388 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



(Dec. 10, 1885. 



end with one twist in 73 inches, and finishing at the muzzle 

 with the rate of one twist in 34 inches. There were 6 ^Tobves, 

 each ,010 inches deep, and .105 inches in width. The load- 

 ing was done in the ordinary way with a false muzzle, using 

 a jute wad and an oiled skin patch for the bullet. The pow- 

 der used was Curtis & Harvey No. 6, and two charges taken 

 at random during the loading showed powder weights of 

 133 35 and 131.10 grains, while two of the conical hulJets 



taken, at random out of the hox weighed 367.2 and 367.8. 

 They were cast in mould by Mr. Romer, using 30 parts lead 

 to 1 of tin. 



The weapon was tried at 300 yards on Sept. 89 from the 

 rigid rest, with the wind coming from the one o'clock 

 quarter at 4 miles per hour. The barometer stood at 30. 150, 

 the dry thermometer stood at 09', the wet-bulb thermometer 

 at 65.3'', making a dew point of 63.4 and the humidity 79 

 per cent, of saturation. Special care was taken with the 

 measurements of the muzzle heights at each replacement of 

 the weapon in the rest. Of course it was able to make a 

 very close gt'oup of shots on the target, hut it will be under- 

 stood that an accuracy test and a trajectory test are two 

 utterly distinct matters, and that' they ought to be carried 

 on under different conditions. No one with any knowledge 

 of the actioQ of small arms under fire would for a moment 

 think of getting a test of accuracy from a rigid rest, while 

 for a trajectory test, where it is essential to have a zero point 

 on the muzzle at the moment of firing, something in the 

 form of a rest which will secure that is absolutely necessary. 

 Sandbags and a good marksman come into play where ac- 

 curacy is needed, but for trajectory, as long as the bullets 

 pass through the screens and reach the target we have 

 all that is needed to calculate the trajectory height. Any 

 attempt to unite the two in the same round must of course 

 be futile. In euch a case as the present the inch broad black 

 patcli on the 50-yard screen might easily have been hit with 

 each shot, almost any rifle in the trial would have done that, 

 but here as in other cases, the aim was purposely held off in 

 order that clear and separate punctures in the screens might 

 be niado and readily noted and easily measured. The record 

 of the Merrill rifle stood t 



Round, 50 Yards. lOO-S'ards, 15t Yards. 



1 4.333 in, 6.453 in. 4,997 in. 



2 4.393 in. 6.493 in, 5.046 in. 



3 4.342 in, 6.213 m. 4,876 in. 



4 4.564 in. 6,504 in, 5.071 in. 



5 4,363 in. 6.335 in. 4.977 in. 



Avei-age 4.499 i^i- 6.399 in- 4.993 in^ 



Romer Muzzleloader. 



This weapon is named, as was the last, after the gentle- 

 man who brought it to the test; but in this case it was the 

 maker as well. The rifle came down on Oct, 13, when the 

 Bland was brought for the 100-yard trial, and had a 100 yard 

 test only. It was a ponderous weapon, weighing, com- 

 plete, 14 pounds 3 ounces, and with a 37-inch octagonal barrel, 

 in which there was II pounds 13 ounces of metal. The 

 caliber was .43 inch, and with six grooves, each .010 inch 

 deep and .105 inch wide. The twist was gain, starting in at 

 7i inches to the turn and reaching the muzzle at 34 inches to 

 the turn. The loading was with Curtis & Harvey's No. 6 

 powder and this small conical bullet, mould cast by Mr. Ro- 



mer of 30 parts lead to 1 of tin. The powder charge 

 Weighed 98.5 grains, while two bullets weighed up respect- 

 ively to 313.7 and 318.1 grains. It was loaded as was the 

 Merrill weapon, and, like it, had set trigger and telescopic 

 sights. It was not put in the iron rest, but was provided 

 with the barrel-grasping clamp and fired in such way from a 

 dead rest that at each discharge it was free to slide in recoil. 

 It was, in fact, tried as was the Bland, at 100 yards, and the 

 same allowance, if any, must be made in judging its results, 

 "When tried it was about 3 o'clock on the afternoon of Oct, 

 13. The barometer stood at 30.300 inches, the dry ther- 

 mometer at 58% the wet-bulb ditto at 54°, making, by calcu- 

 lation, a dew-point of .50 and a humidity of 75 per cent. 

 The wind at the time came from the 5 o'clock quarter at the 

 rate of 18 miles per hour. With such a charge from such a 

 weapon the shooting was, of course, very accurate, and a 

 Vciry flat line of fire is sisown as follows: 



Round. g6 Yards, 50 Yards. 75 Yards. 



