Oct. 17, 1889.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



248 



THE GAME SEASON. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



One of our sportsmen a few clay since shot an albino 

 pine or red squirrel, which is certainly rare in this sec- 

 tion, and if its like was ever caught I have never seen 

 any record of it. Mr. A. K. Pierce is the lucky possessor 

 of this rare specimen, and has it on exhibition nicely 

 stuffed and mounted. 



The rapidity with which the pheasant can fly is cer- 

 tainly something marvelous. One of these birds in 

 taking a "flyer" on the north side of the mountain oppo- 

 site the railroad shops here got his bearings a little too 

 low, a,nd in his flight struck the window of a baggage 

 car that was standing on the siding, going between the 

 iron bars that are about 4in. apart— and are placed on 

 the windows of all baggage cars— broke the double thick 

 French plate-glass and was picked up by one of the work- 

 men inside the car comparatively unhurt. 



The exodus of the squirrels is now being followed by 

 the black bears, who have within the last week become 

 numerous in our surrounding mountains. Quite a num- 

 ber have been seen by our hunters and four have been 

 killed within a radius of six miles from here within the 

 past week. 



The squirrels are still on the march southward, and 

 fabulous stories come to us from Clearfield county to the 

 south of us of hundreds of little fellows being killed by 

 the boys with clubs and stones. Jas. H. Ferguson. 



Re.vovo, Pa., Oct. 14. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Our deer season opened on the first inst. , but so far but 

 little attention has been given to deer hunting. Our 

 sportsmen have had smaller game enough to satisfy 

 them, and then the heavy growth of leaves has made it 

 impossible to see a deer in the red brush on the moun- 

 tains, where they are generally found here at this season. 

 The squirrels are still here, but not nearly so numerous 

 as in September. Yesterday a party some twenty miles 

 doAvn the river killed a black bear that weighed 4701bs., 

 certainly the largest killed in the county for years. They 

 sent his head to Harder's gun works to be mounted. 

 Other bears have been seen quite nea,r here. One party 

 of five, consisting of Moore, Punpacker, Fornman. Reams 

 and the writer have arranged to spend next week in the 

 "green woods" of the Alleganies, and Monday morning at 

 daybreak will see us off. I want to write you sometime 

 again of "Bill Reams," a hunter from childhood, a royal 

 good fellow, and who has been in at the death of car- 

 loads of big game. Frank G. Harris. 



CLEARFIELD, Pa., Oct. 12. 



Editor Forest and Stream,: 



The dry season has been favorable for most kinds of 

 feathered game. Woodcock are unusually plentiful. I 

 know of one bag of sixty- one being made by two guns in 

 one day; while bags of thirty to forty are quite common 

 for two or three guns during an afternoon's shooting. 



Ruffed grouse and quail are very abundant, and as soon 

 as a law is made to prevent these game birds being shot 

 for the market, they will steadily increase in numbers. 

 The Dominion Gun Alliance has taken hold of this mat- 

 ter, and we may expect such a law passed at the next sit- 

 ting of the Ontario Parliament. 



Duck and snipe shooting has so far been poor, as many 

 of the marshes are destitute of water; and unless heavy 

 rains come soon the shooting will not improve when the 

 flight birds arrive. Stanstead. 



Western Ontario, Oct. 5. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Here is our bag for Friday last: Four partridges (ruffed 

 grouse), one rabbit, seventeen woodcock. Guns — Fred 

 S. Godfrey, W. H. Bradford, John Davis, H. C. Shields 

 and yours truly, " Seymour Van Santvoord. 



Bennington, Vt M Oct. 8. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Partridges very plentiful in New Brunswick this year, 

 and some good bags of woodcock have been made around 

 St. John. No gun accidents recorded here as yet. 



R. D. W. 



St. John, N. B., Oct. 9. 



PATTERN AND PENETRATION. 



some comparative figures. 



