KoT. 18, 1886. J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



3^5 



Shore Bird Nomenclature.— Gloucesl gi Ma-iS,, Not. 

 8.— Your correspondent, Mr. John Miirdock, m the is«ue 

 of Nov. 4, spoaks of the variety of local uaiiieH apphnd 

 to OTir shore birds and the interest which mi£;hL .ittatli 

 to a systematic study of the same. This is a ^ul'l' < <- "I 

 muck intorent to manv others and it is perhaps posBdJe 

 that soniethiuK- could be done in the direction meutioued. 

 With regard t<5 the local name of S. alpina ni the i all, 1 

 have lieard hut one name so applied in thi.s viciuit\ , and 

 that is " simpletons." Of the other specie oi Mnti])!])! i 

 maculata, I hare heard them called by two uamoB : hvst 

 and most common is that of " grassbird second and 

 particularly about Newburyport, they arc geiierally 

 called "brownies." WjUj re,!:^ard to iS. helvifica or U. 

 squaturota, tlie true black -In-casted plover, I have lieard 

 two naines used in Essex county. First anil more ('dvu- 

 monly they are known as " beetle heads," particularly m 

 the fall. In spring, however, we very often liear them 

 called " black hearts." The strongly ' contrasted vernal 

 plnmage seems to give fair place to the title. I have 

 known this bird by both names for years. — X. Y. Z. 



Canine PRECOCiTy.— Aiken, S. C, Nov. G.— Quad 

 shooting promises to l ie particularly good in this neigh- 

 borhood this season, tAvo broods having been raised. The 

 abundance of good boarding houses and liotels, tlie ease 

 with which Aiken can be reached from all poiuts, its 

 cheap livery stables and the fact that dogs and guides are 

 easily obtamable, should inal^o it a favoide st^iiping 

 place of those who like the sport, as well a'=' a most agiee- 

 able place in Avhich to recnpei ate. I wi-ite parhcularly 

 to tell you of the perfoi-rnancc of Mr. C. L. Quinn's little 

 pointer bitcli Cora during tlic last few days. She is only 

 four months old, a mere pupj)y that grass <.n aa cchI^ Isne(> 

 high will hide, yet on her first trial Mr. Quiun killed 17 

 quail over her, the next trip 11 and the next 10. ma.kina' 

 88 birds in three afternoons. She did not flush a bird, 

 was as staunch as an old dog, hunting faithtuUy and re- 

 trievuig every bhd killed in handsome style. For lier 

 age and inches do yon not think that a remarkable show- 

 ing?— Jas. H. Hard. 



Death of John Krider.— John Kridei*, aged 73 years, 

 after an illness of tlnee years, died Friday morning, Nov. 

 11, of paralysis, at his residence, No. 4,407 S])iuce -iticet, 

 Philadelphia. Mr. Krider was born on the old Powelton 

 estate, ru West Pliiladelphia. For the pas! ''ixIa veais he 

 was engaged in the business of gunsmith and si)ortsmen'fi 

 supplies, at the northeast corner of Second and Walnut 

 streets. When residing in Southwark he took an active 

 part in politics, and in 1858 he represented 1 lu Fu ^t AVji d 

 in Common Council. He was past mastci- ol Solomon 

 Lodge, No. 114, F. and A. M. , and for tluit\ Aoais was 

 treasurer of the State Council of the oi'der ol United 

 American T\Iechanics. He was also a member of tlie 

 American Protestant Association and of the Knights of 

 Pythias. He was well known throughout the country as 

 a thorough sportsman and good shot, and uj^ to a few 

 years of his death was active with both his gun and lish- 

 mg rod. 



WiLDFOWi, Notes. — Gloucester, Mass. , Nov. 9. — Duiing 

 "oooting season" tliese fowl were fairly ijlenty in Ipiswich 

 Bay, offSqnam, Imt since tlien the sea fowl along om- 

 coast have not been very plenty. I have seen one or two 

 small flocks of (^Id scpiaws (11. glacktlis) and sheldrakes 

 {M. serrator) Avith one or two loons, and a few scattering- 

 fowl. In September I saw a good many loons flying, and 

 also many terns. The winter gvdls or kittiwakes {R. 

 tridactyld) are very common now, and, of com-se, some 

 heri'ing gulls [L. siiiitJisuniantLs) are seen, but as yet, or 

 rather for tlie j.^ast two or three weeks, sea fowl have not 

 been numerously observed by the writer. They will very 

 likely be more i)lenty after this present cold snap of 

 weather.— X. Y. Z. 