1 1,180 in. 1.373 in. 1,270 in, 



3 l.m'^ia. 1.498 in, 1.205 in, 



3 1,033 m. 1.399 in, 1.419 in, 



4 1,170 in. _ 1.051 in. 1.051 in, 



5 l,03Un. '1.310 in. 1.431 in. 



Average... 1.130 in- 1.306 in. 1.273 in. 



A Steamboat Squeeze. — The steamer Wakefield plies 

 between Wasiiiugtou and lower river landings. On return- 

 ing from a burning trip to King George county, Va., we 

 took passage on her to Wasluiiglou. Having had bad 

 weather our amount ol game was sniall, noi exceeding 

 thirty pounds. On this they colleelecl fifty cents. This is 

 about on a par with the B. A: F. R, R. lulks, who charge 

 for dogs. Two birds were abstracted irom the strings. In 

 all otuer respects the boat was first-class and deserves the 

 patronage of sportsmen.— Walxek Scott,; . 



HUNTING THE MOUTAIN GOAT. 



THE following account, from a late issue of the louja 

 State Register, has additional interest because of recent 

 discussions of the goat and goat hunting: _ 



"Mr. Edward H. Litchfield, of New York, is in the city 

 attending to some private businesss connected with the 

 Litchfield land grants. He is but just returned from an 

 extended hunting jaunt in the Rockies, and knowing that 

 lie always had something of interest to relate, a Register 

 reporter ca-lled upon him at the Kirkwood yesterday. Mr. 

 Litchfield is a pleasant gentleman still young in years, with 

 an engaging address and unusual conversational powers. 

 He is an enthusiastic hunter and tells of his experiences 

 most delightfully. In response to a question as to the trip 

 just finished he said : 



" 'For a number of years it has been my custom to spend 

 my vacation in hunting, sometimes one place, sometimes 

 another, but every year I manage to spend at least one month 

 under canvas. This year when I was ready to start it was 

 too late to find bear in the headwaters of the Yellowstone, 

 and I then thought of spending the time among the moun- 

 tains of Arizona. But the Apaches were on the war path 

 at the time, and the Indian Commissioner prevailed upon me 

 to essay some other field. I was advised that mountain goat 

 could be found in the high mountains of northwestern Mon- 

 tana, and as they are the rarest of American game, and I 

 had long before determined to have at least one if it took a 

 trip to Alaska to procure it, ray course was immediately 

 planned in that direction. Mr. C. W. Pufl:er, one of our 

 best known and most successful guides, accompanied us. 

 At Missoula, Montana, we procured our outfit, and four 

 men .strong, with nine horses, we -started across country for 

 the land of the goat. We traveled for seven consecutive 

 days, crossing the Big Black Foot and the Rockies, until we 

 were two days' ride "beyond the known country, in a land 

 but seldom visited by a white man, and then only by some 

 lone trapper or hunter .seeking those spots where game had 

 never been taught to fear. All the way we passed through 

 the most magnificent scenery, some of "it rivaling in beauty 

 and grandeur any the world can offer. The mountains are 

 high and rugged, and with their tips of snow impart a stern 

 majesty to every scene which defies description. Then the 

 water in that country has a peculiar green cast which, espe- 

 cially when the observer is looking down upon it from a 

 great altitude, produces the most brilliant effects. The 

 Rocky Mountain goat, as I said before, is the rarest and at 

 the same time the most dilBcult of all American game to 

 capture. But a very few stuffed specimens are known in 

 the entire world, and but very few sportsmen have ever had 

 the distinction of killing one. The mountain sheep is quite 

 abundant in some locahties and is sometimes mistaken for 

 the goat, though they differ widely in appearance and hab- 

 its. The goat is snow white and has short cylindrical black 

 horns, while the sheep is almost brown in color and has long 

 curved horns, so that the two need never be confused. The 

 reasons of its being so difficult to kill are its scarcity and 

 the fact that it inhabits only the highest and most inacces- 

 sible mountain peaks, as far as possible from the haunts of 

 man. The only way to get to them is to climb up the moun- 

 tain as far as you can, then plant a ladder and continue 

 climbing. The first point to be gained is to reach an alti- 

 tude above their haunts, and then you can commence to 

 hunt with some prospect of success. 



" 'At the close of our seventh day's journey we pitched 

 camp in a little valley, surrounded on every hand by ragged 

 and almost precipitous peaks, and from which gulches radi- 

 ated in every direction, leading skyward to the summits. It 

 did not seem pos.sible that man had ever desecrated this spot 

 and we felt that at last the land of the goat was reached. 