OF course the whole tendency of our tests of shotguns 

 is in the direction of comparative results. As soon 

 as gun No. 2 is shot the first question is "How does it 

 compare with No. 1," and so it is that some of our watch- 

 ful correspondents have sought to reduce the results into 

 tables of percentages, etc. Had an exact basis for uni- 

 formity of comparison been sought it would have been 

 the easiest thing in the world to have a standard 10-gauge 

 cartridge prepared and a similar 12-gauge and loaded each 

 gun as it came along from the proper heap of cartridges. 

 This would have made our work very simple and at the 

 same time have made the outcome as unsatisfactory as 

 previous gun tests conducted on the leveling rule have 

 been. Instead we preferred to allow each gun handler 

 to put into his weapon just the charge with which he 

 thought he could secure the best results. This cut off a 

 vast deal of growling at the very start and has we think 

 made the data as collected of far more general interest. 



But while this was the rule it did not prevent a great 

 deal of direct comparisons making from time to time. 

 On Sept. 19, when four guns met on the range, there was 

 such a comparison so far as weather conditions went, but 

 that was a great deal more, for the loading in some of the 

 trial shots fired enabled the most direct averages to be 

 struck between the several guns. It will be remembered 

 that on the date mentioned we took down for trial a 

 10-gauge Liege gun costing $8 at retail and a 12-gauge of 

 similar make and price. 



The story of the trial of these guns has already been 

 told. There came to the range two other guns for trial, 

 one was a 10-gauge Greener of the $150 grade, and the 

 other a $125 L. C, Smith gun. How these guns acted 

 under the charges prescribed for them by the agents was 

 given at length in our issue of last week. 



It will be remembered, too, that some weeks before we 

 had a Scott ducking gun on trial. It was a heavy 10- 

 gauge weapon, and the showing made by it was not very 

 high, taken by percentage. This Scott gun was tried 

 with two sets of charges. One was a black powder load 



with 4-J drams of Dead Shot powder. There were a 

 number of the charges remaining in our magazine and 

 these were put in the 10-gauge Liege gun, and at 60yds. 

 in the Greener arm. To make our table complete we re- 

 produce the figures of the Scott gun and give the data 

 for each shot fired. It will be seen that at 40yds. the 

 cheap gun sui'passed the imported arm. At 60yds., where 

 the Greener came in, it seemed best suited to this charge, 

 being almost equal to the total of the other two arms. 



THE CHARGE. 



Sliell— TJ. S. C. Co.'s Climax. 

 Powder— Dead Shot, 4^drs. 

 Shot— Tatliam IMoz., No. 6 Chilled. 



CARTRIDGE ANALYSIS — THREE CARTRIDGES. 



Loading. Powder. ■ 



Card over shot; two B. ( 1 135 grs. 



E. wads and card < 2 130 grs. 



over powder. (3 132 grs. 



Average 132 grs. 



SCOTT GUN, 10-GAUGE, 

 Right Ban-el. 



Shot. 



588 grs. 

 607 grs. 



589 grs. 



581 grs. 



275 pellets. 

 271 pellets. 

 274 pellets. 



273 pellets. 



Aimed Selected Between 

 Circle. Circle. Center. 

 Pellets. Pellets. Inches. 



123 

 107 

 93 



105 

 85 



32 

 32 

 62 

 42 

 47 



30 



37 



126 

 112 

 100 

 92 

 101 



6 



2% 



Pene- 

 tration. 

 Sheets. 



27 

 31 

 23 



33 



Aimed 

 Circle. 

 Pellets. 

 Ill 



101 

 103 



Selected Between 

 Circle. Center. 

 Pellets. Inches. 



115 5 



104 

 86 



104 



100 



4 

 4 



123 

 92 



POLSOM (LIEGE) GUN, 10-GAUGE, 40YDS. 



7V 2 21 111 135 

 4W 24 75 82 



40 

 39 

 66 

 50 

 51 



6 22 93 108 



SCOTT GUN, 10-GAUGE, OOVDS. 



