86 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Feb. 28, 1884. 



any other mode. It is believed by the most conservative 

 hunters that if no other mode of hunting were permitted 

 than stalking, or stili-hunting as it, is called, the deer would 

 lose that wildness which it is contended makes the aid of 

 dogs necessary in their pursuit; and that their capture for 

 all reasonable purposes would not be as difficult as at present 

 to the patient hunter, while for consumption the flesh would 

 be much more wholesome. 



THE PERFORMANCE OF SHOTGUNS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



1 am again tempted to "put iu my oar." merely to reiter- 

 ate my former inquiries upon the subject of the practical 

 performance of our modern breechloading shotgun. 



One gentleman from Texas gives us an entertaining sketch 

 of how, after the trial of numerous guns that proved unsat- 

 isfactory, he finally selected an 8-gauge, 14 pounds weight, 

 etc. And then tells us, somewhat with an air of triumph, 

 how he could cut down a single duck, going down wind, at 

 a distance of 90 yards, which, of course, his comrades, to 

 their great chagrin and mortification, could not do, using 

 lighter guns. Eastern sportsman are not entirely unac- 

 quainted with big-guns, had some experience with them my- 

 self in my younger days, during a tour on the Chesapeake 

 waters. With the duck shooters of Havre de Grace and others 

 of that ilk. I have seen single duck guns used there of 4- 

 gauge, carrying 5 ounces of shot or upward , to say nothing 

 of that unlawful terror, the swivel or punt gun, which had, 

 of course, to be staunchly attached to a swivel and block in 

 the bow of their gunning skiffs. I have not been there for 

 some years, but I believe some of the market shooters still 

 sneak out with these unlawful weapons. Of course, these 

 larger guns have their uses in lake, bay, coast and river 

 shooting; they toll a murderous tale on the vast flocks of 

 waterfowl that congregate there. The necessarily larger 

 circle covered by the shot, the larger and increased propor- 

 tion of the number of pellets within the given space, give 

 them that advantage over the gun of smaller caliber. Laying 

 aside this advantage, the fowling piece or gun of ordinary 

 caliber will kill its single duck or "bird at quite as long range 

 as its big brother, for, be it remembered, all things else being- 

 equal, we are shooting pellets of shot at our game, that indi- 

 vidually arc of the same size and weight in both guns, the 

 large gun, however, having the advantage of shooting so 

 vastly many more of them. ' 



I do not believe any shotgun, no matter what its caliber, 

 could or would kill its single birds statedly at 90 yards range. 

 Not even a ten-inch columbiad, loaded with a barrel of shot, 

 would do it. 



Now, if it be true, as suggested by a Boston correspond- 

 ent, that an eminent wildfowl shooter of that locality refuses 

 to use breechloaders, for the reason asserted that they pos- 

 sess less range and shooting power than muzzleloaders; then 

 we are driven into a still greater dilemma. I know not whether 

 this suggestion be true. It was one of the subjects of my 

 first inquiries through your columns. 



I may have something to say in the future with respect to 

 estimation of distances in the field. 



Many sportsmen can give the result of their experiences 

 touching the above, and thus enlighten more than one in the 



Backwoods. 



West Virginia. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In your issue of the 7th inst, "Buckeye" wishes informa- 

 tion in regard to 10 and 12-bore shotguns. If he lived in a 

 game country like this he would be able to make choice be- 

 tween the two bores. Experience would demonstrate that 

 for small game, quail, squirrels, ducks, etc., and occasionally 

 deer, the 12-bore would suit him best, as it will throw small 

 shot closer, and with much less powder than the 10-bore, and 

 at the same time ought to (and will, if it is a well made gun) 

 do good work with buckshot that chamber well at the 

 muzzle. Most of our hunters here kill deer with 12-bore 

 guns, but the 10-bore is better for exclusive use among deer, 

 turkey and ducks, because it will bum more powder and kill 

 at longer ranges. Red Wixg. 



Glencoe, Fla. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I have shot a pair of teal at 80 yards, measured distance. 

 One had a wing broken, the other had two shot through the 

 body, the shot going through to the shin on the opposite 

 side". Charge S£ drams Hazard FG powder, 178 ounces 

 soft No. 5 shot. My gun is a 12-gauge, choked to 14 at the 

 muzzle, 30-inch barrels, 8| pounds. Green Wino. 



Freestone, California. 



