SMALL BORE RIFLES. 



There are no figures at my command, so 

 that I am open to correction when I make the 

 statement that there are ten .22 caliber rifles 

 in use for every one of .38 or larger, and the 

 small bore rifle is the only arm many take 

 an interest in. Certainly, the American rifle 

 started as a small caliber and has been 

 evolved upon these lines. Foreign sportsmen 

 have gone in for rifles of tremendous power. 

 The great African explorer, Sir Samuel 

 Baker, always spoke of his .577 as "The Lit- 

 tle Fletcher," but the American sportsmen 

 have looked upon a .50 as a very big gun, 

 and so it was ; for American game, with the 

 exception of the grizzly is by no means 

 tenacious of life. Thus the American hunter 

 looked for a rifle that, while not extremely 

 powerful, should be most accurate and prac- 

 tical. We have' kept to this ideal, and when 

 comparing our small bore rifles to those 

 manufactured in other countries, we find that 

 the American arm outranks any of its for- 

 eign competitors. In military rifles we are 

 not ahead of Germany or England, but our 

 small bore miniature rifles are very far 

 ahead of anything manufactured in other 

 countries. 



The .22 long rifle has been known and ap- 

 preciated in this country for about fifteen 

 years, and it is highly amusing to note by our 

 English exchanges that they are just discov- 

 ering its good qualities in England. Flereto- 

 fore our cousins across the water have been 

 content to use the .22 calibre bottle-necked 

 central fire cartridge adapted to the Morris 

 tube, which is a sub-caliber barrel, enserted, 

 usually, in the regular service rifle. This 

 cartridge was not more accurate than our 

 .22 long, which, as we kno v w, will not com- 

 pare with the .22 long rifle, nor with the .22 

 short at ranges up to 75 or even 100 feet. 



The professionals that are hired on the 

 ranches of the State of Washington to keep 

 down the ground squirrel pest have found 

 that the .22 long rifle is the best for all- 

 around work. This shows that the objections 

 that have been raised have not got much 

 foundation. It is true that the bullet is lubri- 

 cated externally, and consequently that it 

 must be kept out of the way of dust and grit, 

 but exnerienced shots find ways to get over 

 this difficulty. Some of these men' shoot as 



much as 2,000 rounds in a month, and kill 

 more than 50 per cent, of the squirrels they 

 aim at. The record is said to be 391 squirrels 

 in a day. Of course when using such large 

 quantities of ammunition the cost is a most 

 important item. 



The next caliber above the .22 is the .25. 

 For this there are several cartridges, but we 

 think it is the consensus of expert opinion 

 that the straight 25-21-86 is the best cartridge 

 of them all. The 25-25-86 has got just a lit- 

 tle too much power, and the 25-20, while al- 

 most as good as the 25-21, is a bottle-necked 

 shell, and experienced men seem to prefer 

 straight shells for these small calibers, as 

 they stand reloading better. The .25 will 

 never be as popular as the .22, owing to the 

 cost of the ammunition and its excessive 

 power for most purposes. 



One frequently sees letters from sports- 

 men in which they state that the .22 caliber 

 is not quite powerful enough for grouse and 

 such small game, but we assume that if they 

 use a mushroom bullet they will find it quite 

 powerful enough for any small game when 

 hit in the right place. Woodchuck and larger 

 animals require a .25 caliber bullet in the 

 vitals, but the power of a .25 caliber with a 

 hollow fronted bullet is much greater than 

 most people imagine. 



A Virginia deer shot through the shoulder 

 at 100 yards with one of these bullets ought 

 not to travel far, and such power is not re- 

 quired when hunting small game. 



The old .2,2, which was once looked upon 

 as a very small bore, has, since the advent of 

 high velocity .25 and .30 calibers, lost its hold 

 upon the affections of the average hunter. It 

 is now usually considered the cartridge best 

 adapted for 200 yard target shooting offhand, 

 and its use is becoming restricted to that 

 kind of shooting. 



Its accuracy is marvellous, and while it is 

 not any more accurate than the 38-55-255, it 

 is possible to make better scores with it on 

 account of the lighter recoil and consequent 

 freedom from flinching. The .32 is the limit 

 of what we should to-day consider small 

 bore rifles, and in this case we only consider 

 it a. small bore when it is used with black 

 powder. When a high velocity charge and 

 jacketed bullet is fired out of a .32 special it 

 may be considered as a full-sized and full- 



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