1.86 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[April 3, 1884 



ferenl guns, the only fair and equitable basis upon which we 

 can act, in order to obtain any definite result, is to fire the 

 guns respectively under the same conditions identically as to 

 distance, size of target, weight and caliber of gun, quantity 

 and quality of charge, and method of loading. Range, dis- 

 tribution and penetration can then be all or severally com- 

 pared upon a basis of equality. To alter the conditions, for 

 instance, to shoot a 4-gauge duck gun, against a light 12- 

 gauge fowling piece, even should all other conditions be 

 equal, would necessitate an allowance in favor of the lighter 

 gun by reason of the enormous extra weight, caliber and 

 charge of the larger gun. 



I maintain, is the only way in which a just com- 

 parison can be made. The testimony of those who have at 

 one time or other made what they consider an extraordinar 



n 



shot, or who own some wonder of a gun, is irrelevant; it 

 affords no basis for a comparison; under these latter circum- 

 stances you can scarcely compare successive shots with the 

 same gun with any certainty; probably not a man who has 

 handled a gun but has made some such shots; 1 could relate 

 several I have made ; they are abnormal, out of the usual 

 order of things; the man may fire in mere wantonness, the 

 excitement of the moment, or probably despairing of obtain- 

 ing any other or better chance, for instance, at a flock of 

 wild geese at a great distance, he fortunately bags one, paces 

 off the distance perhaps, finds he has killed it at 100 paces or 

 more, in ecstacy at his totally unexpected success he sets his 



fin down as a 100-yard gun, and good for that all the time, 

 he probability is that same gun, charged in the same way 

 and well held on the game, might be fired 100 rounds at the 

 same distance and not bag another bird. 



There is a limit, an average killing distance, at which we 

 may expect certain results; make comparisons at that range, 

 if the gun performs well at that, all well; you then have 

 just as good chance for making an extraordinary long or 

 good shot as any man with any gun whatsoever. I take it 

 as an indisputable fact, proved by the long experience of 

 every man who shoots a shotgun, of whatsoever style or 

 make, that if the guu performs well and is a good strong 

 shooter at the average range or distance, it will prove a good 

 performer at even greater or less distances, with charges 

 altered to suit the designs to be accomplished, provided you 

 do no material violence to the proper proportions suitable 

 therefor. Our best shots and most successful sportsmen 

 frequently are nen of one gun. 



I cannot altogether agree with the views expressed by 

 many that slight inaccuracies or deficienc ; es in loading are 

 responsible for failure in performance. That such errors 

 will and do affect the shooting to a limited extent 1 admit, 

 but they will not .produce a complete failure at both target 

 and game. 



Let us call up the old muzzleloader again at the risk of 

 being charged with prejudice. I merely do so to institute a 

 comparison. For several years I usedi a muzzleloader, 10- 

 gauge, 30-inch laminated barrels, weight about 8f pounds. 

 I have used it on the Delaware marshes shooting rail and 

 reed birds, charging with barely an ounce of No. 8 or 9 shot, 

 same measure or bulk (not weight) of Dupont's No. 2 duck 

 powder. Did you run out of cut wads, utilize the old 

 newspaper that chanced to be in your pocket. Under such 

 circumstances I never could discover any very material det- 

 riment to the shooting. 1 shot away and bagged my game 

 as' usual. 1 used the same gun for upland shooting of all 

 kinds; in wild duck shooting on the Sassafras and Elk rivers, 



loading it on such occasions to its full powers, with 1-J ounces 

 No. 4 shot and 4 drams powder. If using a wire cartridge 

 for' long shots, I put in every grain of powder the gun would 

 comfortably bear. I used the same gun in West Virginia 

 deer hunting, using a wire cartride charged with buckshot, 

 backed with a heavy charge of powder as above, and have 

 killed over forty deer with it. With such a charge I always 

 considered myself sure of venison, with anything like a fair 

 shot at 60 yards or under, and I have made a few chance 

 shots at greater distances. I never had the least cause to 

 complain of its performance under any of the various cir- 

 cumstances and conditions. I was "right there" all the time, 

 and it was just such a gun as one could tie to. 



