294 



Recreation. 



took the hint and bought a 30-40 special 

 and it's a corker. I like the box better than 

 the tube magazine. It is the best bal- 

 anced rifle I ever put to my shoulder. Last 

 fall I killed 2 bucks with 2 cartridges, and 

 neither deer went over 100 yards. Both 

 dead when we got to them. The 30-40 is a 

 hard hitter. 



I see the Winchester people have a new 

 32 special and a 33 for big game. They 

 may be good ones, but I doubt if they have 

 so great penetration or so flat a trajectory 

 as the 30-40. I notice many comments on 

 the small caliber killing men in adjoining 

 counties. That is mostly nonsense. If any- 

 one will look up the statistics he will find 

 in 9 cases out of 10 that the victim was 

 killed with a shot gun > or by some all 

 around fool mistaking him for an animal. 

 Then, of course, the long range rifle did it ! 



I buy no sporting goods that are not 

 advertised in Recreation, and would not 

 buy Marlin's goods no matter where ad- 

 vertised. Why do you keep after him? 

 You should do as the Irishman did, who, 

 when asked why he did not kill the skunk, 

 said: "I'll lave the baste alone and he'll 

 stink himself to death." 



I saw Upthegrove's ad in Recreation and 

 bought a fine hunting coat of him. I had it 

 made with a special large flap at- 

 tached at the upper pockets and drop- 

 ping low enough to cover the lower 

 pockets. When it rains or I get tired 

 carrying my rifle in hand, I simply wrap 

 the lower edge of the flap around the rifle 

 breech, grip it and throw the weight of 

 the rifle on my shoulder. It keeps the 

 action dry and makes a fine rest for carry- 

 ing. All those who have seen the coat ad- 

 mire it and think the flap a great thing. 



I like the fearless way in which you 

 tackle the great and small game hogs. You 

 are a good sticker and kill more game 

 hogs with your pen than Armour's best 

 man can kill with a knife. The way your 

 magazine sells and the friends it makes 

 show your way is best,, 



S. W. Peregrine, 'Portland, Me. 



ANSWERS DR. KEENAN. 



Dr. J. W. Keenan says in October Rec- 

 reation : 



"I have not bought a Savage for above 

 reasons." I take this as an admission that 

 he has not used a Savage to any extent. 

 Again he says that as the gun shoots sev- 

 eral different kinds of cartridges, it will 

 not shoot any one of them accurately, or 

 words to that effect. In this he is decided- 

 ly wrong. I have tried the Savage with 

 every kind of cartridge it is constructed to 

 shoot, under all conditions and at different 

 ranges, and for accuracy, reliability and 

 peneration it is all that is claimed; and 

 further, in style and balance it is perfect. 



Take a Savage out and give it a fair trial 

 with any of the standard makes, and be it 

 miniature for short range, or the regular 

 for long range, it will shoot with the best 

 of them. 



Dr. Keenan speaks of the Lee straight 

 pull. I never have had any experience 

 with this gun, though from all I can learn, 

 it is a fine weapon. Still, outside of prairie 

 or open country shooting, what particular 

 object is there in having a rifle with a 

 point blank range of 700 yards? In our 

 part of the country, where the undergrowth 

 is thick, a man wants a gun without pro- 

 tuberances of any kind, something that 

 will not catch on brush. 



Dr. Keenan says, "The Savage will not 

 rate as a first class shooter until one gun 

 is made and exclusively adapted for one 

 cartridge." Of all the men I know who 

 use this rifle not one finds fault with it. 

 See what hunters have to say about the 

 Savage; how many criticisms do you find? 

 If a gun has a defect, however insignificant, 

 we will hear of it in Recreation. There 

 may be guns with longer range and greater 

 penetration, but for all around shooting, 

 give me the Savage every day in the week. 

 Wm. H. Van Horn, Tacoma, Wash. 



SAYS THE SAVAGE IS O. K. 



I notice that several persons have in 

 late issues of Recreation raised objections 

 to the Savage rifle as now made. I believe 

 these writers are mistaken. 



The main objection seems to be that the 

 Savage will handle a miniature, or short 

 range, load in addition to the one for which 

 the gun is built. It is not true that the 

 gun is a compromise between the 2 loads. 

 It is built for the regular charge and this 

 charge it will shoot as accurately as any 

 .303-40 ever made. The smaller load it 

 shoots indifferently well, just as the Krag 

 and Winchester shoot their short range 

 loads. 



The SaVage .303 has exactly the same 

 pitch of rifling as the Krag .303-40, and the 

 same, I presume, as the Winchester .30-40, 

 though I never saw the latter tested. 



In 1899 I hunted deer in the Adirondacks' 

 with a so-called 30-40 Winchester. In 1900 

 and 1901 I hunted deer, etc., in Texas with 

 a Krag carbine. Late in 1901 I got a .303 

 Savage which I have used since. 



The shooting qualities of the 3 guns do 

 not differ materially, but the Savage wins 

 out in that it is a better brush gun, having 

 no projecting bolts or boxes. It is lighter, 

 prettier and the ammunition is 30 cents a 

 box less. 



Why any sportsman should desire a Sav- 

 age to shoot the army cartridge I cannot 

 see. He would simply increase his ammu- 

 nition bill without corresponding benefit. 



