$$2 



RECREATION. 



often hardly be seen and sticks obstinately. 

 The only royal road to safety is a liberal 

 use of brass wire, bristle brushes and soda 

 water, followed by dry rags and oil. Be 

 careful in cleaning the muzzle of the rifle. 

 Do not allow your rod to touch this al 

 all. It is the most vulnerable part of the 

 arm. Any injury to, or dulling of the 

 muzzle of a rifle will absolutely destroy all 

 accuracy. 



All in all, the little 30-30 has much to 

 commend it. It balances perfectly and is 

 not breech heavy as most modern guns 

 are.. It never jams or fails to work, and 

 can be easily used as a single loader, hold- 

 ing the magazine in reserve, by not throw- 

 ing the lever down to its fullest extent. 

 Its front sight is not thin and high with 

 a thick base, making one liable to over- 

 shoot when in a hurry by sighting on the 

 thick base instead of the thin top of 

 the sight. Its barrel is stiff enough 

 to admit using different loads with 

 the same lateral adjustment of the 

 sights and as it uses copper jacketed bul- 

 lets instead of the usual cupro nickel steel, 

 the barrel does not wear out quickly. In 

 fact, the life of the barrel is almost in- 

 definite. As nearly as I can judge, my rifle 

 has fired at least 3,000 jacketed bullets and 

 about 2,000 lead bullets of all kinds. It 

 has always been cleaned with a brass wire 

 bristle brush. 



Townsend Whelen. 

 2d Lieut., and Rangemaster, 

 First Regiment Infantry, N. G. P., 



Philadelphia. 



THE GUNS OF OUR BOYHOOD. 



W. J. FLEMING. 



When I was 11 years old my father 

 bought me a single muzzle loader, light, 

 handy and the best of its kind. Father be- 

 lieved in No. 3 shot and with that size I 

 did most of my shooting the first 3 or 4 

 years. Boylike, I began by shooting spar- 

 rows, then crows and rabbits sitting. Later 

 I shot my first snipe and grouse on the 

 wing with No. 3 shot. 



When about 17 years of age I exchanged 

 this gun for a double muzzle loader. I had 

 become used to the other and for some time 

 did poor shooting with the new weapon. 

 It would not kill within 15 yards of as far 

 as the single gun. About that time I saw 

 a few wire cartridges and tried in vain to 

 buy some in a neighboring town. Then I 

 set my wits to work to make something as 

 good. 



I dressed a piece of wood perfectly 

 round and of a size to fit the barrels when 

 wound with a few turns of coarse muslin. 

 I glued the muslin lightly, turned in the 

 lower edge and glued a wad on. When 

 dry I put in my load of shot, turned in 

 the other edge and glued on another wad; 



1 then painted the outside of the little case 

 with glue. I wailed until they were per- 

 fectly dry and at the first opportunity had 

 a trial. It chanced to be on a sitting rabbit 

 at 30 yards. All I could find of bunny was 

 his ears and hind feet. I tried another on 

 a board at 60 yards, but the pattern was 

 still too close. After that I made the cases 

 of more open material and could kill easily 

 with them up to 100 yards. People seeing 

 the long shots. I made believed I had the 

 best gun ever made.. 



On one occasion I winged a grouse with 

 my muzzle loader and was reloading my 

 gun, at the same time keeping an eye on 

 my dog and bird. In some way I put the 



2 charges of powder in the left barrel and 

 the wads and shot in the right. A little 

 later I saw a pigeon and let it have the 

 left barrel. The recoil knocked me flat on 

 my back. As I went over I caught sight 

 of a horse in the line of fire and about 300 

 yards away. When I regained my feet the 

 horse was running about and snorting in # 

 the wildest manner. I jumped to the con- 

 clusion that I had made a record-breaking 

 shot and peppered the poor animal. I beat 

 a hasty retreat, and was greatly relieved 

 when investigating a subsequent misfire, 

 I found the right barrel double shotted and 

 wadded. 



A second exploit was still worse. I was 

 using a heavy copper powder flask and 

 had just had it filled with the best powder. 

 A friend and I were out after ducks. I 

 had learned to smoke about that time, and 

 by oversight put my lighted pipe in a pocket 

 along with my handkerchief and the pow- 

 der flask. Presently we smell ed some- 

 thing burning and traced the fire to my 

 pocket I snatched out the flask and 

 threw it on the ground. When I had ex- 

 tinguished the fire and went to pick up the 

 flask, it was so hot I could not hold it in 

 my hands. These 2 frights taught me a 

 useful lesson concerning the special dangers 

 of muzzle loading guns. 



My first breechloader was a cheap 

 cylinder bore and not good for much. I 

 sold it and gave a good English maker an 

 order for a gun with left barrel full choke. 

 When it arrived I made up my mind to 

 have a few days' good shooting. Every- 

 thing was in my favor, but I came home 

 without a bird. I was wild and wrote to 

 the maker about the performance of the 

 gun. He answered that the gun evidently 

 did not fit me and told me to return it and 

 tell him the length and bend of the gun 

 that suited me best. I had to wait 2 months 

 while he made me another gun. It was 

 well worth waiting for, as I never saw its 

 equal at any price. 



Up to that time I thought all gun stocks 

 were alike; but this little matter opened 

 my eyes, and leaves me still of opinion 



