472 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[July 3, 1890. 



SHOT COUNT AND WEIGHT. 



No. 8 Shot. 





Charge 

 No. 1. 



Charge 

 No. 2. 



Charge 

 No. 3. 



Charge 

 No. 4, 



Charge 

 No. 5. 



Charge 

 No. 6. 



Charge 

 No. 7. 



Charge 

 No. 8. 



Charge 

 No. 9. 



Charge 

 No. 10. 



AVERAGE. 



Three Charges 

 100 pellets each. 





























































Count 

 pellets. 



>.-> . 



lount 

 illets. 



'eight 

 rains. 



Count 

 pellets. 



'eight 

 rains. 



B ® 



'eight 

 "ains. 



-2 



Weight 

 grains. 



diets. 



Weight 

 grains. 



C-2 



eight 

 'ains. 



p-2 



f, - 

 ?! 



Count 

 pellets. 



Weight 

 grains. 





Weight 

 grains. 





eight 

 •ains. 



eight 

 •ains. 



eight 

 •ains. 



eight 

 •ains. 



erage. 







> u. 



Up, 







61 



£ a 



OS 



OS 



os 





°S 



£ & 



°» 



O P, 





gs> 



ga 





> 



AMERICAN CHILLED. 



Leroy Shot Company... 

 New York. 

























































I 



510 



686 



504 



579 



511 



589 



511 



591 



506 



B8i 



511 



589 



507 



58ti 



510 



587 



510 



585 



510 



589 





586 





115 



116 



115% 



St. Louis Shot Tower Co. i 

 St. Louis, Mo. ' 





568 



537 



601 



533 



585 



523 



582 



531 



593 



525 



587 



529 



590 



529 



592 



519 



580 



519 



577 





585 



112 



112 



111% 



112 



Tnflmm Rt "Rrna 



t 







535 



558 



535 





535 





539 





535 





535 





536 





537 



554 



536 





OoD 













New York. 



\ 





556 







558 





555 





563 





556 





573 





559 







553 



559 



105 



106 



105 



105% 



Selby Lead Company. . . 

 San Franciscn, Cal. 



\ 



54-7 



581 



543 



580 



543 



584 



547 



582 



546 



583 



539 



583 



553 



584 



539 



581 



538 



586 



560 



59C 





584 



10% 



108 



108 



108 



Raymond Lead Co 



Chicago, 111. 



\ 



565 



598 



556 



597 



558 



596 



543 



581 



563 



603 



545 



582 



550 



585 



559 



600 



561 



597 



562j 



596 



OOO 



593 



107 



106% 



107% 



107 



Colwell Lead Company . 

 New York. 



( 



\ 



577 



m 



557 



584 



558 



582 



558 



584 



565 



587 



560 



t)0O 



555 



57f 



555 



583 



555 



583 



573 



o'. i2 



EC 1 

 DO 1 



586 



105 



104% 



105 



105 



Thos. W. Sparks 



Philadelphia, Pa. 



\ 



566 



§8? 



574 



598 



573 



593 



564 



585 



576 



598 



567 





566 



-.87 



577 



598 



574 



590 



568 



O !)'■■< 



570 



592 



103 



105 



103% 



104 



Bailey. Farrell & Co ... . 

 Pittsburgh, Pa. 



\ 



580 



582 



576 



580 



567 



568 



597 



593 



597 



590 



588 



590 



591 



593 



577 



580 



584 



584 



583 



575 



574 



583 



99 



100 



100 



100 



Cincinnati Shot Works. 

 Cincinnati, 0. 



\ 



595 



578 



587 



570 



587 



5119 



583 



587 



580 



5152 



578 



562 



599 



580 



578 



563 



588 



570 



598 



5" 



587 



570 



98 



98 



98 



98 



Merchant's Shot Tower 

 Co., Baltimore, Md. 



J 

 1 



633 



637 



610 



619 



633 



627 



617 



t-,.l -' 



601 



59; 



601 



599 



611 



594 



582 



W. 



613 



622 



595 



582 



608 



610 



103 



100 



102% 



103 



Chicago Shot Tower Co. 

