338 



RECREATION 



WILL SPEND MONEY. 

 Editor Recreation : 



Put me on the list for a Colt gun of the old 

 single-action type,' with swing-out cylinder 

 and slotted sight-base. I prefer .44 or .45 cal- 

 ibre, but .38 special will do if the majority 

 want it. The grip is the main thing, and the 

 old Colt butt is the only one that suits my 

 hand. Length of barrel is a detail. I like an 

 octagonal barrel, tapered like the old loose- 

 ammunition gun, but that is another negligi- 

 ble detail. I hope the Colt factory will put 

 out a modern revolver with the antique butt. 

 The Bisley model is an abortion. 



Allen Kelly. 



.38 COLT POSITIVE. 



A NEW REVOLVER. 

 While the number of patterns of American 

 revolvers is large, the Colts have recognized 

 a desire on the part of the public for yet an- 

 other. The outcome is the .38 Colt Positive. 

 It is made with either a 4-inch or a 6-inch 

 barrel. With the shorter barrel the weight 

 is but 20 ounces, and the over-all length -8**4 

 inches. The most striking new feature is a 

 positive lock between the fall of the hammer 

 and the frame, which prevents the firing pin 

 reaching the primer unless the trigger has 

 been pulled. 



A MATTER OF TASTE. 



Editor Recreation : 



Which do you consider the best pocket re- 

 volver, the 32-calibre Colt's New Pocket 

 Double Action or the 32-calibre Hammerless 

 S. & W., and which is the best length of bar- 

 rel, 2 l / 2 -or 3 J /> inches, and give reasons why? 



I am a reader of your valuable magazine 

 and wish you would answer at once, for I am 

 in a hurry. 



Roy F. Ellis, Conneaut. O. 



The best for you is the one that you prefer ; 

 the best for the other fellow the one he likes 

 best. In other words, it's six of one and half 

 a dozen of the other. Each is a first-rate 

 weapon. The 3^-inch barrel is a little more 

 accurate, though less handy, than the shorter 

 one. — Editor. 



AN EXPERIMENT. 



Editor Recreation : 



The rifle makers, the rifle sellers, and a lot 

 of the rifle shooters, unite in saying that a 

 rifle screwed in a vise will shoot wild. 



I have sometimes wondered how many of 

 these good people ever tried the experiment. 

 I can remember seeing two old-time gun- 

 smiths in my boyhood days who tested their 

 hand-made rifles in this way and set the 

 sights while the weapon was in the vise. 



Now these old-timers — long since passed to 

 the other shore — never had heard of the "flip" 

 of a rifle barrel, and while I know something 

 of rifle shooting and will admit that the slight 

 tapering barrels of our modern rifles may 

 "flip," spring, bend or do some other thing 

 they should not do at the second of discharge, 

 I doubt there was very much of this kind of 

 work where the barrel was as large as a heavy 

 Crowbar and the ball about 90 to 120 to the 

 pound. 



(For the benefit of the younger riflemen I 

 will say that in those days rifles, and shot- 

 guns also, were measured in this way — go to 

 the pound meant that 90 of the bullets fitting 

 the rifle would weigh one pound— shotguns 

 are still measured that way.) 



I believe no one would for a moment ques- 

 tion the deadly accuracy of these old-time 

 rifles. 



Then there is another set of fellows that 

 will tell you that a rifle screwed in a vise will 

 shoot every ball into the same hole at dis- 

 tances varying ' ith the mendacity of the in- 

 dividual from 50 to 100 yards. I have no 

 doubt of the truth of these statements, always 

 providing the hole is big enough. But seeing 

 is believing, so I experimented a little. I did 

 not have a vise in a shape I could well use for 

 this purpose, so I took a heavy piece of frame 

 timber 14 feet long, secured in such a manner 

 as to insure it against "flipping," and secured 

 a rifle to it by means of blocks and wedges, 

 making it practically solid on the timber, then 

 I took several sheets of white paper,, one over 

 the other to obtain duplicates of the work, 

 tacked them on a heavy target, also securely 

 nailed to the side of a building, and went to 

 shooting at a distance of 35 measured yards 

 from the muzzle of rifle. 



The rifle was a No. 4 Remington, weighing 

 perhaps A^/2 pounds ; the ammunition was the 

 U. M. C. short smokeless 22-caliber. The 

 number of shots was 15; the first 10 shots cut 

 a hole in the paper of less than Y% of an inch 

 in greatest length; the eleventh flew wild and 

 high; the twelfth cut a little low; the balance 

 kept well within the Y% °f an i ncn circle. 



This rifle, while fairly accurate, has been 

 fired many thousands of times and is a little 

 worn, and I do not consider it a dead center 

 gun by any means. 



As this shooting was done in the city,- I did 

 not use my new high-power hunting rifle, as 

 1 should have had a squad of police after me 

 in short order. 



What kind of shooting could be done with 

 the modern engine of death known as the 

 high-power rifle secured in this manner? I 

 do not know, but screwing a rifle in a vise 



