830 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Nov. 13, 1890, 



GELBITE AMMUNITION. 



ON Friday last, Nov. 7, a test was made on the FOREST 

 and Stream range at Clarernont, of the new gelbite 

 cartridge. Mr. Newton Emmens, the son of the inventor, 

 brought to the range a quantity of the paper sheets, in 

 which form the new candidate for shooting favor is pre- 

 sented to the trap and field shots of the country. On the 

 way to the range a stop was made in the store of Smock 

 & Cornwall, and a box of "Your best black powder car- 

 tridges" was purchased. These were in U. M. O. Club 

 shells, and marked "3^drs. powder, ljoz. No. 8 shot." 

 They were loaded with a card and two black- edge wads 

 over the powder and one card over shot. At the range 

 the yellowish paper or gelbite was cut into slips, rolled 

 up, and inserted in the empty Club shells, a card and 

 pink-edge wad placad over and a charge of l^oz. shot 

 poured in before the card wad and crimping was done. 

 On analysis of two cartridges of each sort, the count and 

 weight taking showed: 



Shot. 



Poiodw, Weight. 



Gelbite 



Black.... 



I No. 1 . 



Average 20 grs. 



No 1 90J^ *rs. 



No 3 m^ha. 



Average 89 grs. 



538 grs. 



A Remington 12-gauge 8£lbs. gun was used in the test 

 and but three shots of each sort of powder were fired 

 from each barrel. The day was admirable for good work, 

 being damp and lowering, with but a trifle of wind. 



In shooting Mr. Emmens fired only at 40yds. and from 

 the standing position, which in a measure accounts for 

 the increase of the number of pellets in the selected circles 

 over those in the aimed circles struck from the center of 

 the bullseye fired at. The exhibit stands as follows: 



Shot. 

 1... 



Z. . . . 



3.... 



GELBITE— RIGHT BARREL. 



Pellets, _ _ PeUets, 



Aimed Circles. 



209 



.36 



105 



Selected Circle*. 

 295 



202 



Average.... 138 198 



GELBITE— LEFT BARREL. 



1 198 178 



2 243 251 



3 > 199 3(1 



Penetration 

 Sheets. 

 4 

 3 



7- 



Average 



1 . 



Average. 



213 243 



BLACK POWDER- RIGHT B ARREL. 



m 302 



240 335 



296 311 



232 316 



BLACK ROWDER — LKFT BARREL. 



281 

 355 

 325 



..210 



10 

 10 

 10 



10 

 10 

 9 



Average 261 320 10 



It will be seen that though there was nominally a 

 variance of Job. of shot in the two sets of cartridges they 

 were practically the same, being 474 to 480 pellets. In 

 the right barrel they were accounted for in the ratio of 

 198 to 316, and in the left barrel in the proportion of 243 

 to 320, or taking the average of both barrels, in the pro- 

 portion of 220 to 318. In other words, the black powder 

 in a selected circle at 40yds. accounted for 66 per cent, of 

 the charge, while the gelbite charge had 48 per cent, of 

 the charge in the 30in. circle. In penetration where the 

 comparison is direct, the black powder shot got through 

 10 sheets of the Dennison pad paper, while the gelbite- 

 d riven shot went through half as many sheets. 



Farther tests of the paper explosive will be made, and 

 in this ready fashion in which this class of explosives can 

 be loaded tip for any initial velocity, or in a general 

 way penetration, will enable the preparation of a charge 

 of greater force than that above shown. 



In speaking of the new compound Dr. Stephen H. 

 Emmens, its inventor, says: 



"Gelbite is a high explosive of the gun cotton class. Ifc 

 consists of a special quality of paper, chemically treated, 

 and impregnated with a variety of Emmensite, the well- 

 known explosive. The name 'gelbite' is derived from 

 gelb, the German word for yellow. Gelbite is supplied to 

 consumers in the form of sheets of paper of a yellowish 

 hue. From these sheets strips may be cut of a width and 

 length corresponding to the size of the cartridge shell to 

 be loaded. For example, a moderate charge for a ,32cal. 

 pistol cartridge is a strip of gelbite 3|in. in length and Jin. 

 broad. The strip is rolled up in a hollow coil and is then 

 placed in the cartridge shell. The bullet is next seated in 

 the usual way, and the cartridge is then ready for firing. 



' By rolling up the strip of gelbite into a hollow coil 

 (which may conveniently be done by wrapping it round 

 a parlor match or other small rod) an air space is obtained 

 in the center of the charge. This air space serves to mod- 

 erate the initial pressure when the charge is exploded, 

 and thus renders the use of gelbite perfectly safe, although 

 the explosive itself is much quicker in its action than 

 ordinary gunpowder. The width of the strip of gelbite 

 for any cartridge should not be less than the length of the 

 corresponding powder charge: and the diameter of the 

 central air space should not be less thaniin. in pistol and 

 rifle cartridges, and Jin. in shotgun cartridges. These 

 dimensions may, however, be exceeded to any desired 

 extent. 