4 

 3 

 2 



2^ 



9 

 22 

 15 



51 

 66 

 23 

 58 

 52 



59 

 86 

 35 



5^ 



Pene- 

 tration. 

 Sheets. 



19 



26 



27 



31 



28 



19 

 18 

 17 



16 



50 



61 

 59 



41 



39 



94 



82 



FOLSOM (LIEGE) GUN, 10-GAUGE, 60YDS. 



17 

 13 



29 

 31 



36 

 35 



8 15 30 35 



GREENER GUN, 10-GAUGE, 60YDS. 



5 16 72 71 



5VS 17 



16 



72 



71 



6 

 7 



There was also tried in the Scott gun a cartridge loaded 

 with Schultze powder. It was intended to have the two 

 charges, black and white, of about equal effect as to 

 powder, as they were evenly charged with shot. This 

 charge was not put in the Greener gun, as its owner 

 shared the very prevalent objection to having the strong 

 explosive tried* in his barrels. There was no hesitation 

 on our part, however, in putting it to test in the Liege 

 gun barrels. It will be noticed that both arms show a 

 falling off in pattern when charged with the white 

 powder. In this, as in each of the other cases, the 

 charge as given and the analysis for. immediate com- 

 parison is printed in juxtaposition with the record of 

 results. 



THE CHARGE. 



Shell— Greener Sporting Life. 



Powder— Pigou, Wilks & Laurence Alliance No. 5, 3^drs. 

 Shot— Newcastle, IMoz. No. 6 English. 



CARTRIDGE ANALYSIS— THREE CARTRIDGES. 



SIlOl. 



Loading. Powder. 



Card over shot; card 1 1 91 grs. 



felt and card over-< 2 92 grs. 



powder. I 3 90 grs. 



Average 91 grs. 



600 grs. 

 608 grs. 

 605 grs. 



604 grs. 



GREENER GUN, 12-GAUGE, 40YDS. 



372 pellets. 

 380 pellets. 

 377 pellets. 



376 pellets. 



Right Barrel. 



Aimed Selected Between Pene- Aimed Selected Between Pene- 

 Cirele. Circle. Center, tration. Circle. Circle. Center, tration. 

 Pellets. Pellets. Inches. Sheets. Pellets. Pellets. Inches. Sheets. 



236 



249 



5 20 146 



206 



9 



16 



188 

 86 



185 



m 17 123 



211 



m 





115 



7 15 192 



209 



P 



14 



226 



231 



4 16 199 



242 





17 



183 



208 



7^ 15 173 



205 





17 



183 



198 



5 17 167 



215 



8 



16 







FOLSOM (LIEGE) GUN, 12-GAUGE, 40YDS. 





115 



121 



6 19 94 



113 



5 



10 



96 



113 



6 14 76 



73 





16 



108 



117 



6 16 85 



93 





13 







SMITH GUN, 12-GAUGE, 40YDS. 







107 



112 



®A 18 235 



253 



4 



27 



140 



210 



9Vs 18 92 



121 



8 



15 



123 



161 



1Yz 18 164 



187 



6 



21 







GREENER GUN, 12-GAUGE, 



60YDS. 







52 



54 



6 5 70 



102 



9 



12 



67 



73 



5 11 24 



31 



6 





83 



81 



6 11 100 



108 



n 



"i 



77 



70 



7 10 101 



114 





3 



105 



99 



6 15 42 



59 



7 



12 



77 



75 



6 10 68 



~83 



7~ 



8 







FOLSOM (LIEGE) GUN, 12-GAUGE, 60YDS. 





30 



42 



QH .. 35 



45 



5 



5 



39 



52 



(% 10 32 



52 



10^ 



5 



35 



47 



6J^ 10 33 



48 



7^ 



5 







SMITH GUN, 12-GAUGE, 6 

 6 .. 39 



0yds. 







