248 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Oct. 16, 1890 



mnt §ag mi %nt\* 



DUCKING IN IOWA. 



THE members of our club met to discuss tbe subject of 

 going to Goose Lake for a few days' outing. Bright 

 and early Thursday morning our boat an d.sporting equip- 

 ments were loaded into a lumber wagon and we were off 

 at half-past seven, the most jovial party in existence. 

 We enjoyed a cool drive in the frosty October morning 

 air, but nevertheless all were so filled with a spirit of the 

 occasiou that none could complain. 



The first incident of the trip was a bit of discouraging 

 sport with a very wild and timid flock of golden plover. 

 While proceeding on the highway a flock of these fine 

 birds was sighted feeding in a pasture near by. Three 

 of us made an attempt to secure some of them for dinner, 

 but after firing a few shots at long range and not getting 

 any of the birds we returned to the wagon and drove on. 

 No sooner were the bluffs of Coon River reached than 

 our two dogs, Dash and Nick (two good retrievers), 

 started three rabbits. Again three of us dashed forward 

 to secure meat for dinner. We succeeded in getting a 

 few poor shots in among the dense hazel brush, but to no 

 avail. Somewhat disgusted we went back to the wagon 

 and drove on. 



. Driving on a mile or so we sighted a large bevy of 

 prairie chickens in a cornfield near by. Soon four of us 

 were treading lightly through the corn. The birds flushed 

 at a good 60yds., but at the report of my gun one of them 

 set its wings and sailed into a large patch of rushes fully 

 200yds. distant. After making a thorough search it was 

 given up as lost, and we returned to the wagon again 

 much disgusted at our morning work. A mile further 

 on another large bevy of chickens were sighted in a stubble 

 field near the road. The boys made what is called a sneak 

 on them and secured three of them. Greatly elated with 

 our success at the chickens this time, and feeling that we 

 were to have fried chicken for dinner, we went on our 

 way rejoicing. We arrived at Hardin Creek at half-past 

 nine, and three of us crossed a field to the creek to a point 

 opposite the road, while the others drove out to a field 

 further down where we were to meet them. The first 

 thing sighted as we neared the creek were a lot of crows, 

 which flushed so close to us that George (not stopping to 

 think that there might be some ducks in the creek) fired 

 and killed the nearest crow: but imagine if you can our 

 anguish when at the report of the gun a nice flock of 

 bluewing teal rose from behind a straight bank of tbe 

 creek at 100yds. from us, The worthless crow was picked 

 up, but the ducks were gone. 