The Kankakee. — ^Decatur, Ind. — ^Duck shooting on 

 Kankakee marshes has been very poor this fall, althouglj 

 some good liags haA'c been made, and those only at one 

 point, English Lalie, a party of thi-ee Chicago gentlemen 

 having killed 313 ducks in one day's shoot. My score for 

 two weeks Avas 110 bh-ds and I was perfectly satisfied, 

 having passed a very pleasant time while there. I am 

 strongly in favor of abolisliing- sj)ring shooting, and shall 

 make an efl^ort to have the State Legislature pass a bill to 

 that effect, having a petition in my possession with a 

 number of names of some of our most influential men on 

 it. Hope I shall succeed. — ^Kankakee. 



EoOELAjiTD, Me., Nov. 13.— Told in rhyme: 

 Good gun, good dog, nine cartridges, 

 Fine day, five woodcock, tlu-ee i:»ai'tiidge3. 



U. C. Brevity. 



Wild Pigeons are nesting in the Indian Territory. 



RIFLES OLD AND NEW. 



Editor ForeM and Stream: 



From early boyhood I have been familiai' vdth the rifle, having 

 ■used it at home and. on tlie larger game of the far-away wilder- 

 ness. Until "watliin a few years I used the muzzleloader, of several 

 dift'erent makes. Those chiefly used come from the famous shop 

 of the late William Billinghurst, of Rochester, N. Y,, who was a 

 capable maker of greal celebrity, and a man of high integrity-. 

 Ho died in ISMO. At hi'! sliop, for many years, gathered the lea<i- 

 ing riflemen from far and near: i he riilli nglmrst Range ia fanioas 

 to this day. Billinghnrst and Morgrui James wcm unqnestion- 

 ably the two ablest and foremost rifle makers of the Western 

 Continent, and very probably' of tlie world, during the qnaTter of 

 a. cen(,ury iireceding tlie general advent of breechloaders; and it 

 gives me pleasure to rejider a Just t)-ibnte to these two men, the 

 memory of whose lives is fast passing on the tide of oblivion, 

 although wortJiy of the granite, .lames wvote a work on tlie rifle, 

 and was famous in Euj'ope as a riflemakei- as well as in liis own 

 country, and contributed elfieiently to the modern development 

 of the arm. He spent his last years with the Remingtons. With 

 I'eferenec to tlie comparative merits of muz.'^le and breechloaders, 

 Mr. Rilliiighnrst, up to the day of his death, held the best muzzle 

 loiider to shoot more accurately than the best made breechloader, 

 and be was ever ready to stake money upon the former in a trial. 



M\' oAvn expei-ieuce wdtli the breechloacler is, tliat while I can 

 do with them some excellent shooting, 1 cannot average as accu- 

 rate and satisfactory shooting as with the nnizzleloader; doing 

 my best witii tlieni, I cannot place the liall so certaijily svljcrc 'I 

 want it, and there are uDore wild sbols than with the muzzle- 

 loatler; and as l)i-eechloaders arc now t'cnerfllly cliara-ed, the fall 

 of the hall is mnch the greater hej'ond the shorter distances at 

 which game is commonly shot. Very excellent shooting is done 

 with the breechloaders, tlieir make has reaclied an astonishing 

 degree of pcrfe(;i ion, and they do ntrfc rial: beiug diaidaced frorn 

 favor. Rut this is not all there is of it, and Improvements mav 

 come in which will make them the undispu.ted equal. 



Years ago for a considerable period I used to resort anniiallvto 

 the wilderness of northern Canada for a libei'al term of hunting, 

 and at various other times have taken other trips to wilderness 



districts, m all of which the rifle was u'enrrnlh' in h-atid. After 

 nsiTur scveivi.l rifles I long used one ma-oc lornie oy Mr. Btlluig- 



hurst. tfi ; ];ist (if several had of hira, which was of the following 

 mill 1 barrel, r.'Sin.long; caliber M ; entire weight of 



gill "i-ed (his. rifle scseral years in the pursuit of all 



kill'! . ; lii Mio regions adverted to, deer beiTiii" the iirincipal. 