Mr. H. E. White writes to the Sacramento (Cal.) Bee: 

 "We are really pleased to observe that there is a growing- 

 tendency among American sportsmen to discard the great, 

 lumbering guns that have been and still are so generally in 

 use, tor lighter weights and smaller gauges. Those who are 

 well fixed financially can of course afford to keep two or 

 more guns— say a 10-gauge for wildfowl shooting exclu- 

 sively, and a 12, 16 or 20 gauge for small game. But men 

 of moderate means, who can afford to keep but one gun, and 

 who have to use that one for all kinds of shooting, from 

 doves, quail and snipe to ducks and geese, will find a good 

 12-gauge large enough. The writer has never owned, but 

 has used, guns larger than 12-gauge, and has found the latter 

 abundantly able to hold its own alongside of its bigger 

 brother at all kinds of game; and when it comes to an all- 

 day tramp over the hills in quest of quail, or a heavy tramp 

 through the soft mud of a snipe marsh, these big guns 

 become intolerable burdens. They require heavier charges 

 to do the equal execution with the 12-gauges, and thus in a 

 year's shooting the owner is out considerably on ammuni- 

 tion. For many years past the 12-gauge has been the largest 

 in general use among English sportsmen, the greater num- 

 ber' using even smaller and lighter weapons. Nearly all the 

 big guns made in England are shipped to America, where, 

 up to the present time, they have been in demand. We 

 know that many persons have bought and used heavy, large- 

 gauge guns simply because they have regarded them as the 

 more effective weapons for trap-shooting. But the day of gen- 

 eral pigeon shooting is passing away, as the supply of birds 

 for that purpose is yearly diminishing. The young find such 

 ready sale in the markets that breeders and trappers find it to 

 their advantage to sell the squabs, aud old birds are becoming 

 too high-priced to allow most shooters to indulge in the 

 apoU of trap-shooting. Therefore, the keeping of a heavy 

 gun merely for the purpose of pigeon shooting, is going to 

 be a losing business in the future. In the accounts published 

 of a recent pigeon match at Chicago, we noticed that 12 and 

 16-gaugc guns were used by several persons, and some of the 



best scores made last season about San Francisco were cred- 

 ited to even 20-gauge guns. The late George Gilbert, of this 

 city — than whom few more thorough sportsmen ever lived— 

 always used a little Pape gun weighing but six pounds, and 

 the writer has seen him cut down snipe at full fifty yards 

 with charges of 2 1 drams of powder and less than one ounce 

 of shot. That little gun could, in Gilbert's hands, be relied 

 upon to bring down a duck at from fifty to sixty yards, and 

 this is as much as the average 10-gauge will do. We learn 

 that several Eastern clubs have barred the use of any gun 

 larger than the 12-bore in their matches, and we believe that 

 several Chicago clubs have done, or are thinking of doing, 

 the same thing. There is already one club in California that 

 does not permit the use of anything larger than a 12-gauge — 

 that at Folsom, in this county. Some of the American gun- 

 makers, noting the tendency toward smaller and lighter guns, 

 are preparing to meet the demand for the latter, and one 

 company, the Parker, especially, is encouraging that ten- 

 dency by turning out guns adapted to the new order of 

 things. The change from heavy to light guns must neces- 

 sarily be gradual, as those who have the former cannot afford 

 to sacrifice them ; but we apprehend that most of the new 

 guns purchased in the future will be of the lighter kind." 



at the close of Mr. Van Dyke's letter are drawn. He only 

 tells half the story, however. 



Let me tell it all and I think I cau do so most clearly bv 

 the use of another table showing the performance of each 

 gun at 150 yards. In this table the Jeffries gun is the one to 

 which he refers. 



TABLE n. 

 Trajectories calculated for the London Field by Mai. IBcOUntocKfor 



150 yards range, to which I have added trajectories for 200 yards. 

 150 YARDS. 



Holland .60-188-444.,., 

 Jeffries .50-188-343 





89. 00 

 41.84 



u 



Jt 



&9* 



i I* 



: 3d 



1939 1784 1388 

 1490 I 194G 1402* 



0.387 

 0.273 



8.977 



3.011 



THE CHOICE OF HUNTING RIFLES. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The article by Mr. T. S. Van Dyke, which has been run- 

 ning through your last three numbers, contains much with 

 which 1 can heartily concur, especially his advocacy of a 

 decent powder charge, and his contempt for "the unmanly 

 fear of a little recoil." 



But I must take exception to his closiug paragraph, which, 

 I think, is certainly calculated to mislead the superficial 

 reader. He says: "There is but one possible way to give a 

 ball weight without cutting down the velocity and that is by 

 widening it." 



Now, if he had said "initial velocity," thiswould have 

 been all right. But as I have before pointed out, that grand 

 desideratum, a flat trajectory, depends on a high mean 

 velocity, and only incidentally on a high initial velocity, 

 which of itself is very apt to be delusive, as a high mean 

 velocity is by no means certain to result from a high initial 

 velocity. 