"Tne bullet or wad should never be driven down so as 

 to compress the charge of gelbite— any compression hav- 

 ing the effect of increasing the quickness of explosion as 

 well as of diminishing the air-space. In pistol and rifle 

 cartridges a loading tool should be used, so as to insure 

 the seating of the bullet in its proper position without 

 being forced in upon the gelbite. In shotgun cartridges 

 the coil of gelbite should be placed in a carton tube of 

 cardboard, of a length equal to the width of the coil, and 

 of an outside diameter corresponding with the interior of 

 the cartridge shell. The wads and shot can then be 

 rammed home with any desired degree of force— the 

 carton preserving the gelbite from compression. Cartons 

 to fit No. 12-gauge cartridge shells will do also for No. 10 

 and No. 16 by being cut through lengthwise on one side. 



"The power of gelbite as compared with that of gun- 

 powder, weight for weight, varies according to the size 

 and form of the cartridge employed. In pistols and rifles, 

 as a general rule, lgr. of gelbite will be found equal to 

 about 7grs, of gunpowder. In shotguns lgr. of gelbite is 



equal to about 4|grs. of gunpowder. A dram avoirdu- 

 pois, the usual unit in loading shotgun cartridges, is 

 27.34375grs., so that a 3-dram charge will be 82grs,; and 

 the corresponding charge of gelbite is 18grs. The most 

 advantageous charge for any particular weapon may 

 always be arrived at by a little experimental firing — care 

 being taken to commence with a very moderate amount 

 and to very gradually increase the charge until the desired 

 muzzle energy is attained. Care must, of course, betaken 

 to avoid any dangerous degree of initial pressure; and 

 this can be guarded against by observing the signs of 

 strain shown by the cartridge shells after firing— a stand- 

 ard being first made by firing a cartridge with a maxi- 

 mum charge of ordinary gunpowder. 



"There are two grades of gelbite. No. 1 is slower and 

 less sensitive than No. 2. In shotgun cartridges the 

 primers are generally insufficient to properly explode 

 No. 1; and therefore, the charge is best made up of an 

 internal coil of No. 2, surrounded by an outer coil of No. 

 1. An ordinary charge for a No. 12-gauge cartridge 

 consists of a strip of No. 2 gelbite 7in. long and -Jin. wide, 

 inside a strip of No. 1, lO^in. long and lin. wide. This is 

 the charge that will be found in the sample shotgun 

 cartridge inclosed in each box of gelbite. 



"The advantages of gelbite over black powder may be 

 summarized as follows: 1. It is smokeless. When it is 

 discharged, all that appears is a little vapor, which 

 almost immediately vanishes, and which does not ob- 

 scure the view of the game or target. 2. Diminution of 

 recoil. This is very marked, and its advantage will be 

 appreciated by every sportsman. 3. Diminution of 

 noise. The report of a gun loaded with gelhite is of a 

 quicker, slighter character than where gunpowder is used , 

 and is much less fatiguing to the ear. 4. Diminution of 

 heat. A gun may be fired much longer and more rapidly 

 with gelbite than with gunpowder before it becomes too 

 hot for handling with comfort. 5. Absence of fouling. 

 Gelbite leaves a gun very clean. There is no fouling or 

 injurious residuum. The only resultfrom long- continued 

 firing is a little 'leading.' " 



MAINE GAME, 



BOSTON, Mass., Nov. 7.— Mr. J. F. Dwinell, of the 

 well-known coffee and spice firm of Dwinell, Hay- 

 ward & Co., has just returned from his annual partridge 

 hunt in the wilds of Maine. Mr. Dwinell has for some 

 years visited Upton, Me. , for this purpose, taking the two 

 weeks' vacation he allows himself from business in this 

 way. There he boards with Lomin Sargent, one of the 

 best guides in that region, and whom Mr. Dwinell has 

 befriended in a very substantial way. They hunt every day 

 when the weather permits, and this year the weather was 

 agreeable every day but one. In twelve days' shooting 

 Mr. Dwinell got 43 birds. Last year he got 81 in the 

 same length of time, barring a number of rainy days, and 

 the year before he shot 93. This goes to show plainly 

 that the grouse are not as plenty as usual this fall in 

 Maine, a fact generally admitted by all of the gunners 

 who have returned, but not brought to quite as forci- 

 ble proof as in the case of Mr. Dwinell. He used 'some 

 effort to find out the cause of this scarcity of partridges, 

 inquiring among the best guides and residents as to the 

 reason. It was generally admitted that the old birds 

 wintered well, and that as a rule a good many chicks 

 were hatched out. But later it became apparent that 

 foxes were unusually plenty. At least the settlers living 

 near the woods were greatly troubled by these same foxes 

 among their poultry. In confirmation of this idea, Mr. 