It was the i'L-st duo.r gnn 1 evor had, and mv reputed success in 

 gcttiiiir this game, whether deserved or not, was wpia) to that of 

 any hunter who went to tJicse Noel hern wood^. And what do you 

 think was the weiulit of lln; powder cliai-ge ar,d of llic conical 

 bullet, respectively, which I used in this gun for the longer ranges 

 and laru'cr g^imoV Tlic [lowder charge hahitually was ft-lgrs., oe- 

 easionally 5, Lrrs., wiiilc tlie weight of the bullet was flJIgrs. This 

 ball (.33 eaJiber) wasy-lOin, in length, and when placed upon the 

 muzzle of the rifle was verv .accurately fixed in i\w bore, linen 

 patched and shoved down a couple of inches by a brass starter 

 fitted to the muzzle, and without, inconvenience carried in the vest 

 pocket, the bullet being pushed easily the rest of the way with the 

 ramrod. Tlic bearing of the bullet on the liarrel was conflncd to 

 its extreme hasi\ a.r\ri scarcely equitled a single ring like one of 

 Ihose usually found on medium-sized breech loading bullets. The 

 bullet sped not only with trreat precision, but with lightning speed 

 and rorc(!, meant business, and its etl'ects showed it. It did not 

 erD.sb down uamc bv the uiau-nitiido of its \'olumc and (orce, nor 

 make a masii or sailsage-meiit of the carcass ; but its penetration 

 and intensity of c fleet werts decisive, its track a channel of a kjin. 

 or more in diameter, in which tlie tissues were utterly destroyed 

 and from which blood could spout in death vohinies. and I think 

 any v\cll-bi-ed butcher of neatness and tli.spatcii wfuild have been 

 ^yell satisfied witli the results. 



Tlie deer that 1 shot and failed to get were few; no one who 

 carried a cannon secured abetter proportion, for deer shot even 

 with sneh an arm sometimes escape, and I enjoy the verv desirable 

 advant.igc, while offieiontly equipped, of having a light weight of 

 gun and ammunition, t^veii wdien carrying a large supply of the 

 latter, and i wns thus enabled to tramp in light marcliing orde.J' 

 the intricate wilds .'ill the da,\' long .and not, be lugged or weakened 

 by carr-, ing a bnnlen. And let me sav' ria-ht here, make a a-ood 

 shot, shoot vour dee)- ill an v pa i t w here in unofl j-e;ison it slionld 

 be shot, and if the bullet should he .;i;.'-cnl. of but 100 grains or Ics.-, 

 if sped with the force and velocity that it may and should be, no 

 matter if tlie game does not tunilile under your nose Init takes a. 

 lain, let it do so, use it well, do not cro\\'(i f he game: etfecti^-c work 

 has l)f;en done, and after a ^^ \u1■ iireie ■ on the trail duly audyou 

 ■will very sui'cly get tlie pri.-^e ' i - ! • ' shoot deer at as great a 

 distiMiee ;t.s any other hunter, r s I liad opportunity, but 



the country was wooded and i\„: i.-ng-.- not so loutc .as on the crreat 

 plains. The first doer I held this rille. oa I shot at the distance of 

 thirty measured rods. Tlie ball struck the center of the nock in 

 fi'ont a trifle more than mirl way tow.ard tlie Irody and came out in 

 the middle of the back of the neck, passing through and shatter- 

 ing the spine, a small piece fractured from the hall coming out 

 near mi inch one side ot the mam (rack, and the deer tell dead in 

 its i,j-n,eks. 



This rifle nddled bones without any trouble: not inti'eouentl v I 

 had deer fall m their tracks at the various distances at. \viii( h 1 

 shot, finding them dead on coming up. 'i he ball ucnerallv jiassed 

 through the deer and aflorded iilentv of evidence oi emuiniied 

 force on (ho other side, i he lew exeeptions beinir lengthwise sinits 

 or when a large and well hlled stnmach was struck: l,nit m tbtsse 

 eases, as a matter of course, the game went under all the same, 

 and I did not have a long distance to go to get lit, either. 1 often 

 fired a Imllet through .a standing pophir or ])ine lOin. or 12in. in 

 diameter for the great edification of m.\' Canadian hunter friends, 

 the shot being, of eoui'se, at close I'aiige. 