 Chicago, 111. 



J 

 1 



614 



581 



625 



588 



616 



585 



603 



507 



601 



568 



615 



581 



618 



584 



615 



58-1 



601 



572 



608 



574 



611 



578 



94 



94% 



94% 



94^ 



Baltimore, Md. 



\ 



621 



568 



617 



507 



643 



583 



634 



573 



636 



571 



617 



563 



628 



574 



615 



563 



633 



577 



619 



509 



624 



571 



90% 



91 



92 



91 - 



Collier Shot Tower Co. . 

 St. Louis, Mo. 



1 



653 



584 



678 



605 



679 



609 



653 



58+ 



660 



591/ 



651 



584 



680 



610 



663 



m 



675 



607 



698 



623 



669 



600 





90 



89% 









































A 





.... 



575 



584 









102% 



AMERICAN SOFT, 

















































North Western Shot Co. J 

 Omaha, Neb. 1 



567 



m> 



560 



594 



571 



600 



579 



607 



576 



598 



585 



607 



575 



603 



578 



6I< 



566 



m 



579 



609 



574 



603 



106 



103^ 



104 



104% 



ENGLISH CHILLED. 



England. 



! 



621 



589 



613 



582 



604 



575 



620 



566 



606 



571 



621 



584 



634 



58f 



616 



587 



634 



m 



641 



598 



620 



584 



95 



92% 



9% 



94% 



Abbey Shot 



England. 



x 



-I 



583 



582 



585 



574 



576 



580 



578 



577 



588 



585 



567 



57C 



589 



585 



588 



591 



585 



585 



574 



574 



581 



580 



1C1 



100 



100 



100 



SHOT COUNT AND WEIGHT. 



WITH the table of No. 8 shot we come to a sort which 

 reaches the largest circle of interest. It is the 

 shot above all others which is the favorite for so many 

 purposes that more than ordinary interest attaches to its 

 count and weight figures. In this as in all the other 

 cases the charges measured were taken with the Ameri- 

 can Shooting Association standard l^oz. measure, and in 

 the American chilled shot list each concern did its own 

 measuring, using a struck measure, excepting only the 

 Robertson shot, which was sent on in bulk and measured 

 in the office here. The same exception applies to the soft 

 shot and the two samples of English shot which came 

 over in original package of about 81bs. per number. A 

 glance at the table finds the Leroy Company still at one 

 end with the largest shot of the size, while the Collier 

 Company take the other extreme, and the difference from 

 the lowest to the highest is over 30 per cent, on the fig- 

 ures of the former so far as count goes. In the matter 

 of weight the variations are not so great, and the changes 

 run only through about 40grs. The average nearly 

 reaches the grain to a pellet grade, and the Bailey, Far- 

 rell & Co.'s shot runs very close to that average. In order 

 to institute direct comparison the further table of weight 

 for three charges each of 100 pellets is given. The aver- 

 age weight here is 102-Jgrs. for the 100 pellets, and the 

 variation runs from 91 to 115|, depending presumably 

 upon the sort of "temper" used in making up the melted 

 compound ready for the tower. 



We do not find in the 8 shot that wide variation which 

 brings it directly into the domain of another number. 

 The largest No. 9 had but 721 pellets to the ljoz,, while 

 the smallest No. 8 reaches only 669, quite close enough 

 to be sure, only some 8 per cent, apart. The Cincinnati 

 Shot Co. , which has the reputation hereabout of making 

 a very small shot, have no less than four other companies 

 below them on the list. Compared with the New York 

 makers the shot from the Ohio city is small. The two 

 English companies are getting together much better on 

 this number of shot than on some of the previous ones, 

 but the variations both in the American and English 

 samples are altogether too great, and on such a matter as 

 shot measurement, where comparisons are continually 

 making between guns, and where so much depends upon 

 the sort of ammunition used, it seems that the gun people 

 would bring a pressure upon the shot makers to secure 

 some sort of a standard scale of sizes by count and then 

 see to it that the standard is not departed from. These 

 tables, which we have prepared at no small expense of 

 time and labor, at once indicate the necessity for reform, 

 and furnish the basis upon which the computations for a 

 new and uniform scale may be fixed. To those gunners 

 who load with system, who proportion charge of powder 

 to charge of shot, and who know what they are doing — 

 not by rule of thumb results but by careful experiment 

 at screen— these tables are of more than passing value, 

 and in a general way may serve to explain some seeming 

 contradiction when reading and talkfng of gun test re- 

 sults. 