 The first day was spent in pro.specting for signs, and in the 

 afternoon we had the pleasure of seeing one of the very 

 animals that long journey had been taken to obtain. He 

 was standing ahoui 500 yards distant from the party, and 

 for some time 1 could not bring myself to believe it was not 

 a white bear. The position in which he stood was such as 

 to bring the higli shouldcr,s, drooping head and thick legs 

 into strong relief, and the horns being invi.sible, the resemb- 

 lance to that animal was certainly striking. Before we 

 could get around in .shooting distance he had taken pur 

 wind and packed his trunk for a quick trip home. Having 

 satisfied ourselves as to the existence of mountain goats in 

 that locality, upon which question I must confess to being 

 skeptical before, we returned to camp burning with excite- 

 ment and commenced making arracgements for the next 

 day's hunt. Our breakfast the next morning was taken by 

 starlight, and by sunrise we were well on our way to the 

 sumrnit. The horses were taken as far up the slope as pos- 

 sible and then we proceeded to zig zag our toilsome way to 

 the top. The peak was what is 'known as a "hog back" or 

 "knife edge" ridge, but a few feet in width on the top and 

 dropping away for thousands of feet in a precipitous slope 

 that affords but scanty footing to even the deer and goat. 

 On either hand we could look down upon frozen lakes, and 

 dotted here and there upon the mountain sides were patches 

 of snow which had withstood the ravages of a July sun. As 

 we proceeded along this narrow way the signs of the game 

 we were seeking grew more plentiful until the excitement 

 which always attends the presence of big game took almcst 

 painful possession of us. Suddenly we sighted a family 

 group of seven white animals, the objects of our long 

 journey, lying upon a little plateau a few hundred yards 

 distant and below the ridge upon which we- had been travel- 

 ing. It was a glorious sight and one for which many a man 

 had risked his life in times past. They were lying in a 

 clump of short cedars, spread out upon the ground like the 

 spokes of a wheel, their heads all turned so they could watch 

 the valley below. It was with difficulty we could restrain 

 our eagerness until a plan of battle could be formulated, but 

 the question was one of supreme importance, and we could 

 not think of failing when the wondrous game was at last in 

 sight. 



" 'After a consultation of some ten minutes a method of 

 attack was adopted which fortunately brought about the 

 very best results. The wind was blowing along the moun- 

 tain side between us, which added somewhat to our difficulty. 

 From what we knew of the habits of these animals we de- 

 cided that when alarmed they would run up the mountain 

 and with the wind. It was then determined that I should 

 stalk down the mountain directly upon them and that Mr, 

 Puffer should follow the ridge around to intercept their 

 flight, A series of signals were determined upon by which 

 he would keep me posted as to the movements of the game. 

 It was growing late by this time, and to add to the urgency 

 of the occasion, the sky had clouded and was threatening 

 snow, Now a snowstorm in that altitude simply meant that 

 we should be obliged to remain and grow up with the coun- 

 try, which was not a part of our original programme. I se- 



lected a clump of cedar behind which to hide and began to 

 make the descent with the utmost care, Not only was this 

 a difficult task, but it was also attended with considerable 

 danger, as the slope was so steep that a misstep might start 

 one valley ward upon an immense landslide, and then, if I 

 rolled a pebble even down the mountain it might alarm the 

 precious game. Slowly and carefully I let myself down the 

 declivity, feeling much as a man must when hanging upon 

 the side of some immense building, and finally re'ached the 

 point chosen from which to commence the iittack. Just 

 then I received a sight message from Mr. Puft'er to the effect 

 that the game was in motion and working off toward my 

 right. All this time I had not ventured to take a single look 

 at the animals I had risked so much to secure, but now 1 

 stepped from shelter and sure enough thei'e the whole family 

 were filing majestically off as he had indicated. I glanced 

 the group over hurriedly to pick the choicest specimen, but 

 seemg no especial difference in the large ones, I chose the 

 one presenting the best opportunity, and gave him a double 

 13 ball behind the shoulder and alinost at the same instant 

 the second barrel to No. 3. These shots threw them into 

 the most complete confusion, and after some wild leaping 

 about from point to point they banded together 'and 

 swung round to look down into the valley below." This gave 

 me a chance to reload, and just then one of the finest bucks 

 stepped out in bold relief upon the edge of the plateau. A 

 kid stood between him and me and I waited until it had 

 stepped out of the way and then gave him a shot behind the 

 shoulder. This report started tliem off in the direction of 

 Mr. Puffer, and I just had time to take a snapshot at one as 

 he went behind a clump of cedars. I had no hope of mak- 

 ing a hit, but he dropped as had the other three, and two of 

 them rolled down the precipice into the valley below. They 

 presented a rather comical sight bounding down that long 

 slope, but you may be sure it was extremely gratifying to 

 me and I felt more than over-paid for all " the worry and 

 fatigue that the triumph had cost. 