Now, I firmly believe, and am satisfied that a good breech- 

 loader will not do as well, but much better, by reason of its 

 many decided advantages. But, as the complaint comes up 

 on all sides of wretched failures as to shooting qualifications, 

 there must evidently be a deeper seated cause than a mere 

 error in loading. My own observations and tests lead me to 

 believe that excessive choke-boring cannot be enumerated as 

 one of the advantages of the breechloader. It is a positive 

 disadvantage when carried to the excess of what is termed a 

 full choke— an abomination. 1 have tested some guns that 

 would gauge 10 at the forward end of the chamber, and 

 scarcely 14 at the muzzle, a difference in diameter or gauge 

 of strong lour sizes, with all of that choke at the muzzle, or 

 within from a hall! to three-quarters of an inch of the muzzle 

 and drawn down or rounded off quite short. This is what 

 1 presume is called a full choke. I am not equal to the task 

 nor shall I make any attempt to use technical terms, nor to 

 describe other systems of choke, etc. Most manufacturers 

 of prominence have their own ideas and systems, and we can 

 afford to take tbeir word for whatever they represent their 

 guns to be ; but the system I have here briefly and crudely 

 described is what will be found in the common run of guns 

 that are called full choke. Guns bored upon this system will, 

 nine times out of ten, prove to be greatly lacking both in 

 force and closeness (the very essentials they are reputed to 

 possess) and no possible method of loading them will remedy 

 this defect where it exists. 



There is a notion prevalent with many that _ chokeboring 

 is a new r idea, introduced and contemporary with the recent 

 general introduction of the breechloader; this is an error, it 

 is simply an old idea in a new dress. In some of its various 

 modified forms it was tested and used years ago. It frequently 

 happened that the muzzleloader shot wildly or scattered its 

 charge too much to be effective; an examination of the bore 

 would sometimes disclose it to be contracted at the breech, not 

 a true cylinder throughout; the boring out of this contracted 

 part, or probably as sometimes done, enlarging it the least ap- 

 preciable degree at the breech, and drawing toward the muz- 

 zle would generally remedy the defect. If the job were over- 

 done, however, the contrary effect was apt to result, an ag- 

 gravation of the defect. This was termed by some gun- 

 smiths draw boring, by others jugboriug, and others may 

 have had other terms expressive of the same idea. 



In tookiug over an old volume of United States Patent 

 Office reports, some thirty years back, my attention was 

 attracted to specifications of a patent issued to an American 

 gunsmith for a system of boring shotgun barrels in a series 

 of sections of their length, alternately large, then smaller in 

 gauge (a succession of chokes and open cylinders as it were), 

 claiming the effect to be, greatly increased force and close- 



ness of distribution. T don't suppose his idea ever reached 

 much beyond the pages of that dusty record. I suppose 

 practically the verdict was. "weighed in the balance and 

 found wanting." So it will be with the full choke, time and 

 a few more practical tests will decide it. 



Upon the recent general introduction of the breechloader, 

 in some inexplicable way. chokeboring systems put on new 

 garments and took front' rank; having long before been de- 

 monstrated that in some cases a small degree of choke im- 

 proved and increased the effectiveness of the gun, the deduc- 

 tion therefrom was easy and natural ; a little being some- 

 times good, more would be better. We at once had full 

 choke on us, assuming the features of a popular furore. The 

 whole thing was comparatively new to the masses. Full 

 choke was heralded as the cardinal virtue of the new breech- 

 loader; if the sportsman had an old cylinder bore that shot 

 ever so well, he must procure a gun of similar size full 

 choked, and the shooting would be doubled in range, force 

 and closeness in every point that goes to make up effective- 

 ness; that seemed to be the popular and almost universal 

 opinion immediately. A general demand sprang up for it at 

 once, many stopping neither to test nor consider. As a con- 

 sequence, many got just a little too much of it. Manufac- 

 turers are not to be growled at for the failures; the public 

 made the demand; they got just what they wanted for their 

 money. Time enough* has elapsed for the ardor manifested 

 in favor of this chimerical notion to have cooled off. 



I have extended this article to much greater length than I 

 intended, and have merely to say, in conclusion, that from 

 the experiments some of my friends and myself have been 

 conducting, my advice to all who have guns that are heavily 

 choked that fail to come up to eren a mediocre performance, 

 have your gunsmith fake out at least aportion of that choke, 

 and you will be astonished at the improvement in the shoot- 

 ing. Backwoods. 