The mean velocity is in a great measure dependent ou the 

 ability of the projectile to overcome the atmospheric resist- 

 ance." Now the atmospheric resistance due to the form of 

 the projectile may be represented by the expression d 2 in 



ID 



which d is the diameter of the projectile and ic in its weight. 



As Mr. Van Dyke proposes to increase the weight by 

 increasing the diameter, it will be seen that nothing is gained, 

 as one increases in the same ratio as the other. 



The atmospheric resistance can only be diminished in one 

 of two ways: Either by decreasing the caliber, the weight re- 

 maining constant ; or by increasing the weight, the caliber 

 remaining unchanged. That is by increasing the length in 

 either case. 



This increase of length is attended with a decrease of 

 initial velocity, but up to a certain point with an increase of 

 mean velocity, while the steadiness of flight and penetration 

 are always improved. The longer the range th_heavier will 

 be the bullet that will give the flattest trajectory, and this is 

 more marked at extreme ranges than at moderate ones. 



Thus in the instructive long-range experiments made by 

 Oapt. Greer at Sandy Hook in 1879, a 500-grain bullet 

 with an initial velocity of 1,220 f. s. was thrown 2,500 yards 

 with a mean velocity of 663 f. s., while the service 405-grain 

 bullet with an initial velocity of 1,326 f. s. gave a mean 

 velocity of but 423 f. s. The 500-grain bullet was thrown 

 3,650 yards, while the extreme range obtainable from the 

 service bullet was 2,950 yards. 



I know that this long-range work has no direct bearing 

 on the hunting rifle, but I wish to show that a bullet that 

 will give the flattest curve at one range will give a higher 

 eurve than a heavier bullet at a longer range. 



Having fixed the range at which we wish to obtain the 

 flattest trajectory, it is simply a matter of calculation as to 

 what weight of bullet will give the best results with a fixed 

 caliber. 



To illustrate — As I shall have occasion to refer to this gun 

 further on, let us suppose that we have fixed on a .50-caliber 

 rifle with a .powder charge of five drams or 138 grains. On 

 this assumption I have calculated the weights and other data 

 of the bullets giving the flattest trajectory at the respective 



Holland. 

 Jeffries . . 





1577 

 1178 



1T84 

 1940 



1265 

 1245 



0.403 

 0.890 



7.530 

 7,428 



The results are shown in the following table in which the 

 weights of the bullets are given to the nearest 10 grains. It 

 may be well to add that if we increase the powder charge, 

 the' weight of the bullet corresponding to the flattest curve 

 will also be increased, but not in the same ratio. 







TABLE I. 









Weight of 

 bullet, 

 grains. 



Time of 

 flight, sec. 



Initial 



Telocity, 



f. s. 



Remaining velocity. 



Range, 

 Yards. 



At end of 

 range. 



At 400yds. 



100 

 200 

 300 

 400 



320* 

 350 

 390 



130 



0.171 

 0.388 

 0.017 

 0.947 



1989 

 1931 



18S5 

 1803 



1503 

 1249 



1075 

 981 



928 

 911 

 903 

 981 



The last column is added to show what the remaining 

 velocity would be in each case, if the flight were continued 

 up to 400 yards, and is only given for the sake of compari- 

 son. 



By common consent 200 yards seems to be the range fixed 

 upon for which the flattest trajectory is required. 



Therefore, if the flattest trajectory were the only object to 

 be gained we would accept the 350-grain bullet as being the 

 most effective. 



But there are other conditions to be fulfilled even more im- 

 portant than a fiat curve. These are : 



First — Accuracy. 



Second — Energy. 



Both of these conditions are obtained by the same means 

 i. e., by increasing the weight of the projectile. Thus we 

 are obliged to sacrifice trajectory to a certain extent depend- 

 ent on the use to which the rifle' is to be put, the extremes 

 being the hunting rifle shooting the round ball, and the 

 long-range rifle shooting an elongated projectile of from 3 to 

 4 calibers in length. 



The conflicting claims of accuracy and energy on the one 

 hand and a flat trajectory on the other are well shown in the 

 London Field trials of express rifles, from which the statistics 



*I make this only 1387 f . s., this would alter the table slightly to the 

 disadvantage of the Jeffries gun. 



A comparison of these restdts will show that Jeffries sacri- 

 fices everything to a flat trajectory, with the result that he. 

 was badly beaten in the prime essentials — accuracy and 

 energy — while the gain in flatness of curve was considerably 

 less than the diameter of the bullet. 



