GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 



47 



I hope the Winchester people, being in 

 business for money, will see the folly of 

 putting on the market an automatic gun 

 which by exterminating game will kill the 

 demand for all sporting weapons. 



H. R. Charlton, Seattle, Wash. 



I wish you great success in your fight 

 against the game hog and the new auto- 

 matic gun. The latter would finish our 

 already diminished fall flight of the wel- 

 come webfoot. Keep it up. 



H. J. Dale, Millbrook, Ont. 



Your proposition to stop the sale of re- 

 peating shot guns meets with my approval. 

 I shall be pleased to do anything in my 

 power to prevent the use of any gun carry- 

 ing more than 2 cartridges at one time. 



Wm. E. Shoemaker, Cheboygan, Mich. 



SMALL SHOT. 



I have left my shotgun at home the last 

 6 years, though I am in camp every Sep- 

 tember when grouse are at their best. My 

 shooting is all done at targets, one over 

 on shore, 200 yards, and one on the island 

 in front of my cabin, 100 feet. 



.My rifle is a 303 Savage, and I have 

 been engaged 3 seasons in trying to work 

 out a short range cartridge that would do 

 good work. I do not believe it possible 

 for any one to get as good results with 

 • small loads in high power rifles as can be 

 had with the older rifles. Still I get sat- 

 isfactory results with a 125 grain Kephart 

 bullet, 1 to 10 tin and lead, and 10 grains 

 Savage powder. 



The 170 grain bullet and 10 grains L. 

 and R. Sporting Rifle Smokeless also make 

 a good combination. 



My island is shaped like a cigar, 40 feet 

 wide and 294 feet long. The lake is clear and 

 deep and has the small mouth bass, perch 

 and rock-bass. Other lakes, which have 

 pike, pickerel and muskalonge, are within 

 easy reach with my little 10 foot canvas 

 boat.. 



T. W. Harrington, 3814 Rhodes Ave.,, Chi- 

 cago, 111. 



I have shot many years and with many 

 kinds of smokeless powder, and I have 

 found none so satisfactory as Robin Hood. 

 The recoil is more like that of black pow- 

 der, and while it is not excessive it feels 

 like business. I have shot it in hot weather, 

 in cold weather, in dry weather and in 

 damp weather, and it works the same un- 

 der all conditions. It is quick, and gives 

 fine pattern and penetration. I have never 

 found any other powder that did not seem 

 to me to deteriorate with age. I have just 

 returned from Florida where I did some 

 quail shooting, and as I shot a 20 gauge 



I was obliged to carry my cartridges with 

 me. Though over a year old they were as 

 good as fresh loaded ones, and the result 

 in dead birds was perfectly satisfactory. 

 I have shot this powder 3 years and have 

 never found a cartridge that did not seem 

 fully up to standard. 



George Linder, Boston, Mass. 



In February Recreation, Reloader, writ- 

 ing about 50 caliber loads, gives one which 

 he says will, when fired from a Sharp's 

 carbine, put 10 shots in a 2^ inch circle 

 at 200 yards and kill squirrels without 

 mangling them. This load, as he gives it, 

 consists of a hollow base ball with a bear- 

 ing of y% inch and weighing 97 grains, and 

 7 grains of Gold Dust shot gun powder. 

 Is there not some mistake in the weight of 

 the bullet? The lightest 50 caliber bullet 

 listed by the Ideal Manufacturing Co., if 

 the 200 grain round ball is left out of con- 

 sideration, weighs 285 grains. 



What cartridge does the Sharp's carbine 

 referred to by reloader take? Is it the 

 50-45-400 Government carbine, the 50-70- 

 450 musket, or one of the sporting cart- 

 ridges ? G. T., St. John, N. B. 



Last fall I bought from our local dealer 

 a Steven's shot gun, guaranteed to stand 

 smokeless powder. After firing it a few- 

 times with ordinary factory loaded smoke- 

 less charges, the barrel burst at the breech. 

 That I did not get .killed was due to good 

 luck. I wrote the makers in regard to the 

 matter and they referred me to the local 

 dealer. Through him they offered to send 

 me, on return of the old gun, a new one 

 of a better make, that they were putting on 

 the market. When the new gun arrived it 

 proved to be precisely like the old one. I 

 would not shoot it with smokeless powder 

 for a farm. I deem it my duty to warn 

 sportsmen not to take too many chances 

 with the Steven's shot gun. 



S. M. Book, Rushville, O. 



I noticed in Recreation an inquiry as to 

 Parker shot guns. I have owned and used 

 many of them, from the $50 grade up to 

 the $175 ejector. They all shoot evenly 

 and hard. In balance and finish, the Par- 

 ker beats the world. The Parker people 

 are not very accommodating about putting 

 extra work on a gun ; for instance, they 

 will not accept an order to put an ejector 

 on one of their own guns. I sent a $50 

 Parker to Chris. Fischer, Grank Forks, 

 and he put on it the best a'utomatic ejector 

 I ever saw. It works perfectly with any 

 shell and is simple in construction, there 

 being but 3 pieces to it. I do not see why 

 the Parker company do not put ejectors 



