Nov. o, 1885.1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



298 



of squiiTel liunters who would like to know just what their 

 favorite rifle is capable of doing. The test grew in this way 

 to be a tournament, and from a few hours' work on the 

 range, which it was at first anticipated would complete the 

 outdoor part of the trial, a full fortnight of hard work from 

 daylight to dark was taken up. We have no regrets now 

 that the problem grew to such wholesale dimensions. We 

 would rather congratulate the riflemen of America and of 

 the world that they have such a choice of desirable weapons. 



Of course, a test of this sort is not alone of rifles ; it is 

 rather of ammunition. The first question put, and especially 

 from the rifle makers, was, "What ammunition do you pro- 

 pose to use?" This was very readily answered. As we 

 wished to take the ordinary commerciU rifle from the arm- 

 maker's on the one hand, it was only natural that we should 

 take the factory ammunition to use in such rifle. We know 

 that there is a feeling against factory ammunition, and that 

 the terra is used as synonymous with unreliability. This 

 should not be so, and in great measure it is a fiction — a con- 

 venient one, perhaps, to account for bad scores, but one 

 which we believe exists rather in the imagination than in 

 fact. We did not intend the trial to cover the lines of fire of 

 certain arms loaded in a special manner; rather the demand 

 was for a stock rifle such as the average purchaser gets in 

 response to an order sent to the factory, and with this to use 

 the cartridge advertised for it, recommended by the seller 

 and maker of the rifle and procurable by that same average 

 purchaser through an order on any one of the cartridge com- 

 panies. Such a test would interest the multitude of marks- 

 men; any other would be perhaps a more or less valuable 

 contribution to the science of rifle-shooting, but rather the- 

 oretical than practical. 



To test the matter thoroughly it was but fair that the 

 figures of the trajectory heights should be given in con- 

 nection with the figures of weight, etc., discovered by a dis- 

 section of the cartridge. This has been done, and to guard 

 against drawing a general conclusion from too limited a 

 premise, the average of three cartridges will be shown, just 

 as on the screens the average of five shots was secured. 



How to secure the rifles for the test was a question care- 

 fully considered. One plan was to have them sent on trial 

 as to a prospective purchaser, and in this way secure a 

 weapon fair to the maker and on the other hand prevent the 

 placing upon trial of a special arm, perhaps carefully selected 

 from a large number or made up for the purposes of the test. 

 This might have been a satisfactory method so far as results 

 were concerned of getting together the collection of arms 

 used, but would have been very complicated. There is no 

 reason to beUeve that the rifle makers have any fear of fair 

 competition, and the alacrity with which they came forward 

 and proffered arms for the trial showed that they had no 

 apprehensions as to the result of such an impartial trial as 

 the Forest and Stkeam proposed to carry out. It was 

 finally concluded to invite the makers to send arms, and on 

 Sept. 17 the following note was sent: 

 "In making the trajectory tests of hunting rifies, which have been 



annoimced m our cohimns, we wisli to include the rifle. The 



main test will be over the 300yds range from a fixed rest through ac- 

 curately placed screens. We should panicula ly like to have from 

 the rifles in stock at your works the rifle you would most strongly 

 recommend for all-round hunting purposes. All express and other 

 charges to be paid by us, etc." 



This invitation to participate was sent to the principal rifle 

 companies making the following arms: Remington, and 

 Remington-Hepburn, Whitney, Marlin and Ballard, Buliard, 

 Colt, Winchester, Maynard, Wesson, Stevens, and Bay State. 

 The responses came in promptly, and showed on the part of 

 the makers a hearty concurrence in the views and endeavors 

 of this journal. The Whitney Arms Company said : "We will 

 be glad to loan you a rifle for the purpose mentioned. We 

 take it that you want a magazine rifle and we propose to 

 send you to-morrow from our regular stock one of our .40- 

 60 Kennedys, which takes the regular center-fire W. 

 cartridge. All things being equal we have no fears but that 

 the Kennedy will rank with the best." The Winchester Re- 

 peating Arms Company said: "We have no choice in the 

 matter of guns which we should like to have tested. Please 

 examine our catalogue sent with this, choose such as you 

 would like to try, and we will send them to you at once." 