Nothing worth noting occurred until we reached the 

 lake, about half past eleven, and many were the enthusi- 

 astic expressions as we sighted great flocks of mallards, 

 redheads and blue and green-winged teal flying to and 

 fro cn the lake. A place for putting up our tent was 

 located and soon all hands were at work unloading 

 camping goods. George, Will and Bert put the tent 

 up and proceeded to make everything ready for a three 

 days' camp, while Warren and myself went to a neigh- 

 boring farmer to secure a stall for our horses. After talk- 

 ing a while with a good-natured man by the name of 

 Heder we were fortunate enough to get possession of a 

 stall and plenty of hay for feed. Much pleased at this 

 turn of affairs we returned to camp. We found them 

 with the tents set up and ready for dinner. After dinner 

 was over all hands made ready for a duck hunt on the 

 lake. There being several boats on the lake besides our 

 own, all could hunt as they pleased. As it was a very 

 fine af ternoon we all took to the water, and a pretty good 

 afternoon's sport was had, as several bags of mallards 

 and redheads attested. As the twilight began to fall the 

 boys gathered into camp. While the cook was preparing 

 supper we sat around the camp fire relating incidents of 

 the afternoon. Soon the cook called supper, and we, 

 equal to tbe occasion, responded to the fried prairie 

 chicken. One thing greatly regretted was that we did 

 not go prepared to fish. Mr. Heller (the genial farmer 

 who had made room in his barn for our team) and his son 

 Frank came into our camp just at dusk. They informed 

 us that they were going on the lake to fish. They took 

 with them a big light, and said that with this they could 

 blind the fish and row up to it and take it with a four- 

 pronged spear. They returned from the lake at half-past 

 ten o'clock, and great was our indignation while we stood 

 looking into Mr. Heller's boat upon the mass of beautiful 

 black bass and pickerel. Some of the black bass weighed 

 as much as 41bs. and some of the pickerel 81bs. Only 

 after seeing Mr. Heller load his fish upon a wagon (for he 

 had too many to transfer otherwise) and drive away in 

 the darkness did we return to our bunks. We then and 

 there vowed we would never again come to Goose Lake 

 without a fisherman's outfit. 



We were all astir at 4 o'clock in the morning, and to 

 our disgust found it was raining, with a cold northeast 

 wind blowing: but being determined to make the best of 

 it we all set forth to take the ducks before breakfast. 

 Hunting was of course very disagreeable, but we suc- 

 ceeded in making some good bags and returned to camp 

 at 9 o'clock for breakfast. We had a cold lunch, and the 

 rain continuing to fall we remained in camp. Wrapped 

 in the blankets to keep warm and telling stories of the 

 good sporting days gone by,we whiled the forenoon away. 

 Again eating a cold lunch for dinner (for it was too wet 

 to start a fire), and the rain having ceased, we went out 

 for a few shots at jack-snipe; but as these prize birds 

 were very scarce and wild we did not get many. The 

 afternoon was very wet and foggy; we did not do much 

 until toward evening, when George, Warren and myself 

 went north about two miles[to Bush Lake, where we found 

 very good duck shooting. We kept up a lively fire 

 among them until it got dark and secured heavy bags of 

 mallards. We returned to camp at about 8 o'clock. 



Again numerous fishing parties were on the lake, and 

 the lights could be seen floating to and fro. About 9 we 

 pulled the canvas door of our tents to and rolled into 

 our blankets. At midnight we were awaked by a terri- 

 ble racket that our dogs were making over a party of 

 fishermen who were landing near our camp. Next 

 morning we were astir early, and after a hasty lunch 

 Warren, George and myself retired to Rush Lake, where 

 we again had splendid sport with the mallards for an 

 hour or so, when we returned to camp loaded with the 

 spoils of our morning's work. When we got to camp we 

 found that Will and Bert had gone on the lake and were 

 shooting fish. We were not long in following their 



example and were soon on the lake popping the pickerel 

 at every sight. We succeeded in getting a fine lot of 

 pickerel and a few more ducks. At noon we returned to 

 camp and began preparations for our return home. We 

 stopped at Hardin Creek and made some successful shots 

 at the ducks there, securing some fine mallard and blue- 

 wing teal. We reached home at 7 o'clock in the evening, 

 the last hour of our ride being in the rain. We retired 

 feeling that we had made a success of our tour and will 

 make more such trips in the future. E. E. F. 



SCRANTON, IOWa. 



RIFLE TWIST AND CALIBER. 



SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 15.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 Several years ago I did some experimenting on 

 rifling, and sent East to the different gun factories to have 

 barrels cut with fast twist, but it seemed that they had 

 experimented, and found that a rifle barrel should be cut 

 with one turn in I8in. It did not matter whether you 

 ordered a .22cal. or a ,50cal. rifle, or what length of pro- 

 jectile you wished to shoot, it was all the same. But I 

 thought differently, and finally got some cut with one 

 turn in 12in. and one turn in 16in. This was the fastest 

 turn in rifling that they had ever cut up to that time. I 

 commenced fromoneinl2in., and cut barrels down to one 

 turn in 4in; for I believed that the projectiles of any two 

 calibers (when their lengths are the same in proportion to 

 their diameter) should have the same travel around their 

 axis, in their rotary motion, to keep them right end to 

 and make them steady in their flight. 