" 'The other two 1 could not see and had just started in 

 search of them when I heard several shots from the direction 

 of Ml-. Puffer. I then started to see how the battle waged 

 in his vicinity, and met him coming down to meet me, Tn 

 answer to my anxious inquiries he said he had shot several, 

 but could not tell how many. After passing mutual con- 

 gratulations upon our wonderful success we climbed down 

 the mountain to look after the wounded and dead. On the 

 way down we started one that had been hit by Mr, Puffer, 

 and I took a running shot at it with ray revolver, but both 

 of us were too thoroughly fatigued to attempt pursuit. On 

 looking up the hill we saw another outlined against the .sky, 

 with all four legs pointing heavenward like an upturned 

 stool. To all appearances he was as dead as was ever Julius 

 Caesar, but when Mr. Puffer approached to make sure of his 

 decease he raises his head and began to show signs of flight. 

 Another shot, however, settled his case most thoroughly, 

 and he took the same erratic route to the bottom as had the 

 others. On skinning him five mortal shots were found, one 

 of which had been made by my double 13, showing the goat 

 to be possessed of a tenacity of life scarcely second to tlutt 

 of a grizzly bear, Afl this had taken hours, and as we had 

 left our lunch with the horses you can imagine our hunger. 

 After one has climbed over steep mouutaius all day long, 

 with nothing to eat or drink but snow, it is perfectly natural 

 that he should be exhausted, and to cap it all, here we were 

 with the heads and skins of these four animals to carry up 

 out of this hole into which they had fallen, and there was 

 no way out .save by a climb. But we finally managed tn 

 reach the horses shortly after sunset, completely fagged out, 

 but proud of our conquest. We had secured in one day's 

 hunt four fine specimens of the Rocky Mountain goat, an 

 animal so rare and difficult to obtain that the nun'iber of 

 specimens i.? limited to less than ten for all the collections 

 of the world, and if that is not a victory of which an 

 amateur .sportsman may be proud I would like to koow 

 what is.' 



"Mr. Litchfield took a sketch of one of the goats from 

 nature and will have the specimens mounted from that 

 sketch. He already possesses one of the most valuable col- 

 lections of hunting trophies in the world, and these will add 

 to its value and interest in a wonderful degree." 



LOADING FOR GAME. 



MY experience has proved that for ducks and other game 

 of similar nature and habits, a 10-gauge gun of about 

 10 pounds' weight and capable of using \\ ounces of shot 

 and 4 to 5 drams of powder is decidedly superior to a smaller 

 and lighter gun. Such gun should have 33 inches length of 

 barrels, and an inch or two longer would be better for game 

 at long range. Such a gun should not use powder finer than 

 single F grain to do good shooting. Fine powder is too sudden 

 tn hs action to use in a large gun. and subjects the joints to 

 enormous strain and causes excessive recoil; hut a iS-gauge 

 may be shorter in length of barrels, say 30 inches, and a 

 charge of IJ ounces of shot, with 3 or 3+ drama of FFG 

 powder, has given me the best of results, both as to pattern 

 and penetration. 



I have a 14-gauge breechloader, 38-iuch barrels (double), 

 weight 7i pounds, in which I use 3i drams Dupont's FFF 

 powder and 1 ounce shot, and can say from experience that 

 for everything it is the best gun I ever used. One ounce of 

 shot is a good charge for almost any game except ducks, 

 perhaps, and it therefore answers every purpose of a 13 or 

 16 gauge. Its shooting qualities are first-class, penetration 

 splendid, No. 8 shot penetrating thirty leaves of "Patent 

 Office Report" at 40 yards with 3i drams powder, so 1 agree 

 with "Medium" in his. opinion of the 14-gauge gun. Mine 

 was originally a 16-gauge, and after giving it a fair trial I 

 was satisfied that its shooting qualities would be improved 

 by having the barrels chambered to take a 14-gauge shell, 

 and I have seen no cause to regret it. The improvement is 

 decided. 



Tnere is one point in regard to the proper length of bar- 

 rels that is not easy to decide; but one thing is certain that 

 the smaller the bore the shorter the barrels should be, but 

 finer powder should be used in proportion; that is of such 

 fineness as to agree with the cubic dimensions of the larger 

 ones, a cannon of 10 or 13-inch bore and 35 feet long wiU u-se 

 a powder, each grain of which is nearly an inch in diameter 

 with the best of results, and we should learn from that fact 

 how to choose powder of a proper grain and shot of a proper 

 weight for oiu guns. I prefer 3f inch drop as the gun comes 

 right up to its proper place in sighting, though some short- 

 necked shooters would prefer 3f. 1 believe a 16, 18 or 30 

 gauge is too small for anything but still hunting or to kill 

 small birds with fine shot, and beconacs more of a toy than 

 weapon for general business, St. Lawjrence. 