 Dwinell also remarked that out of all the birds he shot 

 but very few were chickens. Old birds were the rule. 

 In that part of Maine foxes are remarkably plenty, and 

 the hunters promise themselves rare sport as sonn as the 

 snow comes and the fur is in its prime. Mr. Dwinell 

 says that if he had given his attention to foxes instead of 

 grouse, he could probably have had as much sport, and 

 rid the country of a few foxes that may now live to de- 

 stroy the grouse next year. If Maine were to give a 

 small bounty for the destruction of foxes, instead of the 

 foolish bounty on crows, it would aid the farmers in poul- 

 try raising, as well as greatly increasing the supply of 

 that best of bird game, the partridge. 



Mr. J. H. Jones, with Jas. N. Emery, in the fre3h fish 

 trade, has returned from his gunning trip to Buckfield 

 and vicinity in Maine. He hunted four days and se- 

 cured twenty-seven birds, a remarkably good score for 

 this year. He did not get a bear, for bruin was too shy 

 for him. Still bears are reported plenty in nearly all the 

 remote parts of Maine. Lomin Sargent, mentioned above, 

 has already trapped two, one a very small one. In the 

 vicinity of Kingfield and Eustis a good many have been 

 killed. Several have been shot in orchards, where they 

 were up in the trees and helping themselves to apples, 

 This has been done in some cases by watching on moon- 

 light nights, and in other cases the bear has been sur- 

 prised in the orchard in broad daylight. In Eangeley, 

 Madrid and Phillips the record of bears killed is also very 

 large. In one case a cub has been shot from an apple 

 tree, which cub only weighed 27lbs. It is quite plain 

 that bears are on the increase in Maine. The record of 

 those killed this fall is greater than ever before. 



There have already been one or two falls of snow suffi- 

 cient to track deer in northern Maine, but these snows 

 have been too short-lived for really good hunting. The 

 fall of snow in the night has been followed by warmer 

 weather next day, with melting and droppings from the 

 trees, making the very worst sort of weather for hunting 

 deer, not only on account of the discomfort of being in 

 the woods, but because the falling of the snow from the 

 limbs has prevented the seeing or approaching of game. 

 One party in the vicinity of Kennebago is reported to 

 have started six deer in one day, neither of which was 

 secured, for the reasons mentioned above. The same re- 

 port comes from the vicinity of Moosehead. There have 

 been snows, but the snows have been very bad for 

 hunting. Two Boston merchants— they will not let me 

 mention their names— came back from a deer hunt above 

 Moosehead Lake the other day in considerable disgust. 

 They got no deer, though they think that thev trailed 

 twenty in one day. A party of New York hunters are 

 looking for deer on the Cupsuptic Eiver, with Billy Soule 

 as guide. Special. 



The Vermont League.— Mr. J. W. Titcomb writes 

 from Rutland, Vt., Nov. 2: "The organization of the 

 league is quite a task in Vermont, but we now have fifty- 

 five charter members pledged, and hope to make the 

 seventy-five this week." 



ELK ON SNAKE RIVER. 



[Continued from PageSOQ.] 



NOV. 1.— All hands lay in camp until noon, then Frank, 

 Charley and I went down in the hills below camp, 

 and Frank got a fine blacktail buck with as handsome a 

 head of horns as I ever saw; it had twenty-five points in 

 all. I got on a fresh track of a big bull elk, and after fol- 

 lowing it some distance saw him standing in a thick 

 patch of brush upon a bench of the mountain, some 

 300yds. distant. I fired two shots at him that missed. 

 He was f urther off than I thought he was, as I discovered 

 when 1 came to climb the hill to examine his trail for 

 signs of blood. After following his trail for some dis- 

 tance, I was joined by Frank and Charley. This is a fine 

 deer range — low hills' sparsely covered with scrub timber, 

 aspens and underbrush. Deer were very plenty in here 

 some two weeks ago, but have gone below now to get out 

 of the snow. One man told me that he saw bands of two 

 and three thousand in a band cross the Snake, heading 

 for the country on the Troubelsome, being mostly does 

 and fawns. The bucks came down later and in small 

 bunches. We arrived in camp in time for an early sup- 

 per. After supper I went out and set two fox traps. Fox 

 trails are thick all through the hills here, but it is very 

 seldom we get to see one. 