Laniberson, Furman & Co., agents for E. Remington & 

 Sons, answered, "We will refer your favor to the factory 

 and endeavor to meet your views in the matter." 



The Colt Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Co., of Hart- 

 ford, replied: ' 'Would say that our .44 and .38-caliber sport- 

 ing rifles use the same cartridge as the Winchester, Kennedy 

 and other rifles of similar caliber, therefore the trajectory of 

 these rifles would be substantially the same. For our .33- 

 caliber rifle we have a special ammunition made by the 

 Union Metallic Cartridge Co., which we believe makes its 

 shooting qualities superior to any in the market using so 

 light a charge. We would be pleased to enter one of these 

 for the purpose indicated in your letter." 



The Buliard Repeating Arms Co. said: "We should be 

 pleased to avail ourselves of your ofler to include our rifle in 

 your trajectory test which you are about to make. We are 

 willing for our rifles to be thoroughly tested and do not hes- 

 itate to send a full line." 



The Marlin Fire Arms Co. responding said: "We should 

 like to have you inform us whether you also want us to fur- 

 nish the ammunition for testing the rifles or whether you in- 

 tend to procm-e it yourselves and if so whose make it is to 

 be. In addition to the Marlin we should like to submit a 



few Ballard rifles, which, as you probably know, are also 

 very extensively used for hunting." 



J. Stevens & Co. at first found it impossible to send rifles 

 for the test, but later, after arrangements had been made 

 to secure this rifle elsewhere, a full line of Stevens rifles were 

 sent and were tested. 



The Bay State Rifle Company wrote; "We use regular 

 factory ammunition for our rifles, and do not think they are 

 what you require for trajectory tests." No further concern 

 was taken with these arras. 



Mr. F. Wesson was away from liome at the time of tlie 

 letter writing, and in order that the rifle might not be omit- 

 ted entirely from the tests, one was procured from the exten- 

 sive stock of Henry C. Squires, 178 Broadway, through the 

 courtesy of that dealer, and placed in the trial. 



The Massachusetts Arms Company put in one of the May- 

 nard rifles, saying in their note accompanying the package: 

 "Our experience is that the flattest trajectory rifles are not 

 the closest shooters, but that a good deal of accuracy is sac- 

 rificed for flat trajectory. " 



From Thos. Bland & Sons, of 106 Strand, London, makers 

 of the well-known Bland rifle, came a note saying: "We 

 are indebted to Major W. H. Merrill for information that the 

 proprietors of Forest and Strb,\m intend instituting a trial 

 of rifles. AVe wish to enter the list and have given Major 

 Merrill to understand our wishes. Major Merrill will make 

 all arrangements for our entry." In accordance with this a 

 double-barreled express rifle, the same used in the trials of 

 the London Field and which provoked so much discussion in 

 Great Britain, was placed at the disposal of our experts. 



In addition a Shai-ps hunting rifle, carrying the Govern- 

 ment 405 grain bullet cartridge, was placed in the test, and 

 for comparison a State Model Remington of .50-caliber and 

 a regulation three-groove Springfield rifle using the 500- 

 grain bullet was placed on the trial rack. This completed 

 the list of breechloaders, somewhat extended bej'-ond our 

 original plan of a test confined to hunting rifles, but not to 

 any great extent. There were a pair of muzzleloaders, one 

 the property of Major Merrill, tested at 100 yards only, while 

 the other was brought and tried by G. T. Romer, of Peeks- 

 kill, the shooting associate of Major Merrill in many of his 

 trajectory and other rifls tests. This rifle was tried only at 

 200 yards. Each of the two last named weapons were of 

 the heavy, magnifying-sight order, and with heavy charges 

 maintained a high degree of accuracy. The full list of rifles 

 in the test was as follows: 



1. Marlin 45 



3. MARLm,....,. 40-70 



Marlin....- 38-55 



Marlin .32-40 



Ballard , 40-85 



Ballard 40-70 



Remington 40-65 



Remington 88-50 



Remington 32-40 



Remington .32 R. F. 



Remington 50 N. Y. State Model. 



Winchester 50 Express. 