This gtm was satisfactory to me for the pursuit of any game in 

 the nation, with tlie exception of two or three headquarter varie- 

 ties. I have shot the black bear and elk with satisfaction with a 

 similar rifle by the same maimer, tlie odds not being in its favor as 

 against tlie ri tie described, Tlie grizzly and btitfalo, in massive 

 size and iiower a.ini resistance to the rifle, are a special and lim- 

 ited game and, while no doubt a shot from such a rifle properly 

 ])K( ed -rt ould b( J 1 1 IkxhIki v tthinct ii\ of m i \ ficc hlood 

 in the bulTalo, and often in the case of the grizzly of its immedi- 

 ate death or crippling for security of the liunter, make in their 

 cases a siiecial arm desirable. But not one hunter in three hun- 

 dred tiiousand ever meets this class of game or takes any special 

 risk ol doing so, niuther do they need such sjieeial arm, nor 

 with better instruction would they use the same with satisfac- 

 tion." 



I do not mean to say that larger caliber and more lead may not 

 be desirable in many instances, but a like law of charging can be 

 observed with efleetiveness and moderate weight of gun and am- 

 munition also secured. If I recall correctly, the weight of the 

 doublobarreled rifle with which Gerhard did much of hisiustly 

 ver,\' famous shooting of t;lie grea t African lion, was only Tibs., and 

 I deem it unlikely that he used bullets rivaling the immense slugs 

 now considered necessary, and yet he used to shoot his balls clear 

 through the immense beasts. 



The round bullet, which I used in the rifle treated of , weighed 

 ;"il!£grs., and I had no difliculty in bringing down deer with it 

 when dri\ en by the 54gr. powder charge, large bucks often going 

 but (I few rods. The truth is that with a properly made rifle of 

 moderate weight and a good charge of powder the de^sii'ed efl'ec- 

 tiveness and range ordinarily essential can be obtained, andAvith- 

 out going up to 5(X)grs. or SOOgrs. of lead, either. I found, hoAvever, 

 that the round ball at the distance of 30 rods lost much of its 

 accuracy and was at such distance undesirable. Witli care and 

 fair opportunity I used to shoot pigeons and squirrels at the dis- 

 tance of 20 and 2.5 rods, and ducks from 20 to Sn rods, with success; 

 could put about every bullet into a 'lyzin. ring at 30 rods, and 1 

 once did so weil as to put four balls out of five into a target the 

 size of a greenback, with one-third cutoff at the end, at tlie dis- 

 tance of 40 rods. And the above related shooting was done with 

 open sights. Later I used with great advantage a peep- sight, set 

 in the breech-pin and turned up by a hinge when in use, the peep- 

 hole being made _,in a tra,us^'erse sliding bar, close to its upper 

 edge, the hole when the eye was applied looking simply like a 

 notch, and it was a verj- handy and helpful sight, aft'ording much 

 accuracy, and good upon all occasions. 



Mr. KiUinghurst, for a good many years before his death, usually 

 freed the bore of his rifles very slignly and evenly from the breech 

 up to somewhere within one or Uvo inches of the muzzle, the bul- 

 let fitting snugly in this upper space and going the rest of the way 

 with easy pressure. The rifle I enlarge upon was thtis made. The 

 amount of powder and slight friction gave a very flat trajectory. 

 1 never raised or lowered sights in shooting. With the lieaNder 

 charges at short ranges I sighted very fine and held just under or 

 at the lower edge of the mark; at the longer ranges well up on it 

 or just over, and with the added aid, if needed, of coarse sighting, 

 according to the distance; and I felt able te strike mth great cer- 

 tainty any game like deer at the distance of 50 rods and over. But 

 an occasion to shoot at deer a mtich greater distance than 30 rods 

 seldom occurs, except in a treeless country, as on the great 

 plains. 



