GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 



m 



that a great deal of bad shooting is caused 

 by the gun not suiting the user. 



I sold this gun before coming to this 

 country and now have a Remington, made 

 to order, which is giving me entire satis- 

 faction.. 



It is only us old fellows who can appre- 

 ciate the great advance of the gunmaker's 

 art in the last 30 years. 



THE TRIGGERLESS GUN. 



Everybody who makes any pretension to 

 being a hunter has seen hammerless guns, 

 but 1 am certain that a triggerless shot gun 

 is something unusual ; yet I have seen a 

 man hunt with one and bring down his 

 game, too. 



In the latter part of December a friend 

 with whom I usually hunt drove with me 

 to the little village of Mequon, 12 miles 

 North of Milwaukee. In my boyhood days 

 I had camped for a week on a farmer's 

 land in that vicinity, and I suggested that 

 we leave our borse at his place. I hoped 

 the old German farmer would recognize in 

 the full grown man the freckle-faced boy 

 of 14 who caught so many bullheads in the 

 river 18 years ago. 



On our hail, the farmer opened the door 

 and came toward us. There was some- 

 thing peculiar about his walk. Although 

 he faced us 'his feet seemed meditating a 

 flank movement to the right. Ah, thought 

 I, he is half a mind to set the dog on us. 

 How greatly I wronged him ! He stared at 

 us a moment, and suddenly addressing my 

 friend, he cried: 



"Vy, Schorge, is dot you? How you do? 

 Why for your friend eye my boots so? I 

 paid you for dem, didn't I? Dey were both 

 lefts and you sold dem to me for 50 cents, 

 but dey fit fine, don't dey?" 



It seems my friend "Schorge," who is in 

 the shoe business, had accidentally found 

 one of his customers, to whom he had given 

 a special bargain, and we were therefore 

 welcome for the boots' sake. The farmer 

 looked at our spaniel, and when we said 

 we had brought the dog along to hunt rab- 

 bits the old man did not seem surprised. 

 But, in truth, the spaniel, although good at 

 retrieving snipe and ducks, had never seen 

 a rabbit. Yet as he was a terror to cats we 

 argued that he would be equally anxious to 

 nip the tail of a bunny. 



We induced Farmer Kopman to come 

 along and show us the best place for rab- 

 bits. He called his dog, a cross between a 

 terrier and a spitz, with probably a little 

 bulldog thrown in. Then he took bis muz- 

 zle loading shot gun from the hook and 

 loaded both barrels. His boy Charlev, a 

 lad of about 12 years, followed us with a 

 hatchet. I thought "Scharly," as the old 

 man called him, carried the hatchet to dig 

 out any rabbits we might drive into their 



burrows ; but it seems there was another 

 use for it. 



We tramped around the woods for an 

 hour or so, and I began to think the cotton- 

 tails had emigrated to the next county. 

 Suddenly there came a yelp from the ter- 

 rier-spitz-bulldog. The opening yelp was 

 followed by about 350 more yelps, and Kop- 

 man announced gravely, "He got one." The 

 yelping grew more distant every minute. 

 Finally it swelled into a howl, in the in- 

 tervals of which the voice of my spaniel 

 could be heard. We followed the noise, 

 and found the dogs before a huge wood- 

 pile, beneath which the rabbit had taken 

 refuge. The only way to get him out was 

 by piling over the wood, which took us 

 fully an hour. When we came near the 

 bottom I reached between the logs and 

 grabbed the rabbit's hind legs. I could not 

 withdraw my hand, until more wood was 

 moved. 



I carried the rabbit along and soon after 

 the dogs drove another toward us. My 

 friend was in another part of the woods at 

 that moment, so it gave me a good chance 

 for a shot. After missing the rabbit I 

 turned to Kopman and saw him raise his 

 gun, at the same time calling to his son, 

 "Scharly, hit ! Scharly, hit !" Scharly raised 

 his hatchet and did a most wonderful thing. 

 He struck the hammers of the shot gun. 

 There was a loud explosion, and, behold ! 

 the rabbit turned a somersault and was 

 dead. Amazed at this new style of shoot- 

 ing, I asked an explanation. Farmer Kop- 

 man said, 



"Ya, dot is a funny gun. You see de 

 triggers are both broked off und I always 

 takes my Scharly along to hit on de ham- 

 mers mit de hatchet. Most times I shoots 

 'em sitting, but dis one we fixed running." 



We saw no more rabbits that day; but 

 the episode of the triggerless gun was 

 worth a whole day of rattling sport. 



Emil Koehn, Milwaukee, Wis. 



PREFERS THE 30-40. 



I am pleased and sometimes amused at 

 the different opinions expressed in your 

 gun department. I have gained a lot of in- 

 formation therefrom. I began in the West 

 with a 50-70 Sharp's, then a 45-90 Win- 

 chester, then a 40-65, then a 38-55, and now 

 a 30-40 Winchester. They were all good, 

 but I like my 30-40 best, although I made 

 the best shot of my life with the 38-55. Still 

 it's not in the same class as the 30-40. 



I see Savage says the Government has 

 condemned the 30-40 cartridge. If so it 

 has condemned a good cartridge and one 

 that beats the .303 Savage. Before I bought 

 my 30-40 someone asked you which was 

 the best rifle for big game, and you recom- 

 mended a 30-40 or a .303 Savage. I don't 

 know what the other fellow bought, but I 