Winchester 4.5-75 



Winchester 40-60 



Winchester 22 Long. 



Bullard 50 Express 



BULLARD 45 



Bullard 40-70 



Bullard :38 



Bullard .33 



Whitney 50 Express 



Whitney 40-60 



Stevens 38 C. F. 



Stevens 82 R. P. 



Stevens Hunter's Pet, C. P. 



Stevens 22 



Maynard 40-70 



Wesson 44 



Colt 82 



Springfield 45 Govt. 



Sharps 45 Govt. 



Bland 45 Express 



Merrill Muzzleloader 



Romer Muzzleloader 



Except in the ease of the muzzleloaders and the Maynard, 

 the ammunition was procured entirely apart from the rifle 

 maker. In not a few cases, boxes of cartridges were shipped 

 with the rifles, but in each instance this ammunition was 

 laid aside, and at the tests only such was used as had been 

 purchased over the counters of one or another of the gun 

 shops of this city. 



[to be CONTtNDED.] 



A FAIR TARGET.— South Haven, mah.— mUor Forest and 

 Stream: I herewith send you a copy of 20 ■successive shots at 50yds. 

 with rest, done with a S6in. .23 cal. cenfcer-flre Maynard rifle, witliout 

 wipim; or cleaning, using lOgrs. of Hazard FFG powder and a 45gr. 

 naked bullei, such as are now made by the U M. O. Co, f r this 

 special rifle. The shooting was done at the center of a white target 

 Sin. square, with globe sights and a pair of eyes fifty years old, in a 



gale of wind, and did not occupy more than 10 orl2 minutes time. 

 It will be observed that 14 out of the 20 shots hit an inch ring and all 

 struck the .size of a silver dollar. The string of the 20 shots is 1034in 

 not a very wonderful rerformauce to be sure, compared to strings 

 that have heretofore been made with both the breech and muzzle- 

 loaders at the same distance, but is just a sample of what can be 

 daily done witn small calibers and naked bullets and that too with- 

 out the exacting nuisance of wiping after each shot.— H. M. Avjsry. 



WORCESTER, Mass., Oct. 27.— The annual target shoot of the Wor 

 cester Light Infantry, Co. C, 2d Regiment, M. V. M.. was to-rlay • 25 

 members tried their skill as marksmen. The shooting was off-hand 

 distance 200yds. Among the scores were the following- 



AC White <4154— 21 F W Hopkins ..." .33434-17 



R A Moran 54444—21 R W Mathews 324.32—14 



H A Marvin 45.344—20 Lieut J E Lancarte 04323—12 



CaptE A Harris 43444-19 



TUe first prize was awarded to Private White, his score showing im- 

 provement. 



Oct. 28. -A team consisting of members of the Worcester City 

 Oiiards, Co. A, Second Regimen*-., went to SpringfiHld to-diy for a 

 friendly shoot. At the recent State Militiamen's VTatch they were 

 tied winh the Peabody Guards, of Springfield. Co. G, Second Regi- 

 ment. The result of the shoot was au engraving presented by J D 

 Gi'l, of Springfield, and was received by Worcester. Tbe scores 

 were: 



Co. A, of Worcester. 



Lieut Early .58484.54-28 



Sergt Cleveland 2;«32 1;^-32 



Corp Tisdell 03.5:^ H4-93 



Pvt Jefferson 434 :^4:^— 25 



Pvt Johnson 02.5.5434-23 



Sergt Bradley 404 1444—24 



Pvt Bellon3 .3341485-24 



169 



Co. G, of Springfield. 



Lieut Leonard 8304404- ],H 



Sprgt Adams 4414 i4i -2H 



Corp Steam 5344334-26 



Pvt Hooker 24-313 12 -22 



PvtOavanaugh 4202433—17 



PvtPerlcins 5434333—23 



Pvt Bumstead 345.3444— 27 



161 



GARDNER, Mass., Oct. 28.— At the last regular meet of members 

 of the Gardner Rifle Club more than the usual number Wf-re present 

 The meet wa« at Hackmatack range. The inch ring target was used' 

 with a possible score of 120 in 10 shots. The resuUs of the two strings 

 were as follows: 



8. 



4. 



5. 