■ My object is not to set forth that this was the most wonderftd 

 rifle ever made, for I have had others just as good by the .same 

 maker, and have used those of other makers apparently as accur- 

 ate. Neither do I y,Tite for the purpose of any sort of laudation, 

 liut for the purpose of presenting facts and suggestions which may 

 be of practical account and desirable in the make, the qualities 

 and the use of the hunting rifle as well as the ammunition used in 

 it, and to illustrate a practical and desirable type of rifle for gen- 

 eral use. Here was a rifle of light weight, a powerful and effec- 

 tive shooter, giving a very flat trajectory, no sensible recoil, its 

 ammunition of small compass, and an abundant supply light to 

 carry, and appropriately either a squirrel gun or a satisfactory 

 and eif ective one for service in any wilderness of tiie continent, 

 A\ bile the adaptation of its work to either sjihere only involved a 

 simple and not inconvenient difference in its charging. Load it 

 with 27grs. of powder and tlie round ball of Sljijgrs. audit was 

 just the gun for small g.ame at moderate distances, and often did 

 bring down a deer; double thecbargeor load with .54grs. of pow- 

 der and the conical bullet of !)9grs., and it Avas good for squirrel 

 if you wanted him badly "done," or for black bear, red deer, or 

 elk, at either short or long ranges. I recognize, of course, that in 

 the very long ranges sometimes shot on the treeless plains or in 

 the motmtain wilds of the continent, and with some kinds of 

 game more lead as well as powder vvoidd be of aecotmt. 



Note that in the use of the conical bullet the proportion of lead 

 to powder by weight lacked considerable of being two parts to one, 

 while in the hea vier charges in the use of the round hall the 

 weight of t he powder considerably exceeded that of the lead. In 

 the case of the round bullet the powder charge, comjiared witli 

 what is cuetomary, was vei'y extraordinary, yet the charges stated 

 v\-orked well with lioth ti-illets and accuracy was not impaired,;i)ut 

 improv'ed, where the distauee ^vas con.siderable. Is there not here 

 a praeticiil line of experience and fact susceptible of wide and de- 

 sirable application in the construction and use of the hunting rifle 

 and applicable alike to lireech as well sis muzzlcloadersV T do not 

 profess to have ascertained and settled the proportions of powder 

 to lead that will be found most desir.ible, or the amount of powder 

 that can be most advantageously burned in a given space, nor to 

 tea(di to v\ tiat extent, if any, the present bearing and friction of 

 bullets in breecliloaders can be decreased with benefit, but I be- 

 lie\'e that with the best adjustment of these potential elements in 

 rifle shooting the present breecliloading rifle can be made much 



more desirable. ^Flic oxperienc'e and tsicts rel/ited iirf* sugirestivo; 

 they have strong eorohorative evidence of value and. warrant fur- 

 ther trial and give as well aKsurauce of improved adaptation of the 

 rifle. Aceomplisbed facts are fads, and if we have not got a the- 

 ory to explain or support them, it Mlow.i tJiat we have not got at 

 the whole truth of the matter. Also, facts cannot be theorized, 

 away. 



And how does the hroeehloader stand in relation to tlic suOieeti' 

 Tt is the hunting riP^ of to-day, few others being manufactured 

 or used. The weight of the great majority in general ufje ranges 

 from a little over 81bs. to over 91bfl., and the caliber from .40 up- 

 AViird; the weight of the bullet ranges anywhere from ;JUOgra. up to 

 .lOOgrs. and over; the powder charge from iOgrs. up to i20grs.. In 

 but tew instances, however, reaching to IflOgrs.. and in. many 

 instances the fa to (iOgrs. ciiarges are late advances. 40grs. and 

 fiigrs. of powder arc used for from .■2(10g:rs. to over SOOgrs. of lead, 

 and but seldom does tlie bullet weigh so little as .SOOgrs. In a good 

 rnan.v instances the prop.ortloii of powder to lead does not exceed 

 or quite reach one part to six: in a large in-oportion the powder 

 does not exceed one part to live; in many it does not reach one 

 psirt to four, and in none that I recall does the iiroportion fully 

 resich one part to tliree. The common result, tlierefore, is a 

 strongly curved trajectory, and t« the e.xperienced hunter a most 

 unsatisfactory want of direct and jjowerfnl shooting. I do not 

 include the Express rifle in tliis paper. 