Take the circumference of the projectile and multiply 

 by the number of turns in a certain distance, the result 

 will give the travel around its axis. 



The distance traveled by both calibers should be the 

 same. 



I will explain this in another way: .44eal. one turn in 

 rifling in l8in., projectile three diameters of bore in 

 length, 1.82in.; .22cal. one turn in rifling in 9in. , length of 

 projectile, three diameters of bore, .66in. 



The lengths of projectiles are just alike, in proportion 

 to the diameter of the gun they are to be shot from, the 

 one turn in 9in. for the .22cal. will turn the projectile 

 around on its axis twice in 18in., so that twice around 

 the ,22cal. will go once around the .44cal., and the dis- 

 tance that the surf ace of each projectile travels around 

 its axis is the same; and it did not take me long so find 

 that it was true that the distance a projectile travels 

 around on its axis to keep it right end to, would be the 

 same in any other caliber under the same conditions. 



The next thing to find out was what length of turn in 

 rifling would keep any length of projectile right end to. 

 After finding that the rotary motion of a projectile in- 

 creased in proportion to the distance it was shot, it re- 

 volved on its axis more times in the second hundred yards 

 than it did in the first hundred, and so on each hundred 

 yards it turns more during its entire flight. This may 

 seem strange at first, so I will have to explain. 



The resistance of the atmosphere on a projectile lessens 

 its flight about one-fourth the first second and one-fourth 

 of the remainder of its speed the next second, and so on; 

 at the end of the third second more than one-half of its 

 speed through the atmosphere is lost. 



The friction of the atmosphere does not lessen the 

 rotary motion as fast in proportion to the distance it is 

 shot as it does its flight through the atmosphere. 



A projectile shot from a .45cal. long-range rifle, 550grs. 

 of lead and shot at 1,000yds., will have about one turn in 

 llin. It takes more than twice as long for the projectile 

 to travel 18in. at 1,000yds. as it did at the muzzle of the 

 rifle, and the rotary motion has not lessened in proportion 

 to the loss of speed. I experimented on four different 

 guns in 1883 84, but did not finish the tests, as I left for 

 the Arctic at this time and was gone for two years, and 

 upon my return did not finish my experiments; but I have 

 some projectiles that I have shot at different distances. 

 A .45cal. l^in. long, one turn in 12in. and one turn in 

 l8in., shot at 1,000yds., and shot through soft boards and 

 dry, loose sand, the marks of the boards on the projectiles 

 are a much sharper angle than the rifling. 



A ,38cal. projectile Hin. in length, turn in rifling 1 in 

 9, shot at 2,000yds., 90grs. of powder, marks of boards on 

 projectile about twice the angle of marks of rifling. A 

 .lOcal., length of projectile 2 diameters turn in rifling 

 1 in 4in.. charge of powder, lgr., shot through bars of 

 white castile soap. In this it was easy to measure the 

 turn of ball, as it would rifle the hole in the soap just a3 

 perfect as the barrel was rifled, and by cutting the soap in 

 thin strips with hole in center of strip, then holding it to 

 the light, it was easy to measure the turn of rifling. In 

 this the turn in ball increased as I increased the distance. 

 The accuracy of this little gun was something that would 

 surprise the oldest rifleman. 



I also made a ,22cal., one turn in 12in., and chambered 

 for .22 short, and shot it with a telescope at 50, 100 and 

 200yds., and then chambered it for .22 long, .22 extra 

 long and then for lOgrs. of powder. I then made three 

 lengths of projectiles, 48, 60 and 80grs.; then increasing 

 the charge of powder 10. 15, 20, 25 and 30grs., found that 

 with 25grs. of Hazard FFG powder and48grs. of hardened 

 lead with one-tenth tin, that fifty 8in. bullseyes could be 

 made at 200yds. with rest. The rise of this projectile at 

 109yds. (shooting at 200yds.) was about 6fin. 