6. 



7. 



8. 



9. 

 10. 

 11. 

 12. 

 13. 

 14. 

 15. 

 16. 

 17. 

 18. 

 19. 

 20. 

 21. 

 22. 

 23. 

 24. 

 25. 

 26. 



29. 

 30. 

 81. 

 82. 

 83. 

 34. 



G F Ells worth 101 



A Mathews 83 



GH Hey wood 85 



W C Loveland 88 



LS Walker 78 



.lames Newton 80 



100 -201 

 03-178 

 84-1 b9 

 67—155 

 78-154 

 71-151 



George Warfleld 77 



H Vincpnt 47 



C J. r-rabi ree 42 



PN Edgell 51 



W Austin (at rest). . . 100 



63-130 

 £0— 97 

 35— 77 



RANGE AND GALLERY. 



BRIDGEPORT. Oct. 28.-Ttie Empire Rifle Club, of Thomaston, 

 Ct., were the guests of the Bridgeport Club aod engaged in a friendly 

 contest with the rifle at tbeir rauge. After the shoot, the score of 

 which is given below, the vi'iitors were given the finest style of shore 

 dinner, and carried away pleasant memories of Readmore Range: 

 Bridgeports. 



D E Marsh 10 12 12 8 12 11 11 9 10 10 10 11 11 11 8—156 



W H Beardsley.. 8 7 11 9 8 11 9 10 10 11 11 7 10 11 11—144 

 Ed "l*^ ^ 9 ^1 ^ r 11 12 8 H 12 10 8-142 



E Nothnagle 6 10 11 10 11 10 8 10 10 9 9 10 10 10 5-139 



G E Betts 7 8 10 12 9 7 9 8 8 11 9 9 10 7 11-135 



R S Bassett 7 11 10 9 10 11 9 7 8 9 9 6 10 9 9-134 



PM Beers 5 8 11 11 10 8 12 10 6 7 12 10 12 7 5-133 



G B Botsford 7 8 6 11 3 3 10 8 8 10 11 7 10 9 7-118—1101 



^ ^ ^ „ , , Empire Club, of Thomaston. 