Beverly, W. Va. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The discussion on the performance of shotguns in the 

 columns of Fo rest and Stream will do much toward edu- 

 cating young sportsmen up to the necessity of exercising care 

 and judgment in the selection of a gun. There is everything 

 in the "individual" gun, and more in choosing a gun adapted 

 to the individual. Every sportsman knows what he wants 

 for a gun, and his want is based on his personal experience, 

 and there are very few who have had precisely the same 

 experience. In the last five years I have experimented 

 with at least ten guns of different make, weight and gauge, 

 and as a result have settled down on two" gims. The first 

 for wing shooting is a Buckley hammerless, 10-gauge, 30- 

 inch barrels, weighs 9i pounds* light at the muzzle, broad 

 and heavy at the breech, and though a large gun, handles 

 very light and easy. I load with 4 drams powder, 1£ ounces 

 shot, and use 3 Ely's p. e. wads on powder. I think I can 

 show as good results with 4 drams of powder and three 

 wads, as with 5 drams powder and two wads, and I find no 

 wads equal to Ely's. With above load, using No. 9 shot, 

 this gun patterns with right barrel 487 pellets, and with left 

 barrel 549 pellets in 30-inch circle at 40 yards, very evenly 

 distributed. I have frequently broken glass balls on a stick 

 at 60 yards. I can fire 100 shots without the least inconveni- 

 ence from recoil. This fills my idea of a gun. 



My experience with a 12-gauge gun was very unsatis- 

 factory. The gun made a very good pattern, but 1 had no 

 confidence in it, and therefore no success with it. it was not 



suitable to my size and weight (6 feet, 170 pounds), and 

 length and strength of arm, there wasn't gun enough for the 

 man. I have a friend who is a short, light weight, who 

 does excellent work with a 7-pound 12-gauge, which indi- 

 cates that the gem and gunner must be suited to each other 

 in order to obtain satisfactory results. 



My second gun for all-round shooting is a Baker, three 

 barrel, 10-gauge, 30-inch barrels, and weighs 10 pounds. 

 The rifle takes a .44-40-200 cartridge, is very accurate, has 

 put three bullets in succession in a 6-inch ring at 275 yards, 

 and has killed rabbits at 100 yards; 10 foxes have fallen to 

 the shotgun this winter, one at 75 and one at 80 yards, 

 measured. For buckshot it excels. I load with 5 drams of 

 powder and 21 No. 3 buekshot, and can put 13 into the fore- 

 quarter of a deer at 40 yards, or 5 into an 8-iDch ring at 50 

 yards. Would like the opinion of some old hunters on how 

 to load a buckshot gun for deer. W. J. 



Boston, Mass. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



"California" says that he has not been able to discover the 

 difference between one wad and two over powder. There 

 is a vast difference with my gun, but it is in favor of one 

 wad. I can do much better shooting with one wad over- 

 powder than two. 1 tried one shot without any wad between 

 the powder and shot. I shot it in a board 18 inches square, 

 distance 40 yards, %\ drams powder, 1£ ounces No. 5 shot. 

 There were only 5 shot struck the board, and they only 

 stuck. I would not be afraid to let "California" shoot at 

 me at 50 yards with that kind of a load. I have been trying 

 to get up a bet with some of the boys around here that I can 

 kill two chickens (one year old roosters) out of three, at 70 

 yards, to be shot at separately, with a charge of 3f drams 

 powder and 1£ ounces No. 5 shot, but I cannot get any one 

 to take me up, because they know what my gun will do. I 

 have shot at a sugar barrel head at 80 yards, and put 10 No. 

 5 shot in it. Four of the shot penetrated the wood (sugar 

 pine.) i of an inch, all of them were driven in more than the 

 depth of the shot. My guu is.l2-30-8i; there are no shell 

 chambers in it. I do not think that the chambers are any 

 benefit to any gun; I will shoot my gun against any 12-gauge 

 gun for penetration, "Ogeechee" excepted. I hope this discus- 

 sion may lead to good results. Gkebn Wing. 



