bought them of said it was caused 

 by the shell expanding in loading, and if I 

 would use long brass rim shells they would 

 work better. They did, for the next shells 

 I bought were U. M. C. smokeless with 

 high base, and they worked perfectly. 

 Since that I have used only U. M. C. or 

 Winchester loaded shells and not one of 

 them has ever jammed in thj barrel. 



The article in April Recreation is true 

 in Mr. RadclifFs and my cases, and not 

 maliciously false, as you claim. So, Mr. 

 Secretary, you are entitled to another guess, 



F. B. Annin. 



GOVERNMENT EXPERIMENTS. 

 The crack shots of the 23d infantry have 

 just returned from Sea Girt with a store 

 of information on rifles and ammunition. 

 A number of experiments were made 

 there by the Government. The new Spring- 

 field rifle was tested and found the most 

 powerful military arm on earth. The new 

 cartridge contains about 44 grains of 

 smokeless powder and a 220 grain bullet. 

 Its muzzle velocity is about 2,250 feet. The 

 shell is a little over 2)/ 2 inches long and 

 much heavier than the old shell. It has 

 a grooved head like the Mauser shell. Sev- 

 eral Krag-Jorgensen rifles were chambered 

 for testing this cartridge, but the gun 

 action was too weak for such a powerful 

 load. Breech bolts were broken so often 

 that it was unsafe to experiment with the 

 old army rifle. A so-called rifle without 

 rifling was also tested, and gave good re- 

 sults. If the new cartridge is ever taken 

 up by sportsmen, gunmakers will have to 

 design a new rifle. I am sure none of the 

 old model rifles could handle this load. 

 A. J, Hubbard, Color Sergt. 23d Inf., 

 Plattsburgh Barracks, N. Y. 



A 22 WILL KILL DEER. 



In commenting on Mr. Van Dyke's hunt- 

 ing adventures many correspondents have 

 declared that deer can not be killed with a 

 22 rifle. Without claiming that the 22 is a 

 big game gun, I can assure them that many 

 deer and even larger animals have been 

 killed with that weapon I wish writers 

 would give us more facts about guns and 

 game, and less guff about their individual 

 prowess. Recreation space is too valuable 

 to waste on private horn blowing 



John Patterson, Dell, Mont. 



I see several of your readers criticize Mr. 

 Van Dyke's story in February Recreation. 

 That is probably all right ; but when Mr. 

 Patrick, of Cedarville, Mich., says a deer 

 can not be killed with a ,.22, and that "a 

 healthy deer would run off with all the 

 ,22's the U. M. C. Co. could make in a 

 month," he is making as great a mistake as 

 he thinks Mr. Van Dyke did. I have 

 killed deer with a .22 caliber Stevens, using 

 a common short rim fire cartridge. 



C. E. T., Pleasantville. la. 



THE 22 THE BEST SQUIRREL GUN. 

 In September Recreation, Buck, of Ak- 

 ron, O., asks for information in regard 

 to the proper gun for squirrel and rabbit 

 shooting. The calibers he mentions are 

 all good, but I think the 22 is sufficiently 

 large for all small game, besides being in- 

 expensive. I prefer a model '90, Winches- 

 ter, chambered for 22 short only. With 

 this gun I can kill all the game any decent 

 sportsman needs, and the gun is serviceable 

 and easily taken down to put in a trunk. 

 Uncle Dan, Indianapolis, Ind. 



To Buck, Akron, Ohio, I would say that 

 I have had some experience selecting a 

 rifle for squirrels and rabbits. I first tried 

 a 32 but found I could do better with 

 a 22, The latter will kill every time at 

 100 feet, which is the average range, and 

 will do fair work at 100 yards. The '90 

 model Winchester 22 short is a good gun 

 for all small game. 



C. M. Smith, Campello, Mass. 



TWO ACCIDENTAL KILLS. 

 To C. L. Patrick and others in July 

 Recreation, I wish to say that I saw a 

 deer killed by one shot from a .22 rifle. I 

 was hunting cottontail rabbits with my 

 brother-in-law on his ranch in Southern 

 California, each of us having a .22 long Win- 

 chester. A prong horn buck jumped out of 

 the brush not more than 30 feet from us, 

 trotted a few yards and stopped. My 

 brother-in-law fired at him, just to sting 

 him for his impudence, and was dumb- 

 founded to see the deer jump into the air 

 and fall without a kick. The bullet entered 