Colorado. — Berthoud, June. — My boys went up to my 

 mountain cattle ranch last week and report grouse quite 

 numerous; saw a number of fresh deer tracks near the 

 cabin. — A. A. K. 



Forest and Stream, Box 2,832, N. Y. city, has descriptive illus- 

 trated circulars of W. B. Lemngwell's hook, "Wild Fowl Shoot- 

 ing," which will be mailed free on request. The book Is pro- 

 nounced by "Nanit." "Gloan," "Dick Swiveller," "Sybillene" and 

 other competent authorities to be the best treatise on toe subject 

 extant. 



CALIFORNIA BEAR RECORDS. 



SOME two years ago I wrote an article for one of our 

 local papers, containing a large part of the following. 

 Being desirous of preserving some of these incidents of 

 early California days, I have added some new matter and 

 present the whole to the readers of Forest and Stream, 

 assuring them that all the incidents here narrated are 

 true, to the best of my knowledge and belief. As I have 

 no part in any of the adventures, excepting as a narrator, 

 and as no fish stories will be allowed to slip in, to disturb 

 the peace of the unsuspecting reader, he need have no 

 hesitation in giving credence to every fact herein men- 

 tioned. These bear stories nearly all relate to the grizzly, 

 the monarch of the American forests, and depict his 

 ferocity and his foolishness. There is probably not a 

 single grizzly left in the Sierra Nevada, at the present 

 time, from Lessen county on the north to Tuolumne on 

 the south, and perhaps further, both ways. The onward 

 march of civilization has swept him almost out of £he 

 State, and, like the bison of the plains, he is surely 

 doomed. His great courage has been a prime factor in 

 his extermination, for, however it may be with members 

 of his race in other places, I have yet to hear of the 

 first case where he ever refused the gage of battle in the 

 early days of this State. For this reason I believe that 

 some of old Ephraim's doings should be rescued from 

 oblivion and preserved in the columns of Forest and 

 Stream. I have endeavored to verify all of the follow- 

 ing incidents, and believe them to have occurred almost 

 exactly as related. Many of the participants (not on the 

 bear's side of the battle, however) are still living in this 

 State, and some in this vicinity, and it was from their 

 own mouths that I had the major portion of these 

 chronicles. 



" I was with Hercules and Cadmus once, 

 When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear 

 With hounds of Sparta." 



(Midsummer Night's Dream:) 



The brown and black bears are still plentiful in our 

 mountains, as any sheep owner will testify, but the 

 grizzly, the terror of the hunter, has disappeared, prob- 

 ably never to be seen here again. His memory, how- 

 ever, still lingers in the stories of the early days, when 

 our rivers and canons swarmed with hardy' miners. 

 Many incidents, some terrible and some laughable, are 

 recounted by our old pioneers about the doings of 

 "Ephraim" in those stirring times. Even at the present 

 day a good bear story crops up. One of these is worth 

 relating. One of our worthy Teutonic citizens, the hero 

 of many a moving accident by flood and field, owns, or 

 did own, a saw-mill near Tamarack siding on the Central 

 Pacific Railroad. A year or two ago some parties found 

 where a bear made his home in a cave in that locality, 

 and a number of men started out one day to capture 

 him. Among them was the hero * of this story. On 

 arriving at the spot recent marks gave unmistakable 

 evidence that bruin was at home, and a council of war 

 was held. Some proposed smoking him out, others blow- 

 ing him out with dynamite, etc., but none expressed a 

 desire to "beard the lion in his den." At last our hero 

 spoke up and said: "You vas all a pack of tarn co warts! 

