290 



kBCREATiOM. 



SMALL SHOT. 



I buy and read Recreation every month 

 and like it better than any other journal I 

 have ever read. It is interesting beyond 

 measure. You certainly deserve great credit 

 for your untiring and fearless efforts for 

 the preservation of our game and fishes. 

 Your work "long these lines is of incalcul- 

 able value. 



I am greatly interested in the gun and 

 ammunition department. I love a good gun 

 and my preference is for the Stevens No. 

 44 Ideal, fitted with globe front and vernier 

 peep sights. I have had several of these 

 guns of different calibers and have found 

 them all good and of uniform accuracy. 

 For single shot, rifles I think them unsur- 

 passed. I do a great deal of target shoot- 

 ing, often firing as many as 200 shots in a 

 day. For enjoyable sport along that line 

 give me a 22-15-60 Stevens Ideal, center 

 lire. It permits of loads varying from 3 

 grains of powder and a 32 grain bullet up 

 to the full charge, making it an extremely 

 desirable cartridge for use in a thickly 

 populated place like this. 



B. D. Davies, Wheeling, W. Va. 



I notice a query from M. L. Meason in 

 regard to the relative merits of Mauser and 

 Colt pistols. I have used a Mauser pistol 

 in Montana and have gone back to the old 

 fashioned 45. I have also used the Luger 

 automatic pistol and do not like it. Both 

 have the same faults, though more pro- 

 nounced in the Mauser. When used as a 

 carbine with the stock on, the sights are 

 so near your eye that either they or the 

 object sighted at is out of focus and con- 

 sequently blurred. When used as a pistol 

 without the stock the trigger pull is so hard 

 that it pulls the gun off the object sighted 

 at, and as the weapon is automatic you do 

 not dare to ease up the trigger pull as you 

 can with a revolver, for fear of having the 

 whole magazine of cartridges go through 

 your gun. When after big game you only 

 waste time by monkeying around with a 

 pistol. The weapon is also dangerous. 



Chas. F. Spaulding, Salt Lake, Utah. 



Last winter I bought a .303 Savage, half 

 octagon barrel, rifle butt plate, fitted with 

 Lyman ivory bead front sight and Savage 

 combination rear peep sight. I ordered it 

 from the factory and they sent me a beauty. 

 It is, in my estimation, one of the best 

 rifles on the market. I find it extremely 

 accurate as a target rifle, and a fine all 

 around gun for either large or small game. 

 I have killed a number of wild ducks with 

 mine, and find the miniature lead bullet will 

 do the work at 100 yards every time if 

 held right. I reload the miniature lead 



cartridges according to directions of the 

 Savage people. The miniature metal jack- 

 eted bullet is accurate at 200 yards. I 

 strongly advise any one thinking of buying 

 a thoroughly reliable rifle to take the Sav- 

 age. The Winchester pump gun is the best 

 that ever happened for the price. 



E. W. Stevenson, Westerly, R. 



I have a 12 gauge hammerless, barrels 

 28 inches, full choked. It patterns too 

 closely for quail shooting. Shall I have 

 the barrels cut down an inch or 2, or have 

 the choke taken out? 



T. D. Renfrow, Earlington, Ky. 



ANSWER. 



Cutting off any portion of a choked gun 

 barrel is an unwise and usually disastrous 

 step. Some varieties of choke might 

 stand it, but an inch or 2 taken off a true 

 muzzle choke would convert it into an 

 indifferent cylinder barrel. An expert can 

 take out the choke entirely or modify it to 

 any desired degree. Send the barrels to the 

 maker and have the right barrel bored a 

 true cylinder,. Then you will have an 

 open pattern for close range, using the 

 right barrel, and a close pattern at long 

 range for the second shot, using the left 

 barrel. — Editor. 



Will a 16 gauge kill ducks if held 

 straight? Is it necessary to have a gun 

 full choke bored for duck shooting, and 

 could I use spreaders for other game? 



Chas. E. Burns, Beverly, Mass. 



ANSWER. 



A great many men use 16 gauge guns 

 for duck shooting, though if I were buy- 

 ing a gun, especially for that kind of 

 shooting I should get a 12 gauge. It 

 carries more powder and more lead, con- 

 sequently it will kill farther, and the kill- 

 ing pattern of the shot will cover a larger 

 circle at any given distance. 



For duck shooting I advise you to have 

 the right barrel modified and the left bar- 

 rel full choked. In that case I should 

 not use spreaders, even for woodcock or 

 ruffed grouse shooting. You can, how- 

 ever, use spreaders if you wish. — Editor. 



I have noticed in the Gun and Ammuni- 

 tion department inquiries about what a 32- 

 40 will do. I shot a yearling buck at 50 

 yards with a 32-40 express bullet. The 

 ball broke the leg at the shoulder, broke 

 one rib, cut the big arteries just back of 

 the heart and passed out between 2 ribs, 

 taking a piece out of each. There were 2 

 small holes in the skin where the bullet 

 went out. It must have split in its passage. 