Freestone, Cal. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



One thing 1 would insist on in this discussion, and that is 

 accuracy, not mere supposition or guess work, will do when 

 facts are wanted. There are many who give a gun a record 

 because they have been successful with it afield. If you 

 think one gun is much superior to another, the pattern paper 

 and penetration pad will settle it. I have always thought 

 the shell chamber or conduit Iron) it to the barrel or bore 

 proper was in great measure to blame for much bad shoot- 

 ing. My attention was first called to this in a Roper four- 

 shot shotgun, 14-bore, in which a continuous surface (prac- 

 tically) was presented to the load from the time of starting; 

 until it arrived at the terminal choke. This guu astonished 

 several fine muzzleloaders while I was hunting squirrels. I 

 also tested it at the penetration pads and pattern paper, with 

 flattering results, only using 2| drams powder, 1 ounce shot. 

 Another, a Parker gun with good weight of barrels, had 

 been so badly neglected that rust beds had formed to great 



depth. 1 undertook to bore them out. After hard work 

 and long boring I had nothing but a shoulder thickness of 

 metal shell left of former taper from ehamber. I could put 

 in 30-inch circle, 40 yards, No. 8 drop shot (Tatham's), 406 

 pellets, and penetrate five pads of bookbinders' board with 

 3| drams powder and 1 } ounces shot, and to-day the owner 

 of this gun would not part with it for three times its first 

 cost to him. 



Now, if we could get some of our gunsmiths to talk it 

 would be very entertaining, but they fear some other feliow 

 would know just how they do this or that particular part 

 and they let us do the talking, knowing full well we cannot 

 hurt any one. Loading has much to do with good shooting 

 I have never targeted a Colt's or Parker that I did not im- 

 prove upon target record that came with gun. I would like 

 very much to hear from the Pieper "rifled choke," and glad 

 to hear of L. 0. Smith's improvement in shotguns. We 

 want a hammerless at $75.00, well made, good material, 

 safe, and know it will be made before long. Vox 



Mt. Sterling, Ky. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



_ Good pattern and penetration seem to be the desideratum 

 aimed at in selecting shotguns. I have used a great many 

 pounds of ammunition experimenting within the last thirty 

 years, and now for the first time to record the results, 



I have owned guns with light muzzles, and nry experience 

 with them is this: The moment you commence to us:e any- 

 thing more than a small or medium charge of powder, such 

 guns will not make good patterns, and will sometimes swell 

 or become larger at the muzzle, and thus become useless. A 

 prominent American gunmaker, when asked why he did not 

 make guns with heavier muzzles, said it was ' because he 

 could not sell them, "the trade calls for light muzzles." At 

 another time, when a gun was being examined with a view 

 to purchase, the question was asked, "Can you choke that 

 gun so as to make it a close shooter?" The answer was, "No, 

 because there is not strength enough in the muzzle," 



At the present time I own a chokebored 12-gauge, 28-inch 

 breechloading shotgun, weighing 8i pounds, with heavy 

 muzzle, which will make a much better pattern with 4 drams of 

 powder than it will with 3 or 3£ drams. I also own a 12-gauge, 

 36-inch, chokebored, 10-pound, breechloading shotgun, with 

 heavy muzzle, which will make a better pattern with 5f 

 drams of powder, than it will with a smaller charge. I have 

 the best success with paper shells, and for 4 drams of powder 

 or less I use one pink-edged, No. 11, wad on the powder, and 

 when the charge is increased much above 4 drams, two pink- 

 edged wads; because heavy charges of powder will tear one 

 wad in pieces, and the pattern will be anything but good. 



When guns group their shot and leave bare places on the 

 target, 1 have always found that the shot used were of ex- 

 actly uniform size, and fit the bore of the gun in such a 

 manner as to have the shot in each \nycv in the charge fit in. 

 the interstices of the layer beneath it. The difficulty can lie 

 easily remedied by mixing two or more sizes of shot. 



Pop-Gun. 



Tyngsborouoh, Mass. 



UTAH FISH AND GAME LAW. 



THE following bill was passed March 8, 1884, by the 

 Legislature of Utah Territory ; 



Section 1. Be it exacted by the Governor and Legislative Assembly 

 of the Territory of Utah , tbat every person who, between the fifteenth 

 day of Mareh and the fifteenth day of August, in each year, wilfully 

 takes, kills, destroys, or offers for sale quail, partridges, or grouse 

 or who between the fifteenth day of April ami the fifteenth day of 

 September, in each year, wilfully takes, kills, destroys, or offers for 

 sale any kind of wild ducks, or who shall at any time rob the nest of 

 the above mentioned birds; or who shall kill any icild duck between 

 one hour after sunset and one hour before sunrise; or who shall kill 

 any quail or any imported game birds or their progeny for three 

 years next ensuing the passage of this act, shall be guilty of a mis- 

 demeanor. 