After trying a number of different twists in different 

 calibers, I found that the rule I was working on gave 

 good results for getting the length of projectile, for it 

 gave me the best results after experimenting with longer 

 and shorter projectiles. 



I would end at about the length of projectile that this 

 rule will give: Take the caliber (or diameter) of the bore 

 of your rifle in hundredths of inches and multiply by 3, 

 then multiply the result by itself; then take the length of 

 one turn in rifling in inches in your rifle and multiply 

 that by 7, divide the first sum by the result of this and it 

 will give the length of projectile in hundredths of inches 

 that can be shot from that rifle. 



If you have a certain length of projectile and you wish 

 to know the length of turn in rifling to shoot this projec- 

 tile and keep it right end to, take the length of projec- 

 tile in hundredths of inches and multiply by ? , then 

 take the caliber (or diameter) of barrel of rifle it is to be 

 shot from, multiply by 3 and the result by itself, and 

 divide by the result of the projectile; this will give the 

 turn in number of inches (cut off the fractions and leave 

 it even inches). In small calibers with shallow grooves 

 a little longer projectile can be used, for the weight has 

 not been cut away on the surface. 



Hollow bases must be cut down flat before measuring. 



In measuring length of shells for larger guns the weight 

 of metal cut out for charge must be added to their length 

 except weight of explosive. 



Example— Caliber .32: ,32x3=.96x.96=.921G. 



Rifling .16in.— .16x7= 112. 



.9216 -s- J 12=,8228, or discarding the extended decimals 

 .82, the length of projectile. Howard H. Care. 



BAY SNIPE AT CURRITUCK. 



ON Sunday morning, Sept. 21, as the Carolina steamed 

 up to the Bay Line wharf in Norfolk, we beheld on 

 her upper deck the happy faces of our genial friends, 

 whom we will call Tommie, Ned and Pike. They stepped 

 ashore and were given a welcome handshake by Worthey, 

 Theodorick and the writer, who on all future trips of 

 this kind (for reasons we are too modest to mention) will 

 be known as Duck. This comprised the party, and a 

 happier six fellows than were we a few hours later you 

 never saw. 



The Comfort, with all her bright colors fluttering in 

 the breeze, and shining brass ornaments glittering in the 

 morning sun, lay on the other side of the wharf waiting 

 to convey us to our happy hunting grounds beyond the 

 Great Dismal Swamp. 



At 9:15 we cast off and steamed down the southern 

 branch of the beautiful Elizabeth River. -A mile on our 

 way we came to the Navy Yard. On our left looms up 

 the receiving ship Franklin, which had the honor of 

 transporting Boss Tweed from flowery beds of English 

 rose to Ludlow street jail. On our right may be seen the 

 skeletons of cruiser No. 8 and the war ship that is to be 

 some day. Then came the Ossipee, Brooklyn, Richmond 

 and others. 



Leaving the Navy Yard there is little to be seen until 

 we reach the mouth of the old Dismal Swamp Canal. 

 The canal is about 22 miles in length and was planned by 

 George Washington; it is a navigable stream for wild 

 ducks and leads into the lakes of the Dismal Swamp. 



We are soon in sight of the locks of the Chesapeake and 

 Albemarle canal. At length we enter the canal, and what 

 scenery we beheld. No words of mine can describe it. 

 There had been a heavy dew the night before and now 

 all nature was at its fairest. The junipers wore their 

 most beautiful green. 



Leaving the canal we enter the North Landing River, 

 and pass Starvation Plantation. A few miles more of 

 winding rivers and we enter Currituck Sound. It is 

 truly a beautiful sheet of water, and certainly the great- 

 est place for wildfowl on the American coast. What you 

 shoot at Currituck you may depend upon as good to eat. 



At 4 P. M. we drop anchor half-way between Knott's 

 Island and Church's Island. We were soon boarded by 

 our keeper, who showed us a fine pair of curlew which 

 he had shot from the porch of our club an hour before. 

