GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 



Anybody can shoot all day, but a gentleman will quit when he gets enough. 



PROTESTS AGAINST UNFAIR CRITICISM. 



In March Recreation appears an article 

 entitled "Jammed a Savage," which de- 

 serves more than passing mention. Taking 

 the evidence as stated by the writer him- 

 self; using his words literally or with any 

 reasonable construction, he convicts him- 

 self of either wilful or ignorant misuse of 

 his rifle, and further of an unfair and 

 childish desire to saddle the consequences 

 of his own lack of understanding on the 

 makers of the rifle. 



I do not believe there is a rifle mechan- 

 ism manufactured, and using fixed ammu- 

 nition, which can not under some conceiv- 

 able conditions be jammed; that is, by 

 some combination of circumstances be ren- 

 dered temporarily incapable of use. No 

 rifle, repeating or single shot, can have a 

 shell appreciably larger than its chamber 

 crowded forcibly into it and still permit 

 free action of the mechanism. No person 

 conversant with such matters would ever 

 exert any unusual force to close the action. 

 He should and would know that something 

 was wrong and investigate before going 

 farther. A man who would thus maltreat 

 an unoffending rifle mechanism deserves to 

 have his rifle jammed and should expect 

 nothing else. 



The diagnosis in this man's case is plain. 

 He attempted to force into the chamber of 

 his rifle a shell too large for it. 



All American rifles are chambered close- 

 ly. Cartridge makers use extreme care to 

 keep the dies in which the brass cartridge 

 cases are drawn, true to gauge. There is, 

 however, an unavoidable variation common 

 to the product of all rifle and ammunition 

 makers, in the size of both rifle chambers 

 and of the cartridges adapted thereto. This 

 variation is usually within 4-10,000 of an 

 inch. It could conceivably happen that a 

 customer might buy a box of fixed ammu- 

 nition of which all the shells were drawn in 

 a die which was worn to the limit of wear 

 permitted by the factory; and the rifle in 

 which -he essays to use them might be 

 chambered exactly to the minimum limit. 

 Even if the shells were bright and clean, 

 and the interior of the chamber equally 

 so, he might have trouble; but if the 

 shells have for any reason acquired any 

 dirt or corrosion, or if the chamber be not 

 perfectly clean and free, he surely will have 

 trouble and lots of it. 



Some years ago I adopted a rule which 

 has undoubtedly saved me much annoy- 

 ance. Every cartridge I take into the 



459 



woods on a hunting trip has beforehand 

 been carefully put into the chamber of my 

 rifle and the action then closed. Those 

 shells which stick in any degree are re- 

 jected. The result is I never have a jam 

 or anything approximating one. 



I once saw a most excellent and careful 

 guide hopelessly jam his tried and well 

 seasoned repeater, and it was not a Sav- 

 age either. On dismounting the arm, piece 

 by piece, we found a 44-40 shell tightly 

 jammed in the chamber, although his gun 

 was a 38-40 and there was no 44-40 ammu- 

 nition in camp. On examining his box of 

 ammunition; bright, new factory loads, we 

 found 2 other 44-40 shells in the lot. They 

 were of the highest grade of manufacture, 

 and their makers have an unexcelled repu- 

 tation for accuracy and perfection of prod- 

 uct. Somewhere and somehow in the pack- 

 ing, strange as it may seem, those shells 

 must have become mixed, for the box was 

 not opened until we went into camp. The 

 guide had fired one shot at a deer, and in 

 his haste had pumped up one of the fatal 

 44-40's, with such force that his gun was 

 out of the race at once. 



Three years ago, up near the foot of 

 Mount Seward, in the Adirondacks, a party 

 consisting of a well-known New York 

 physician and his 2 guides were hunting. 

 The doctor carried a Winchester 30-30 car- 

 bine. He had, the day before, while tar- 

 geting his rifle, found a 30-30 cartridge 

 which would not chamber, and instead of 

 throwing it away, he foolishly put it in his 

 vest pocket. The following day, while 

 hunting, they jumped a black bear. At 

 short range the doctor gave him the load 

 in his chamber, and on attempting to pump 

 up the next shell from the magazine 

 jammed his gun. Although the bear was 

 badly wounded, and was tracked by his 

 blood several miles through swamp and 

 slash, by one of the guides, he never was 

 found. The shell, which was too large for 

 the chamber, was finally removed, and the 

 circumstances of the target shooting of the 

 day before were recalled. The vest pocket 

 contained no shell, and the reasonable ex- 

 planation of the matter was that the doctor, 

 finding the lone shell in his pocket and for- 

 getting the reason therefor, had carelessly 

 put it in with the rest of his ammunition. 

 When loading his arm for the day's sport 

 by some ill chance he put the faulty shell 

 just where it did the most damage. Did 

 he "cuss" the Winchester people and their 

 gun? Did he write and ask them to re- 

 fund the money he had paid for it? Nay, 