Sec. 2. Every person who, between the first day of December of 

 each year and the first day of the BeptemVer following, takes, kills, 

 or destroys any elk, deer, mountain sheep or antelope, or who shall 

 at any time kill any of the above animals for their skins, is guilty of 

 a misdemeanor: Provided, that persons camping in the mountains 

 may, during the months of July Snd August, kill sufficient of the 

 males of the above animals to furnish themselves food u liile s« 

 camping. 



Sec. 3. Every person who buys, sells, or has in his possession any 

 of the game enumerated in the two preceding sections, taken or killed 

 within the time during which the taking or killing thereof is pro- 

 hibited, except such as are tamed or kept for show or curiosity; and 

 every person who buys, sells, or offers for sale the skin of any animal, 

 the killing of which is herein prohibited, is guilty of a misdemeanor. 



Sec. 4. Every person who at anytime takes or* kit Is any fish, except 

 with hook aiul line, or with seine, as hereinafter provided, or mho 

 shall catch or kill any trout in any tray between the fifteenth day of 

 March audi he fifteenth day of June of each yea, , is guilty Of a I tfs- 

 demeanor. Provided, that seines not more than 200 yards long and 

 twelve feet wide, with meshes not less than one and a half :.c 

 square for fifty yar is in the center, and meshes not lei 

 inches square in" the wings or ends thereof, may be used in Green 

 Eiver, and Bear and Utah Lakes only, between the first day of 

 October of each year and the first day of June following. Provided, 

 further, that nothing in this act shall be so const rued as to prt 

 'any person from taking fish from the public waters of the Territory* 

 for the purpose of stocking private fish ponds, or to prohibit any 

 person from managing and controlling his private pond or taking 

 fish therefrom. 



Sec. 5. Every person who at any time catches or kills any fish with 

 set line or line's is guilty of a misdemeanor. 



Sec 6. Every person who puts into the waters of this Territory any 

 poisonous or explosive, substance or anything that is injurious to 

 fish, or rfiat renders the water unfit for household purposes, is guilty 

 of a misdemeanor. 



Sec. 7. Every person who at any time fakes any Jisii from any 

 private fish pond or stream, without the consent of the on iter, is 

 'guilty o'f a, misdemeanor, 



Sec. 8 Every person, corporation or association Who snail 

 Struct or continue to keep any dam across any of the Streams 01 this 

 Territory in which fish migrate in such a manner us to hinder Or 

 obstruct the migration of fish to or from their spawning grounds 



withouVproviding a fish way and keeping it in repair, as provided in 

 the following section, is guilty of a misdemeanor. 



Sec 9 The fish way for the passage of fish m large streams of 

 water, mentioned in the preceding section, must be made m the form 

 of a box, open at each end, not less than four feet wide and three 

 feet high, and of plank not less than two inches thick; and it must 

 be fastened in the water at the top of the dam, and the lower end 

 must extend to and be fastened in the pool below the dam at any 

 angle not exceeding 35°. Inside this box, fastened at the bottom and 

 at one end to the Side of Ihe box, there must be pieces of plank four 

 feet apart, placed transversely so as to cause a riffle not less than ten 

 inches high. These pieces of plank must be thirty inches long, and 

 so fastened as to be at right angles with the sides of the box, alter- 

 nately fastened. one at one side the other at the other side ot the box. 

 Whenever the stream is small, the County Court of the. county in 

 which the dam is, oris to be constructed, may permit the box to be 

 of less dimensions. 



Sec. 10. That any person, corporation or association who lias taken 

 Or may hereafter take out the wafers of any stream or lakes iu this 

 Territory that contains fish, shall be required to place across the 

 head of "such canal or ditch a grating of horizontal bars not more 

 than one inch apart, sufficiently secured o" the sides, to pre 

 from escaping into said canal or ditch. Failing to comply with the 

 provisions of this section is a misdemeanor. 



Sec. 11. The provisions of this act apply to Indians who 

 for their skins. 



' Sec. 13. ATI former laws for the protection of fish and game are 

 hereby repeaied. 

 The alterations and additions arc printed [fl 