Nov. 2.— Found it snowing like fun this- morning, but 

 about 10 A. M. it eased up some and Charley and Frank 

 took the horses and went after the buck killed the day 

 before. I started out to look after my fox traps. Found 

 them snowed under and no fox. On my way back to 

 camp 1 struck the fresh track of what seemed to be a 

 three-legged buck. It would take too long to tell what a 

 chase I had after this deer, but my two legs were too 

 much for his three, and I finally overtook him in the 

 rough hills away over on Three Forks of Snake, and after 

 several shots at long range, brought him clown. He had 

 been wounded some weeks before by having a front leg- 

 shot off at the knee, which was most healed over now, 

 but made it hard work for him to travel in deep snow. 1 

 dressed him and took his head ©n my back and carried it 

 to camp, some five miles, with the deep canon of the 

 North Fork of the Snake to cross. I arrived in camp just 

 at dark, and as could be expected, about as tired as one 

 wishes to get. The boys were all in. Frank had shot a 

 grouse. This deer head was the one Mr. Hunt so kindly 

 offered to mount for me; it was a very fine one with five 

 prominent points on each side. 



Nov. 3, Sunday. — When one is so far from home away 

 up in the mountains, where he is liable to be snowed in 

 at any time, he is naturally anxious to get his game and 

 to be getting a little lower down. This was our fix just 

 now. So, Sunday as it was, we -concluded to take our 

 horses and go up and bring our elk to camp; and it was 

 high time we did, for the magpies and camp robbers were 

 trying hard to work holes in the hams. Had it not been 

 lying flat on the ground and well covered with snow they 

 would have had it ruined. To-night we have written 

 home and a line to Forest and Stream, as Frak Crow 

 expects to pull out to-morrow for Rollins, Wyo., with a 

 four-horse load of hindquarters of elk and deer, and I be- 

 lieve a bear or two. His wagon all loaded stands in front 

 of our camp now. He takes the load out for two brothers 

 from Saratoga Springs, Wyo., who have been in here 

 hunting all the fall, and have sent out several loads. I 

 did not learn their names. Wyoming will allow such 

 work as this to go on, and no one says a word, but so 

 soon as they find a non-resident, especially from Colo- 

 rado, after a deer or elk for his own use, they set up a 

 howl and order him out. Our party made-it a point to 

 do our hunting on the Colorado side of the line, when we 

 knew where the line was, although we sometimes made 

 our camp on the Wyoming side. 



Nov. 4.— Frank Crow left this morning with his big 

 load of game and his two partners, Geo. Pixley and L. 

 G. Iiams, the latter better known as "Stub," went with 

 him on horseback to help pull him up some hills, with 

 their lariats tied to the saddle horn. They expect to be 

 back to-night and move camp with us to-morrow some 

 fifteen miles over on to Slater Fork, where George says 

 hunting will be better and elk plenty. George has been 

 a resident of this country for several years, and knows 

 where game is the thickest. Charley and 1 packed in 

 my buck, and Frank and Con packed in one of the elk 

 killed by Frank some days ago. 



Nov. 5. — Up early, as we expect to move camp if 

 George and Stub return. Just as breakfast is ready, 

 while looking out of the tent door, I discover four elk 

 passing out of the east side of the park in which our 

 camp is located and heading up into the timber. I call 

 to Hunt, whose tent is near by, and point the elk out to 

 him. He proposes that we go after them, so without 

 stopping to eat our breakfast we take our guns and circle 

 off to the right, intending to flank them and get the 

 wind in our favor. After making quite a circle through 

 the timber we came to the edge of the park, but too low 

 down for the elk. On looking across the park to the 

 north of camp about three-quarters of a mile, we dis- 

 cover a band of some forty or fifty quietly feeding and 

 some lying down. After holding a council of war we 

 decide to retreat in good order and make another ad- 

 vance further up the park, which we do in fine shape, 

 but our big band of elk has disappeared. Looking over 

 into the timber to our right we see twelve or fifteen elk 

 standing looking at us, and some 250 or 300yds. away. 

 Thinking this must be the band we were after, we decide 

 to try them a shot, as we have no other show. Frank 

 selects a young elk to the left, while I pick on a calf 

 off to the right of the bunch, and we turn our lead loose. 

 My calf goes down dead where it stood, and Frank's is 

 badly wounded. I fire two or three more shots and I get 

 another calf. Frank's wounded elk seems to be badly 

 bewildered, and circles around and stops in almost the 

 same place it was in when Frank first fired at it. Frank 

 is more careful this time, and at the crack of his gun the 

 elk drops. We now fall to work dressing our game, and 

 are joined by Charley, who has stood in camp and seen 

 the battle. He informs us that the big band we were 

 after passed around the slope to our left between us and 

 camp, and went up in the timber, where we first came 

 down. We now return to camp and get our breakfast, 

 when all hands take the trail of the big band and follow 

 it up on the range, but finally give them up; and we scat- 

 ter out for a return to camp. 



On my way in I run on to a small band of some four or 

 five elk. The timber being thick, I have a poor chance 

 to shoot, but I make a pop shot and wound one. After 