GC Oanfield 11 10 10 11 7 10 10 10 12 12 11 10 12 8 10-154 



G Gilbert 11 9 10 10 9 10 11 10 10 11 9 9 10 10 10— li9 



E Thomas 9 8 8 8 12 11 10 11 12 9 11 9 10 8 11-147 



G ALemmon....l0 11 7 10 13 8 18 7 11 11 11 11 8 9 9—147 



W H Dunbar 8 8 11 10 12 9 7 10 9 10 11 10 10 7 11-143 



FA Perkins 12 Oil 9 8 11 12 10 10 6 11 9 9 10—143 



GP North 10 10 8 6 9 10 10 8 9 10 7 10 10 6 10-133 



C F Williams 4 11 7 10 8 6 3 9 11 8 5 10 8 10 6—131—1137 



THE NEW BRITISH ARMY KIFLE.-"The results of the labors of 

 the committee appointed to provide a new and improveri rifle for the 

 array, which have just been published," says the Loiadon Post 

 ".-liow that the future weapon of the British army will, as regards 

 most considerations, be far in advauce of the service arm of any 

 other nation. In the new weapon the Martini breech act-on has been 

 retained, the alterations being in the barrel and the weight of The 

 projectile, the combination being called the Marlini-Enfield. Taking 

 the Martmi-Henry as a standard of comparison, the diameter of the 

 bore has been reduced from .45in. to .40in., tbe weight of tbe new 

 bullet being .384 grains, as compared with the 480 grain tiullet of the 

 old rifle. The powder charge, however, of S5 grains, remains the 

 same, with the important result that the mw.zle velocity of the 

 bullet is increased from 1,315ft. pt-r second to 1.570fi. . thus lowering the 

 trajectory to such an extent that while the Manmi-Henry bullet in 

 traveling 500yds. rises more than 8i.^ft. above the line of sight, the 

 improved projectile would scarcely go over the head of an infantry 

 man if fired from the ground level. This is a most important con- 

 sideration, as it minimizes any er ors in elevations which might arise 

 either from excitement or miscalculation. The system of grooving 

 adopted is the ratchet, the number of grooves being nine, as against 

 tbe seven of tbe Martini-Henrv, although the later is the largest 

 number employed in any military rifle in tbe world, while the twist 

 of the bullet has been increased from one turn in 22in. to one turn in 

 15in., the latter being again in excess of anything which has yet 

 been used for service purposes. In addi'ion to ihe important reduc- 

 tion in the height of the trajectory, the higher velocity of the bullet 

 and the improved rifling have shown remarkablj good fara-pt results, 

 the mean deviation of the new bullet being only .8ft. and .95ft. at 500 

 and 1,000yds. respectively, as against .55ft. 'and 1.85ft. from the 

 Martini-Henry. Another very impijrtant feature is that the recoil of 

 the new weapon is considerably less than that of the present service 

 arm, which has caused so much adverse comment. Experiments 

 are also being made to provide the new weapon with an attachable 

 magazine, so that the soldier will be able to deliver a rapid fire of 

 several shots without reloading, in cases of emergency." 



BOSTON", Oct. 31,— The prospect of a cold windy day occasioned a 

 poor attendance at Walnut Hill to-day. The weather was unfavora- 

 ble and few scores were finished. Following are the best of the 

 finished scores: 



Decimal Ofif-Hand Match. 



R Reed, A 10 10 9 10 8 5 8 8 9 10—87 



B G Warren. C 5 10 10 6 6 8 8 10 9 5-77 



JRMissam,A 9 84885969 4—70 



J Lennons, C 7878478484 70 



W H Oler, A 10 8 8 5 7 6 3 9 6 5-67 



Rest Match. 



D L Chase. F 10 10 10 10 10 



J D Cambridge, A 10 10 9 10 10 



C W Hodgdon, A 9 9 10 9 8 



Creedmore Practice. 



E Burleigh 4554444.545-44 H H Lewis (mil.) .... 4445334535—40 



H' Carter 4554544454- 44 J A Hackett 5453425S35— 39 



Pay son 43 14453554 - 41 



THOMA.STON, Conn., Oct. 81.— Badge shoot of the Empire Rifle 

 Club, cold, raw weather with strong wind: 



E Thomas 10 18 13 11 9 11 11 11 10 10—107 



G A Lemmon 9 11 11 10 8 11 10 10 8 11— 99 



PA I'erkins n 10 10 10 11 11 10 9 7 10— 99 



C P Williams 11 9 8 13 10 10 11 10 9 7— 97 



ZETTLER— DORRLER.-A match. 100 sliots, 12-ring target, possi- 

 ble 12i , will be shot by C. G. Zettler, champion of the Zeftler Rifle 

 Club, and M. Dorrler, champion of the BuUshead Rifle Club, Nov. 8. 

 8 P. M , Zettier's gallery. 



VALUELESS SCORES.— To be of -interest scores should be accom- 

 panied by details of distance, bullseye, etc. Without such data scores 

 are utterly valueless except as a record for the single club shooting 

 them. 



RICHMOND, Ind.— Our club are all off deer hunting in Northern 

 Michigan, so there are no scores to report from here this week.— J. 



9 10 10 10 9-98 

 9 9 10 9 9-95 

 8 10 7 7 10-87 



NEW HAMBURG, Oct. 37.— The season's shooting tor the Ham- 

 burg Gun Club closed yesterday. Up to Oct. 6 twenty one marches 

 were shot for the first prize, sUver cup. Out of these S. G. Holley 

 secured ten, and won; Thos. Puddicombe five, A. F. Sprine four and 

 F. Bourne two. The three matches for second were between Puddi- 

 combe, Spring and Bourne. The first was won by Puddicombe and 

 Bourne dropped out. Second match: 



Puddicombe 1011111i00-6 Spring 1101111111—9 



Last and deciding match, Oct. 26: 

 Puddicombe 1111111101-9 Spring 1110111001—7 



Puddicombe takes second. Our average for the season is 04.20 per 

 cent., shooting swiftest notch Ligowsky C. P., 18yds. Certainly the 

 boys have foimd the trap of much benefit so far in their autumn 

 shooting for game.— Sancho. 



