GUNS AND AMMUNITION 



83 



down it for miles either above or below there, 

 and the Indians put in half of the night in 

 trying to eat all of the antelope. 



John A. Brooks, Erie, Pa. 



"SHOT A MOOSE AND KILLED A HEN." 



Editor Recreation : 



In reading the account of a phenomenal 

 shot by Mr. Alex. McDonald in the current 

 issue, I am reminded of an incident that oc- 

 curred under my own observation. My 

 cousin Roy and I were shooting at a mark 

 with my 38 caliber Winchester one after- 

 noon in the summer of 1903. We placed our 

 target on a stone heap at one corner of a 

 garden, at a distance of about 100 yards, 

 and after putting onr target, which was an 

 old tin cracker box about 14 x 18 inches, 

 out of commission we set up pieces of brok- 

 en crockery, as when hit they fly to pieces 

 and furnish instant proof of a good shot. It 

 was Roy's turn to shoot and I had given 

 him as a target one-half of a dinner plate. 

 He fired and missed, but claimed another 

 shot. This time he was successful and the 

 pieces flew in all directions, and the bullet, 

 glancing from one of the stones, went sing- 

 ing through the brush beyond. On going to 

 the stone heap to set up another mark, I 

 found, on a flat stone in front of the target, 

 several drops of fresh blood. Knowing 

 from experience that "you can't get blood out 

 of a stone" I looked for an explanation, and 

 found that, -probably disturbed by the bullet's 

 striking the stone heap, a striped adder had 

 poked his head out of the pile of stones, 

 just in time to get his throat cut with neat- 

 ness and dispatch by the bullet which broke 

 the plate. On convincing Roy that he had 

 actually shot the head off a snake at a dis- 

 tance of 100 yards with a rifle, he immedi- 

 ately got such a swelled head that he has 

 since refused to shoot with me, as he no long- 

 er considers himself in my class. As my 

 chances of matching his performance are 

 slim, indeed, I must patiently wait for some- 

 thing to turn up so I can take some of the 

 conceit out of him. 



Miles H. Ray, Providence, R. I. 



STUNNED THE RABBIT. 



Editor Recreation : 



Having just read Mr. Alex. McDonald's 

 story about the phenomenal shot of Jimmy, 

 I wish to tell about a "phenom" shot at a 

 rabbit I witnessed. While located at Helena, 

 Montana, a couple of years ago, I had some 

 of the finest trout fishing trips I ever en- 

 joyed. One morning a young fellow by the 

 name of Keith and I started on wheels to 

 "John's Ranch," to fish "Little Prickly Pear" 

 creek. While riding between Scratchgravel 

 and Silver, the jack rabbits and cottontails 

 started to jump and make for the coulees 

 Keith was a little in advance of me, when 



he noticed a little cottontail had stopped 

 about thirty-five yards away, and was re- 

 garding us with curiosity. We were riding 

 at a pretty good clip. Keith took a flying 

 jump from his wheel and pulling his thirty- 

 eight at the same time, he took two snap 

 shots at the cottontail, which leaped into the 

 air and fell over apparently dead. I got off 

 my wheel and we walked over and I picked 

 "Bunny" up. There was not a mark on it of 

 any kind and while holding it by the ears it 

 came to, then struggled and twisted to get 

 away, so I threw it into a clump of sage 

 brush, and off it went as lively as ever. 

 Those bullets must have gone just close 

 enough to stun the rabbit. Otherwise there 

 was not a mark on it to show that it had 

 been touched. 



Will Wilhehn, Sunbury, Pa. 



SMALL GAUGE GUNS. 

 Editor Recreation : 



Reading the letters in Recreation relating 

 to different sized guns impels me to give a 

 description of one I have. Being out of the 

 ordinary patterns manufactured, it may pos- 

 sibly start a controversy, but I hope not ; for 

 it is not my wish or desire to invite one. I 

 simply wish to tell what my 28 gauge is 

 capable of. 



It may not be generally known that all 

 Hudson's Bay Company's guns are and have 

 been since the first guns were introduced into 

 the territories, of a uniform bore, and that 

 is 28. They are of this size from the old 

 flintlock pattern to the fine breech-loading 

 guns of the present day. It is, however, only 

 of recent years that breech-loaders have 

 come in general use, and I think my own gun 

 was the very first made, special, by the com- 

 pany's gunmakers in London. 



I sent a description to our secretary of the 

 kind of gun I wished and he put the order in 

 hand. The principal points that I insisted 

 upon were the length of the barrel and 

 weight, the first to be thirty inches and the 

 weight not to exceed six. pounds. 



I wanted it of light-weight so as to enable 

 me to hold the canoe motionless with the 

 paddle while I aimed and fired with the 

 other hand. In still watching for beaver to 

 be able to fire with one hand is a great ad- 

 vantage, and this was what I had in mind 

 when ordering the gun. 



The makers did better than the require- 

 ments, as they sent out a gun that weighed 

 five pounds, twelve ounces. In the instruc- 

 tions they gave 2 J / 2 drams powder and V\ 

 ounce shot. With this charge it could do 

 wonderful execution, surpassing any gun I 

 ever handled. With the same quantity of 

 powder and a 28 ball on top, it was as accu- 

 rate and effective as any rifle up to two 

 hundred yards, and many are the caribou 

 and bear that it brought low. I used it dur- 