Of course there are some .oS-cal., and they are growing in favor; 

 and, tnn\ the Remington and other makers have ever keiit on the 

 market the siu.aller calibers of 51bs. to Tibs, weight, and t he extra 

 long csu'tridge of the little .82-cal. received some years since an al- 

 lo\vance of 20grs. of powder and SOgrs. of lead. But these < alibei'S 

 ha,\-e seldom been found in the hands of hunters who cxriectcd to 

 kill deer. The small calibers and light-weight guns generally lisi ve 

 been ontd.awed for such service by common opinion as well as the 

 gunmakei'S for want of experience and better information, and, I 

 may add also, for want of lieiiAicr clia.rges of iK.nvder. But ad- 

 Viince is ])lainly being made in thf^ direction of proportionately 

 larger powder charges, and smaller calibers are being more man- 

 ufactured and extended more consideration. The little ..32-cal. has 

 lately come along, timidly at first, as a hunting riflo; but now 

 there are a few parties suflicienlly advanced to'chiim that it is 

 good to shoot deer with, and it will cert siiuly be found lirst-rate 

 for that business if sulTicient courage is evev infused to put into it 

 the requisite amount of powder with lead duly proportioned. And 

 what is the use, what is the sense. In loaditig a .•32-cal. with ]25grs. 

 of lead and only ^Igrs. lo 3.5grs. of powder, or with, less than one 

 part of jiowder to four or three of lead, in consequence lia\ in,g a 

 comparatively weak gun, when by putting in powder in propor- 

 tions of from one part to iwo of lead anywhere up to equal propor- 

 tions, it can be made an arm of good hunting- range and efrectV 



On the vital point ot an inq.iroved practical adjustment of the 

 relative proportions of powder and lead, our rifle makers seem to 

 be in bonds. Ihey do not seem in tliink or see tiiat it may be 

 practicable to libersillv cut down i he proiioi'tiou of lead now gen- 

 (iillv used and ronsjdeicd nc(cs'^aiv ml it tlu -mir tinn is 

 the case may be, make a liberal addition to the po^vder i.eharge 

 and tliereby secure greater velocity, range, cfl'eet and ti flatter 

 trajectory, with freedom :trom offensive recoil, enabling the use 

 of a lighter gun and weight of ammunition. These are" sill lirst- 

 class advantages, while they would secure a much more satisfac- 

 tory hunting arm in general l^lian tiie orijeculoaoci s. sis now com- 

 monly made and charged. All these desirable results were 

 H.ehlex'ed in the case of the muzzleloader of whicli I liave just 

 treated, and why is not the metliod practicable with the breech- 

 loadei-? It undoubtedly is, in the main, a chief requirement beittg 

 a piroper adjustment of bore and bullet; and if tie's \dew be well 

 taken it should insure a rifle otTlbs. to 81bs. wen^ht eniKiltoanv 

 game of the continent. 



There is some sense in the mtdtitiide, though it be common and 

 a little in the rough. A youn,£c man of good parts, who has spent 

 sevcrsil years in nortbern Dakota and the further West, relates 

 that it was a standing swear among the iiunters in those regions 

 that the breechloadi_ng rifles in use there did not shoot powder 

 enough; that there was too much lead for the powder used, and 

 that the bullet did not hold up to the mark as it should. In this 

 view, ssiid an old hunter one day vvlicn stumped to trade his old 

 muzzleloader for a new and flne-looklng breechloader: "I 

 wouldn't give it for a dozen breechloaders." And I add that 

 among hunters who have used muzzle as well as breechloaders 

 the expression is common that the latter does not use powder 

 enougti for the lead. And it is largely a fact, and one of practicaJ 

 account, that a lighter bullet with plenty of powder beb i nd it will 

 do the work just as well and often better th.-i n a heavier ball with 

 less powder. The truth is that the greatly increased velocity 

 makes compensation for weight, insnr ins, e.s it does, increase of 

 penetration and of the disintegration and destrnctivo efTect in the 

 tissues. 



Of course it is nowhere intended to imply tiint a little bullet 

 Avill give a flatter trajectory, exert an equal e il'ect, or have as great 

 a range as would a heavy buUot when the latter 'is driven with a 

 relatively large charge of powder; but about all tlie breecliloaders 

 of the large caliber could not sivail themselves of tlie la.rgo powder 

 charges indicated while retaining their present lead, on account 

 of the great recoil wdiieh would ensue, and it is probable tilso that 

 in most instances tire requisite powiler could not be burned in the 

 bore. The increased weight of the biUlet comes i.ierhaps more 

 from elongation than from increase of diameter, thus the burning 

 space is not increased proportionally with the huUet; further in- 

 crease of weight of this class of guns to enable the use of more 

 powder and prevent undue recoil is impracticable, they being gen- 

 erally too heavy anjwray. Their improvement m the line that 

 makes them both more practicable and desirable plainly lies in 

 the direction of cutting down the lead and burning more powder. 