K the range were much increased, the flight of the light 

 bullet would be so wild as to be utterly valueless (if, indeed, 

 it is not so already), while the 444-grain bullet should do 

 fair work up to 400 yards. 



These results emphasize my previous statement : that the 

 most successful gun is not the one that will give the highest 

 initial velocity, or even the flattest trajectory. 

 ' I see that I omitted to state in my last letter that if the 

 .45-caliber gun is properly chambered for the 2.6-inch shell, 

 the short cartridge can still be used with perfect success. 



James Dtjane. 



Feb. 16, 1884. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Some little time ago I suggested to Mr. Duane — who has 

 devoted considerable time to experimenting with rifles to 

 test the flatness of their trajectory — that difference in fric- 

 tion of the bullet might be Ihe cause of a certain bullet mak- 

 ing an extra flat curve. He answered with the theory that 

 increased friction would give a bullet higher speed, as it 

 would move slower through the barrel and give the powder 

 more time for thorough combustion, thus giving greater 

 force to the bullet. That greater force would be evolved 

 from a certain charge of powder by increasing the friction 

 on the bullet, there is little doubt, but it would take more 

 force to drive the tighter bullet from the rifle at the same 

 speed as the one with less friction would go, thus giving no 

 advantage from the tight bullet, even granting that extra 

 force enough would be gained to give the same speed. I 

 contend that an increase of thirty pounds of friction on a 

 bullet (and I have seen cases where it was nearer fifty 

 pounds) will lessen the speed of the bullet as much as 100 

 grains of lead added to its weight, and to get the best results 

 one needs to be as careful of the fit of the bullet as he would 

 of the powder charge. Rifles of the same caliber vary con- 

 siderably in the size of bore and depth of rifling, and 

 patched bullets are made with thin, medium, and thick 

 patches, thus you can get the same weight of bullet of three 

 different sizes' 1 have found them to vary about .002 of an 

 inch in diameter from each other, the thin patched bullet 

 you can easily push through the barrel with a wiping rod, 

 medium takes considerable force, and with the thick patch 

 you cannot push it through without using other means than 

 a wiping rod in your hands. 



My experience teaches me to give more elevation when 

 using thicker patched bullets than I find sufficient for reach- 

 ing the target when shooting a bullet that will just take the 

 rifling. The proper thickness of patch to use is one that 

 will make your bullet fill the bore of the rifle, and the 

 powder will expand the bullet sufficient to fill the grooves. 

 I am speaking altogether of the hollow -butt, paper-patched 

 bullet for breechloaders. 



Had 1 the opportunity, should take pleasure in testing the 

 three different patches in a rifle of proper size bore to use 

 the thin patched bullet and report the results; by using the 

 screens a very satisfactory test could be given them. 



The proper hunting bullet, to my mind, is one equal to about 

 2£ round bullets of same caliber, say for a .40-caliber a bul- 

 let £ of an inch long, with the forward end the same shape 

 as a round ball, same caliber; this would give about 225 

 grains, varyiug according to shape of the butt, aud the 

 amount of tin used, this bullet would be plenty heavy enough 

 for all hunting distances to give accuracy; the shape of for- 

 ward end would give greatest shock possible for its caliber, 

 and almost any penetration desired could be obtained by 

 hardening the bullet and using plenty of powder. Of course 

 if the bullet was hardened much more than 1 part tin to 19 

 lead, the bullet would need to be enough larger at the butt 

 to nearly fill the grooves without depending on the effect of 

 explosion of the powder to expand it. This bullet would, I 

 think, give greater satisfaction for hunting purposes than 

 any to be found in the market to-day of as. small caliber. 

 With a 1-16 of an inch hole in the tip it would become an 

 expanding bullet. A. B. Dodge. 



Editor Forest and Str>am: 



I have been much interested in the .40-90 hunting rifle 

 articles which have appeared in the Forest and Stream. 

 I think .40 90 will do, but leave that 500-grain bullet out for 

 me; that belongs with the long-range rifle. Do not use too- 

 much lead in the hunting rifle. Use a heavy charge of smart 

 powder, and harden the bullet to suit the powder. Bullets 

 of the same hardness will not suit all kinds of powder 

 charges, both slow and quick, light and heavy. Have some 

 standard charge and grade of powder and bullet, and don't 

 vary from it. ' If it works well to-day, it will to-morrow, 

 and so on. Mark your sights for the different distances 

 plain; don't scratch 'it on with a pin; you never can find it in 

 a hurry. Have a system for every part, then follow it, and' 

 you will be rewarded. 



What is a rifle good for if il has not power, and a large 

 amount of it? Who wants the bow and arrow to hunt with 

 in these days of electricity ? Give us a short, light, rifle, 



