130 



RECREATION. 



If, in spite of this and similar warnings, 

 you still think you are able to do hand- 

 loading, with safety to your weapon and 

 yourself, take at least one parting bit of 

 advice: follow the loading instructions of 

 the powder makers absolutely. They have 

 done the experimenting, and your safety 

 as well as their reputation depends on the 

 fidelity with which their directions are 

 followed. 



E. B. Guile, M. D., Utica, N. Y. 



Dr. E. F. Conyngham, in his excellent 

 article in November Recreation entitled 

 "The Pistol from a Western Standpoint," 

 gives one bit of advice to your readers that 

 should not be allowed to pass unchallenged. 

 He says : 



Nearly all shooters nowadays use smoke- 

 less powders. The .32 S. & W., for in- 

 stance, is loaded at the factory with less 

 than 2 grains of powder, and the .38 S. & 

 W. with about 2 l / 2 grains. Should an ex- 

 perimenter, acting on the Doctor's advice, 

 load one of these shells with 5 grains of 

 powder and fire it, he would be likely to go 

 up the golden stairs or down the others in 

 a hurry. If the Doctor had said 5 grains 

 of black powder his advice would have 

 been all right ; but as he did not specify al- 

 most anyone would take it for granted he 

 meant smokeless. 



It is perhaps well enough for an expert 

 rifle or revolver or shot gun shooter, who 

 devotes a great deal of time to the study of 

 the science and who is extremely careful 

 and methodical in his work, to reload 

 shells; but it is not safe for any one else 

 to undertake it. The novice, or the man 

 who only shoots occasionally, should stick 

 to factory ammunition. The large car- 

 tridge factories of this country expend 

 many thousands of dollars each year in 

 making careful experiments in the loading 

 of shells for rifles, revolvers and shot guns, 

 and in perfecting machinery for this pur- 

 pose. Their machines are so skillfully 

 made and so minutely adjusted as to load 

 a million cartridges of any given pattern 

 without making a variation of one grain in 

 the powder charge of the entire lot. Fur- 

 thermore, these machines seat, the bullets 

 in rifle and revolver cartridges with the ut- 

 most possible accuracy, while it is ex- 

 tremely difficult for any man loading shells 

 by hand to avoid getting a bullet out of 

 line now and then. All such cartridges 

 must prove accurate. 



Furthermore, there is but little to be 

 saved by reloading cartridges. The con- 

 sumer must buy his powder, lead and 

 wads in comparatively small lots and pay 

 accordingly. The cartridge factories buy 

 their materials by the ton, and it is safe to 

 say they buy them at one-half the price 

 which an individual shooter would have to 



pay. Factory cartridges are sold at such 

 low prices, even in small lots, that it does 

 not pay to reload them, even though you 

 have your empty shells free to start with. 

 It is far better therefore for the average 

 shooter to buy factory loaded cartridges, 

 and to throw away his empty shells as fast 

 as fired. In the language of the ancient 

 philosopher, don't monkey with the buzz- 

 saw. 



L. E. H., Syracuse, N. Y. 



A NEW 30 CALIBER BULLET. 



The past 6 years I have been experi- 

 menting, as leisure would permit, with 30 

 caliber rifles. Neither the Keptheart nor 

 the Hudson bullet meets the requirements. 

 Their inventors, however, have demon- 

 strated 2 important points ; namely, the ad- 

 vantage of a square fronted first band to 

 scrape out fouling, and the necessity of 

 having a bullet fit tightly to prevent upset- 

 ting with smokeless powder. 



Some bullets I tried had lead points 

 as long as ordinary jacketed points. When 

 fed inLo the barrel from the magazine, 

 coming up an incline as they do, the long 

 point either bent or else the bullet was 

 loosened in the shell. In consequence, they 

 failed to group as well as bullets from the 

 same shells when slipped into the barrel 

 by hand. Some of these bullets when fac- 

 tory loaded in new shells did fairly well, 

 and the shell had a tight grip on the ball ; 

 but when loaded by hand in old shells, I 

 could never get them to group satisfac- 

 torily. 



Finally I devised a new bullet. Mr, Bar- 

 low, of the Ideal Manufacturing Company, 

 made a mold after my design, and I believe 

 I am now using the first really all around 

 ball. Its weight, when cast full length and 

 greased, is 132 grains. It has 5 full bands, 

 5 full groves and a narrow band in front, 

 sharp and square on the foreward edge, to 

 scrape out what little fouling there may 

 be. As a perfect heel is of more import- 

 ance than a perfect point, this bullet is cast 

 heel down in the mold. If there is a de- 

 fect on one side of the heel, gas will rush 

 out of the gun muzzle first at that side and 

 deflect the ball. There is a sharp, square 

 corner all around the heel, so grease can 

 not get under it while being applied. 



This bullet has a sharp point, projecting 

 but little from the shell when crimped in, 

 thus lessening the chance of injury while 

 being carried in the pocket or fed from 

 the magazine. I do not use shells creased 

 or indented to prevent too deep seating of 

 the ball. Instead, I use plain, smooth 

 mouth shells, first firing one full load in 

 each. This expands them so they fit the 

 gun perfectly, and swells the muzzle so 

 my .311 bullet will enter a ,303 shell. I 

 seat the bullet so the crimp will come just 