 I'll show you how to get him from the cave oudt!" There- 

 upon he took a stout hunting knife and lashed it securely 

 to the end of a long pole, and taking a torch of pitch pine 

 in one hand, with his improvised lance in the other, 

 boldly crawled into the hole. Presently a loud snort and 

 a growl was heard by the anxious onlookers, quickly 

 followed by the reappearance of our hero, safe in 

 wind and limb, but minus his lance and torch and badly 



rattled. Said he: "Poys, datvas a close call! Ven I 

 crawlt in dere, eferydings vas as black as ter tuyfel, and 

 all at vonce I poke me mine torch right against de pear's 

 nose, and he shust give one shnort and plow me mine 

 light oudt. I tell you I get me from dere oudt pooty 

 kowick." The scheme was a courageous one, but its end- 

 ing was ludicrous. He had located the position of the 

 bear, however, and a few rifle shots soon ended the hunt 

 successfully. Of course the bear was a black, for as be- 

 fore stated no grizzlies are now known to exist in this 

 section of the State. 



A story of a club-foot grizzly being seen around the 

 neighborhood of Lake Tahoe every now and then crops 

 up and goes the rounds of the local press. On one occa- 

 sion it came out some eight or ten years ago, and created 

 quite a sensation. A circumstantial tale was told, I think, 

 in the Carson, Nev., papers, how a woodchopper had gone 

 out to his lonely work in the neighborhood of Truckee, 

 and had never returned; and search being made only his 

 axe and his shoes, with his feet still in them, were dis- 

 covered, but that unmistakable signs showed how he had 

 been surprised by old clubfoot while at his work; how he 

 had climbed a small tree to escape; how he had been 

 shaken out of it like a ripe apple by the enraged brute; and 

 had, then and there, been incontinently eaten up and de- 

 voured, all but the aforesaid axe and boots. This created 

 considerable local excitement at the time, and about 100 

 hunters assembled, from far and near, at Truckee, and 

 organized a hunt for this formidable animal. The moun- 

 tains were scoured for three days, but ' without finding 

 either a trace of the bear or any foundation for the story, 

 and since that time old clubfoot has become a tradition 

 only. 



In the early days of the State, however, Ephraim was 

 much too numerous, and his sudden appearance haB 

 stampeded many a camp of miners on the American 

 River and its branches. For the following incidents I 

 am indebted to C. A. Tuttle (now dead) and G. W. Apple- 

 gate, two of our most respected pioneers and prominent 

 citizens, whose fund of memories and power of narra- 

 tion were unequaled. The scene of these bygone hap- 

 penings is sometimes in Placer and sometimes in El Do- 

 rado county. To illustrate the ease with which a full- 

 grown grizzly can he killed when struck in the spot 

 where it will do the most good, the following incident is 

 given: 



In the autumn of one of the early fifties, Dr. H. W. 

 Nelson, now a prominent surgeon in the city of Sacra- 

 mento, but then practicing in Greenwood, was out quail 

 hunting. He had a double-barrel gun loaded with the 

 proper charge for that kind of game, and no other wea- 

 pon or means of defense with him. The doctor was 

 making his way up a ravine, in a narrow trail bordered 

 with dense chaparral, when suddenly a band of hunters 

 from the neighboring mining camp of Georgetown made 

 their appearance on the hill above him, in pursuit of a 

 large bear. Some of the party saw him and shouted a 

 warning that the bear was coming down the ravine, and 

 for him to break for dear life. The doctor was equal to the 

 occasion, however, and coolly shouted back to "let him 

 come, I am ready for him." He had a theory based upon 

 some previous investigations of the anatomy of a bear's 

 head, that a charge of shot in the end of a grizzly's nose 

 must reach the brain and prove fatal. Coolly cocking 

 his gun he awaited events. In a moment or two the 

 bear appeared out of the brush, not over 15ft. away, and 

 on catching sight of the doctor reared up for a charge. 

 The latter has often since averred that when the bear 

 erected himself upon his bams he appeared to b© at least 

 20ft, high. Never for an instant losing his preface af 