43 



88 



46 







46 



63 



7 11 22 



28 







44 



75 



6^ 11 30 



37 



5 





We now come to the 12-gauge guns. "When we tried 

 the Greener 12-gauge sent over from the Birmingham 

 works of W. W. Greener, it was charged with two differ- 

 ing cartridges, each of black powder. They, were both of 

 them loaded by the American agent of the gun, Henry 

 C. Squires, of this city. In one he used the shells sent 

 over by Mr. Greener with English powder and shot. The 

 other set was a finely loaded and strong cartridge, Ameri- 

 can make throughout. The trial was a sort of interna- 

 tional match on a modest scale. Beaders of Forest and 

 Stream will remember our report on the Greener gun. 

 Well, there were some of both sets of cartridges left 

 over, and they were brought out on Sept. 19 for trial in 

 the Liege gun from Folsom Bros, importing house and in 

 the L. C. Smith weapon. First is given the result with 

 the English charge. Here the superiority of the better 

 grade of gun is seen in a very marked way, though in 

 the matter of penetration the charge seems to do its 

 own work independent of the barrel from which it is 

 fired. The comparison between the three anus was car- 

 ried through both ranges. The five shots from each bar- 

 rel in the original Greener are given, while the others 

 have but two shots at each range fired from each barrel. 

 The figures throughout the test will repay careful study 



and let the reader into some of the vagaries of which 

 guns, no matter of what make, are liable. Let him who 

 can, fix the rule which governs these variations. 



THE CHARGE. 



Shcll-JJ. M. C. Co. 



Powder— Dupon t Ducking, 3Mdrs. 



Sfcot-LeRoy Chilled, l^oz. No. 8. 



CARTRIDGE ANALYSIS— THREE CARTRIDGES. 



Loading. Powder. Shot. 



Card over shot; card. 1 1 91 grs. 611 grs. 633 pellets. 



heavy felt and card-; 2 89 grs. 606 grs. 519 pellets. 



over powder. (3 89 grs. 613 grs. 539 pellets. 



Average 89 grs. 610 grs. 560 pellets. 



GREENER GUN, 12-GAUGE, 40YDS. 

 Right Barrel. Left Barrel. 



Aimed Selected Between Pene- Aimed Selected Between Peno- 



Clrcle. Circle. Center, tration. Circle. Circle. Center, tration. 



Pellets. Pellets. Inches. Sheets. Pellets. Pellets. Inches. Sheets. 



323 356 6 14 241 314 5^ 15 



323 362 Sy 2 18 288 355 8 16 



253 282 7 13 233 329 9 13 



286 327 7 15 317 353 4 12 



303 327 6 14 184 207 1% 12 



298 



167 

 167 



128 

 282 



113 

 131 

 122 

 95 



59 

 24 



65 

 100 



331 



6 



15 



253 



313 



6 



FOLSOM (LIEGE) GUN, 12-GAUGE, 40YDS. 



168 OJ^ 7 140 176 5 



168 4 11 149 156 4 



SMITn GUN, 12-GAUGE, 40YDS. 



147 5 10 188 250 



295 8 12 272 283 



221 7 11 230 266 



GREENER GUN, 10-GAUGE, 60YDS. 



124 m 10 69 78 

 123 7 4 77 115 

 147 8 4 70 81 



125 7 6 52 91 



126 6^ 7 108 141 



6 

 7 



ii 



8 



$6 



13 



9 

 11 



10 

 14 



129 m 0 75 101 8 



FOLSOM (LIEGE) GUN, 12 GAUGE. 60YDS. 



56 8 7 48 61 5^ 



38 6Va .." 33 51 0J4 



85 

 110 



97 



7 7 40 56 



SMITH GUN, 12-GUAGE, 60YDS. 



8 4 77 95 

 6^ 8 99 115 



6 



7% 6 88 105 7% 6 



Finally, we come to the last set of comparisons made 

 on Sept. 19, bringing the cheap Liege and the standard 

 L. C. Smith into trial with the Greener, with American 

 cartridges, just such charges as are used by thousands of 

 our field shots. Again the higher grade guns leave the 

 cheap weapon far behind, and the English arm seemed 

 to accommodate itself very easily to the American charge 

 and put in a far greater average of the charge than did 

 the home gun. 