It is at once obvious that increase of the powder cliarge, up to 

 tlie utmost point which will uicreiise the velocity of the bullet 

 without impairing accuracy, must be both desirable and v^aluable 

 where directness, range and eitectiveness are sought. And I 

 reassert that the rifle will shoot the so deemed extraordinary 

 charges of something more than one part of powder to one of lead 

 in the case of the round bullet, and in the case of the conical bul- 

 let one part of powder to something less than two up to perhaps 

 equal parts of lead, with the desired increase iif range and effect 

 and fis great accm'aoy as I have seen exhiljited by the arm. Tliis 

 I know, because I habitually did much such shooting during sev- 

 eral years with different rifles just previous to the late war, and 

 have done some since, at the first being iatcited thereto by the ap- 

 parent need of direct and ofl'ective shooting, and guided by reflec- 

 tion and the results of experiment. The same-relative amount of 

 powder could evidently he used behind the conical ball but for the 

 fact that when a certain volume is reached it might not all be 

 burned. 



But, superb as is the mechanism of the breechloaders and 

 grandly as they do much of their w^ork, yet they lack a something, 

 which one can fairly feel, that is essential to a desirable complete- 

 ness of satisfaction. The bullet velocity, as a rule, is not up to 

 what it might he, apparently, with advantage. The almost uni- 

 versal excessively curved trajectory imposes a measure of guess 

 work and impediment to satisfactory shooting. The hard shoot- 

 ers, as well as many of the weaker ones, are too heavy in weight, 

 too much like crowbars to tramp with through ■woods and over 

 hills and mountains, while the lead is something like a small 

 quartz mine to carry. The small calibers generally use a sickly 

 powder charge, as if the arm could not be advanced to any more 

 important status than that of a plaything or to shoot blackbirds 

 and squirrels. In these tilings are found its principal defect, and 

 they do not seem irremediable. 



Let me illustrate a little. I take my finely made hreechloading 

 Remington rifle, a very correct shooter, of a little ovei' Slbs.weight, 

 a .40-70-330, and go out to shoot squirrels for an afternoon. But the 

 arm and game do not seem to be adapted to each other. Tlie bul- 

 lets in the 21 cartridges which 1 take, while not sufticient in num- 

 ber, weigh a heavy pound and the lead in them would make 70 of 

 the conical bullets of the little .32-caliber, which I used with so 

 much success and satisfaction in shooting deer. 1 hold point blank 

 at a hawk 40 measured rods distant, and the bullet pursuing its 

 grand curve strikes 1.51n. below the lowest feather, A. conical bul- 

 let of 142grs. from the same rifle, before the same powder, with the 

 same aim, would have struck the bird plump in mid body. And 

 this last bidlet would readily kill any deer of the continent. In- 

 tent on experiments as well, I had carefully removed the base of 

 sevei-al bullets, such as I was using, above the third ring, leaving 

 one ring on the bullet for a bearing, and the weight of each hall 

 thus cut dowm was 14.-grs. Shells were loaded with these the same 

 as the full SBC balls, wdth TOgrs. of powder, and I proceeded to ex- 

 periment with both classes on a 4in. target at the distance of 40 

 rods. Ivly statement just made was fully justified, tlie strike of 

 tlie smaller bullets averaging the height of the middle of the tar- 

 get, and that of the heavier bullets a point l.'iin. below^. Like re- 

 sults in the line of abated lead were afterward obtained by the 

 same charges and other in sev^eral experiments made. 



Gutting down of the excessive amount of lead now generally 

 used in the breechloader and a proper graduation of the amount 

 of powder, to be obtained by experiment, will appsirently mi tigate 

 if not f uUy enable the remedy of the defects ;ind faults of this 

 arm w-hieh I have passed in review, and it is dilflcult to .see how 

 anything else can. If the views I have set forth prove to be well 

 taken, experiment and in vestigation vvnll sooner or later bring 

 them into practical use, with the result of a general substitution 



