GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 



131 



behind the narrow band. This prevents the 

 ball from pushing back on the powder, 

 and enables me to use one length of shell 

 for all loads. The bullet, if cast 10 to 1 

 and greased with Ideal lubricant, will not 

 lead a gun. 



Use a clean, low pressure smokeless, one 

 giving little, if any, more velocity than 

 black powder. The ball is so divided in 

 bands and grooves that almost its entire 

 length -is in contact with the barrel. The 

 narrow band in front gets all the grease 

 it can handle at the first shot after the 

 gun has been cleaned and oiled. There- 

 after the band never touches the barrel, and 

 what little fouling there is rolls up in front 

 of it, gets under the band and is removed 

 by the bands following. 



My bullet makes the loaded cartridge 

 about }i inch shorter than the standard 

 load. It is, therefore, possible that some 

 30 caliber magazine guns will not handle 

 it. In my gun, a Savage, the shortage 

 makes no difference. 



Rifle makers say a different adjustment 

 of sights is needed for different loads. I 

 am not going to dispute that as a general 

 statement, but I have 2 loads that follow 

 the same sighting. Some guns, at least, 

 give a different drift to one load from 

 what they do to another. I had supposed 

 that varying loads of powder would make 

 a gun shoot high or low, as the case might 

 be, without causing lateral variation ; but 

 I find that is not so. One gun I tried 

 would, with a light load of high pressure 

 powder and a soft point ball, shoot below 

 and to the left ; when the load was in- 

 creased ii. shot high and to the right. An- 

 other gun would make close groups with 

 soft points and 22J/2 grains Savage No. 1 ; 

 increasing the load resulted in high and 

 wild shooting. The gun I have at present 

 will make good groups not only with that 

 load, but with as much more powder as I 

 can get into the shell. Each load will 

 make good groups, but at different places 

 on the target. I chose as a full load for 

 m y 303 Savage, 26 l / 2 grains Savage No. 1, 

 1901 brand, smokeless powder, a U. M.. C. 

 No. 8^2 primer and a U. M. C. 195 grain 

 soft pointed bullet. With the gun sighted 

 to group in the center at 100 yards, it will 

 group Y4 inch high at 50. 



For a light load I use my new bullet, full 

 length and sized .311, a U. M. C. S l / 2 prim- 

 er and 11 grains DuPont No. 2 smokeless 

 rifle,. With the same sighting as for the 

 full load, this load will group on the 

 center at 50 yards and about 2 inches low 

 at 100. The new bullet in the 3 band, 88 

 grain size, with the same powder load, will 

 group nicely at 50 yards, though a trifle 

 high. I have tried many kinds of smokeless 

 and for this load DuPont No. 2 suits me 



— to 1~1 o 

 W W M =° 



best. It is fine grain and will measure in 

 a charger with more uniformity than a 

 coarser powder. 



This powder retails at $1 a can of one 

 pound bulk, which contains 275 loads of 11 

 grains each. A pound of lead makes 50 

 full length bullets. By buying powder, 

 lead and primers right, I get my light loads 

 for about 50 cents a hundred. I use an 

 Ideal dipper, pot and cover; an Ideal Per- 

 fection mold, chambered to make my bul- 

 let; and an Ideal lubricator and sizer, with 

 .311 sizing die. I also use expanded shells 

 and an ideal No. 3 special tool having one 

 chamber to crimp the standard soft point 

 bullet, and an adjustable double chamber 

 to seat and crimp my new bullet. The 

 latter is designated in the Ideal Hand Book 

 as bullet No. 308,234. 



I believe my new bullet 

 has more advantages than 

 |j!l any other. It is simple, 

 easy to mold, grease and 

 load, accurate and service- 

 able, and much cleaner 

 than others. 

 I used to think high power guns noc so 

 accurate as black powder weapons, but find 

 it was because I did not know how to load 

 smokeless. Some guns need just so much 

 of a charge and no more. Others will 

 shoot a variety of loads and bunch any 

 of them well, though the drift of each 

 will be different and the gun can be 

 sighted to suit only one load. After adopt- 

 ing a full load, experiment until a light 

 load is found that will follow the same 

 sighting. 



For accurate rest shooting the telescope 

 sight is the thing. I have a No. 3, 20 

 power, Sidle, mounted on the side so as 

 not to interfere with the Lymans. It has 

 fine wind gauge and elevation adjustment. 

 With it I can see ,303 bullet holes plainly 

 at 150 yards. 



I am a poor off hand shot, and all my 

 test shooting has been done at a rest. I 

 built a frame of 6 x 6 inch stuff so the 

 gun muzzle could rest on one end and 

 my chest and arms on the other. Then I 

 rigged a piece of board to rest the receiver 

 of the rifle on, and filled 2 shot sacks with 

 sand to steady each end of the gun. There 

 was no guess work then ; I could hold 

 the cross hairs of the telescope on a tack 

 head at 100 yards. 



I always clean guns with a field wiper, 

 a woolen flannel rag and any good ma- 

 chine oil. I never wet a gun. I keep a 

 filler in my guns at all times when not 

 in use, a wooden rod wound with greased 

 wool flannel. Cotton is not good for a 

 rifle wiper; it is not springy enough to 

 enter the groves as wool does. 



E. P. Armstrong, Dewdrop, Pa. 