THE CHARGE. 



Shell- U. S. C. Co.'s Climax. 



Powder -Schultze, 4drs. 



Shot— Tatham, IMoz. No. 6 Chilled. 



CARTRIDGE ANALYSIS- THREE CARTRIDGES. 



Loading. Powder. Shot. 



Card over shot; one B. ( 1 61 grs. 596 grs. 2S0 pellets. 



E., two P. E. wads- 2. .. 60 grs. 592 grs. 273 pellets, 



and card over powder ( 3 59 grs. 578 grs. 270 pellets. 



Average 60 grs, 588 grs. 274 pellets. 



SCOTT GUN, 10- GAUGE, 40YDS. 

 Right Barrel. Left Barrel. 



Aimed Selected Between Pene- Aimed Selected Between Pene- 



Oirole. Circle. Center, tration. Circle. Circle. Center, tration. 



Pellets. Pellets. Inches. Sheets. Pellets. Pellets. Inches. Sheets. 



7 27 97 102 4 25 



5 25 45 54 4 



4 25 8S 84 5 



5)4 36 20 29 4 



4 26 100 103 B% 30 



69 90 

 98 110 

 24 29 

 124 106 



82 



91 

 81 



51 



27 



18 

 50 

 41 

 8 



43 



10 

 16 



83 5 28 69 74 4 



FOLSOM (LIEGE) GUN, 10-GAUGE, 40YDS. 



54 TYi ■■ H3 117 &h 



32 5 ..50 97 8L. 



48 6 ,. 81 107 



SCOTT GUN, 10-GAUGE, 60YDS. 



18 3 .. 56 60 



50 4^ 17 50 52 



50 4 .. 50 50 



9 2 36 36 



55 4VS 21 27 31 



16 

 18 

 17 

 17 

 20 



36 3*4 19 44 46 3 



FOLSOM (LIEGE) GUN, 10-GAUGE, 60YDS. 



29 6 52 57 5 



19 3^9 41 52 



24 



46 



54 



ADIRONDACK DEER. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The game law has been very generally observed in this 

 section during the past summer. Up to the first of Sep- 

 tember very few deer were killed, for jacking is not very 

 successful after the middle of August. But I cannot say 

 as much since the open season for hounding deer, for by 

 this method of hunting killing deer becomes an easy 

 thing to do. This brings in a horde of hunters, who 

 could not kill a deer in a lifetime by any fair method of 

 hunting. Almost every lake and pond has its watchers, 

 consequently the slaughter must necessarily be great. 



A party consisting of twelve men and thirteen dogs 

 passed this place a few days ago en route for the hunting- 

 grounds. I heard from them after they had hunted three 

 days, and they had then killed twenty deer. They have 

 yet two weeks to hunt, and seventy-five or one hundred 

 deer are not too high an estimate of the number that will 

 be killed by that party alone. The one-deer transporta- 

 tion law and the three-deer clause do not apply to such a 

 party. They can jerk the venison and thus lay in their 

 winter supply of meat, and they are of that make-up. 

 The law allows them to bring out as much venison as 

 they please in that form, while such a party could legally 

 bring out the legs and heads of thirty-six deer. Numer- 

 ous parties are doing the same thing. It is sanctioned by 

 law and there is no help for it. More deer will be killed 

 during the hounding season than by every other method, 

 including the cruster and the June jacker. 



What a shame that the great State of New York by its 

 legislative enactment should open the way for this un- 

 mitigated slaughter of its noble game, which, if properly 

 protected, would remain sufficiently plenty to supply all 

 reasonable demands of the sportsmen and the tourist so 

 long as the Adirondack woods remain. But with the 

 present fifty days of open season for hounding, the deer 

 of the Adirondack will soon be a thing of the past. 



Number 4, New York, Oct.^. MUSSET, 