 He told us game Was abundant and "easy to shoot." The 

 last three words made every soul of us happy. At 6 P. M. 

 we had dinner, and three hours later were sleeping too 

 soundly even to dream. 



Monday morning, the 22d, at 4 A. M,, we are aroused 

 from our slumbers" by Capt. Dorney, who always sleeps 

 with one eye open. Although we have spent many happy 

 days yachting with different friends on different'yacbts, 

 we have never seen his equal. 4:15 finds us seated in the 

 comfortable dining room. 



Breakfast over, we step into our small boats. We have 

 refrigerator baskets in each blind, and the hirds can be 

 kept in perfect condition until we all return to the house 

 or on shipboard, when they are repacked in large freezers, 

 which will keep them two weeks certainly. The teams 

 to drive us to our blinds are s^on ready when we land, 

 and off we go with hearts as light as cork. Ned reaches 

 his blind fir»t, and while Leon is placing out his decoys, 

 two or three bunches of winter yellowlegs swoop down 

 and are bagged in full view of the whole party. 



The next blind reached is Worthey's. I had the pleas- 

 ure of staking out his decoys for him; they were a hand- 

 some stool of golden plover. We were not 50yds. from 

 him, when a golden plover came down jfcp his decoys. 

 There was a great noise and three of his decoys were 

 knocked into splithereens, but so was the bird. By this 

 time Ned was popping away as fast as he could load and 

 shoot, and soon after every blind was heard from. 



Some sportsmen (generally those who haven't tried it) 

 say they are not fond of bay snipe shooting. But we 

 think if any one could have one day of j ust such sport as 

 we have had this season and many past seasons here, their 

 conversion would be sure and quick. 



When a sportsman can leave his club house just at 

 dawn on a pleasant spring or autumn morning, drive one 

 mile to his blind, and return to a 9 o'clock breakfast with 

 a bag of 75 to 100 birds or perhaps more— golden plover, 

 yellowlegs, graybacks (dowitches), grass plover, deo 

 birds and {jerhaps a dozen English snipe — he would have 

 to be made of peculiar stuff if he were not happy. 



We are aware that the graybacks, curlew, willets and 

 yellowlegs, in fact all kinds of bay birds shot at Cobb's 

 island, Fisherman's Inlet, Long Island and Cape God are 

 very fishy and poor eating. Not so with our birds at Cur- 

 rituck. One cannot tell our grayback, grass plover or 

 yellowlegs from an English snipe, when properly pre- 

 pared. But what makes our hunts more enjoyable, we 

 save every bird shot, freeze, and take them home to our 

 friends. It all depends on the food, of course, whether 

 any game is good or not, and there is no fish for our bay 

 birds at Currituck. , 



Well, this 22d day of September was not a bad day for 

 snipe, and the score was as follows: Worth ey 115, Ned 

 126, Tommie 136, Duck 124, Theodorick 114, Captain D. 

 135, Picus 118; total 868. 



The next morning at 7 A. M. we were on our shooting 

 grounds. The day was a little warm, and at 10 o'clock 

 we met by appointment neath the shade of a live oak tree 

 on the banks of a stream where our boats were moored. 

 We counted up our bag for the morning and it was 592. 

 Among them, shot by Theodorick, was a nice little 

 bunch of English snipe, which had just begun to come 

 in. This made a bag of 1,460 bay snipe in less than one 

 day and a half's shooting to seven guns. 



We returned to the Comfort at noon. Our trip back 

 through the canal was a very pleasant one, indeed. 



Duck. 



Gentlemen who desire to join a club located thirty miles from- 

 New York and owning several thousand acres of good quail, 

 grouse and woodcock grounds and five miles of excellent trout 

 streams, can learn particulars by addressing Wm. C. Harris, P. O, 

 Box 35, New York Oity.-^du. 



