39° 



RECREATION. 



a 30-30 short range bullet can shoot 

 higher at 50 yards than the full regular 

 charge cartridge. This is entirely due to 

 the flip in his particular barrel. 



When firing a rifle the combustion of 

 powder starts the bullet toward the muzzle 

 and drives the barrel in the opposite direc- 

 tion. The application of the force of this 

 recoil is directly back through the middle 

 of the barrel and the center of the breech 

 block. As the point of resistance of this re- 

 coil is below the middle of the barrel, 

 through the stock, any driving back of the 

 barrel tends to throw the muzzle up ; but as 

 the nature of the explosion is like a blow, 

 this sudden jerk of the rifle, which would 

 finally throw the muzzle up, does not. as its 

 first effect, throw it up, but causes it to "dip 

 down. Those who fish know that the up- 

 ward jerk on a rod will first cause the tip 

 to bend down before it comes up. Just this 

 happens to a rifle barrel. This first down- 

 ward bending of the barrel is called "flip." 



To apply this explanation to the case in 

 hand: When shooting the full charge cart- 

 ridge in Mr. Cooper's arm, the bullet hap- 

 pens to leave the muzzle when it is evidently 

 down to the lowest point of flip. In other 

 words, the bullet is projected in a line low- 

 er than the original line of the barrel. On 

 the other hand, when the short range cart- 

 ridge is fired, the small powder charge and 

 light bullet practically produce no flip, 

 hence the bullet is projected in a line with 

 the bore and not below it. as in the case of 

 the regular full charge cartridge. It is self 

 evident, therefore, that for a short distance 

 the miniature load would shoot higher than 

 the regular cartridge. It is also likely that 

 the slight jump of the barrel when shooting 

 the short range, or miniature, likewise helps 

 in raising the bullet slightly above the bore 

 as it leaves the muzzle. 



Savage Arms Company. Utica. N. Y., 



By T. P. Peckham. 



ROBIN HOOD FOR PENETRATION. 

 'Robin Hood powder gives excellent re- 

 sults when used in good guns. Especially 

 in penetration is this noticeable. A Rem- 

 ington 12 bore 30 inch single barrel was 

 fired at 40 yards recently in competition 

 with 2 other powders. The man shooting 

 the Remington used factory shells from 

 Robin Hood people with at least 5 per 

 cent, better penetration. 



A. A. Borck asks for information as to 

 the 44-40 cartridge. This is easy. From 

 about 1875 to 1885, 9 out of 10 men on the 

 plains had as an outfit of arms a Colt's 

 Frontier 6-shooter and a carbine bored for 

 the 44-40 cartridge. As the bad men, In- 

 dians and game are memories, it looks as 

 if the 44-40 was a good thing, and it is. 

 It has sufficient power in a carbine of 22 1-2 

 inch barru to kill a deer at 125 yards when 



properly held. As regards its accuracy in 

 the Colt's revolver, a man who understands 

 holding can count on getting good groups 

 at 40 to 50 yards in a 6-inch circle. The kick 

 of a 44-40 carbine is not noticeable, though 

 in a 6 shot pistol the noise and jar are 

 quite perceptible. To sum up, the 44-40 is 

 an ideal hunting cartridge on everything 

 larger than squirrels up to grizzlies, but it 

 should not be considered a target cartridge 

 for any range. 



X. O. S., Baltimore, Md. 



SMALL SHOT. 



One of the best shots ever made in 

 Michigan was scored by Wm. Rennick, a 

 well known trap shooter of Detroit, dur- 

 ing the spring flight of ducks. The De- 

 troit river being frozen, forced the ducks 

 in their search for open water, to congre- 

 gate in the air holes or small patches o) 

 open water surrounded by the ice. A bi& 

 flock of redheads used one of these places 

 near the Bell Isle bridge, and Rennick, 

 with his Winchester pump gun, sneaked 

 down on the ducks one morning at break 

 of day. He fired the 6 shots of his re- 

 peater into the mass of ducks as fast as he 

 could work the action and picked up 33 

 redheads, while fully as many more crippleo 

 or wing broken got away. 



Duck Shooter, Pontiac, Mich. 



Yet Bennett says "a man cannot kill any 

 more game with a pump gun than he can 

 with a double barrel gun." He calls a 

 pump gun a harmless, innocent, inof- 

 fensive little weapon for gentlemen and he 

 would tell you that if this same man had 

 had a double barrel gun ' he could have 

 fired 5 shots from it just as quickly and 

 could have killed just as many ducks as he 

 did with the pump gun. — Editor. 



Some of your readers have asked for in- 

 formation as to what constitutes the best 

 all around gun for big game. For moose, 

 caribou and bear, the larger the bullet the 

 better. A 45-70 would be as small a cart- 

 ridge as I should care to use. Some sports- 

 men say that because they kill a moose or 

 a caribou with a 30-30, or other small bore 

 rifle, by filling the animal full of holes, 

 it is the proper gun, forgetting that a 22 

 caliber revolver would do the same if the 

 ball hit the heart or brain. You might as 

 well argue that a pebble would shock as 

 much as a stone weighing a pound if 

 thrown with the same force. 



I have killed about 200 moose and cari- 

 bou, and several bears. When I used a 

 smooth bore double barrel gun I seldom 

 found it necessary to fire a second shot. I 

 cannot say as much of the modern rifles, 

 and I have used some of the best. 



W, S, Crooker. South Brookfield, N, S, 



