164 THE WILD TURKEY AND ITS HUNTING 



Next came the breech-loading rifle with small 

 charge of powder and heavy bullet ; like the Win- 

 chester model '66 and Frank Wesson's single 

 shot. These guns shot with remarkable correct- 

 ness at short range, especially the Frank Wesson 

 rifle; but none of them had enough velocity to 

 do as fine shooting as is required in turkey shoot- 

 ing above 75 to 100 yards. With me the .38 

 calibre Wesson rifle did more certain work on 

 old gobblers than any other rifle I have ever 

 seen or used, nor was the powder charge suf- 

 ficient to tear the flesh severely, but it would 

 drive the bullet through two old gobblers. 



The next best gun, and the best all-round 

 shooting gun I ever used on turkeys was a .32-20 

 Winchester, model '73, but this gun tore the 

 flesh badly. 



The points to be desired in a turkey rifle are 

 these: A bullet that will kill under ordinary 

 conditions and at the same time leave a mini- 

 mum trace through the bird; and a flat trajec- 

 tory for fine shooting at 125 or 150 yards, as that 

 is as far as one will be apt to risk a shot at them. 



I found that the .32 calibre killed as well as 



