400 
FOREST AND STREAM." 
ICNov. IS, 1902. 
Battels as "We Find Them, 
One of the most interesting tasks of our shooting department 
is the examination of barrels which are sent to us for private 
report by various correspondents. As a general rule, some defect 
has developed, either in the way of noticeable flaw or a marked 
tendency to bad shooting, and our opinion is asked either upon 
obvious injuries or as to general capability for every-day work in 
the field. By this and other means we are enabled to obtain useful 
information. Our experience in the shooting of cartridges also 
affords us valuable data. The average shooiing man is in con- 
stant quest of the perfect cartridge; but we have endeavored to 
show in previous articles that, even when cartridges are all that 
can be expected, it does not by any means follow that good shoot- 
ing will be obtained from every gun firing them. 
Although we must ourselves accept the responsibility that at- 
taches to tlie publication of , excellent records of patterns, it is to 
be hoped that no sportsman will suppose that these are to be ob- 
tained from every gun with the same nominal boring. As a matter 
of fact, it is our general experience that pattern is. more or less, a 
question of gun, provided the cartridges are all right; bvit the 
number of perfectly bored gims turned out in a year bears a very 
small proportion to the number manufactui-ed. Furthermore, bar- 
rels may be damaged in use, which necessitates a certain amount 
of re-boring, though the interference with the original dimensions 
is very small when the raising of dents is carried out by a really 
competent person. If only sportsmen could realize that for about 
nine inohes of a barrel's length the walls are no stouter than the 
aggregate thickness of seven sheets of the paper on which the 
home edition of the Field is printed, they would be much more 
careful how they handled their guns. Barrel steel of this thick- 
ness cannot possibly be made to stand violent treatment of any 
description. In fact tire tubes before jointing together are so 
frail thatj with one end firmly held in a vise, the muzzle wilt 
spring by slight finger pressure nearly half an inch. Of course, 
when assembled in the double-barreled form the gain in stiffness 
is very great; but the tubes are still as liable to injury as the 
framework of a light racing bicycle. If, therefore, a sportsman 
has purchased a light game gun, he must remember that it is 
almost impossible to allow more than about three pounds for the 
weight of the barrels. The strength required at the breech neces- 
sitates a proportionate thinness forward, where the powder pres- 
sure has considerably subsided, so that it is a matter of very 
skillful manufacture to malce sure that the available metal is dis- 
posed in the most advantageous manner possible. This no doubt 
accounts for the number of guns received, which upon examina- 
tion are found to be in a very strained condition for a great part 
of their length. 
When looking down the tube of a sound pair of barrels the 
shadow of light thrown from the top of a window gives the ap- 
pearance of a flow of ink toward the muzzle as the latter is gently 
tilted upward. If the apparent flow is irregular and jumpy, and 
little marks and i-ings show up just in advance of its forward ex- 
tremity, then there is evidence of a weak or overstrained barrel. 
A similar shading of the outside of the tube will, in such cases, 
demonstrate irregularities having the same characteristics. We 
know of cases where barrels having this peculiarity have been 
hadly dented, their natural weakness, of course, promoting _ the 
tendency to give way to slight impacts. As a general rule, it is 
possible to raise such dents without making the barrels weaker 
than before, though on the other hand, such an operation should 
not be authorized, except under competent advice that the barrels 
are of sufficient strength. A comparison of the inside and outside 
dimensions of a barrel will frequently show a difference that im- 
plies a sufficient thickness of the walls, provided, of course, the 
external and internal circumferences are concentric, but this is an 
exceedingly difficult condition to guarantee. When, as in the case 
of some barrels, there is an obvious thinness over a certain area, it 
is only reasonable to suppose that the walls are of irregular thick- 
ness around the circumference, or that an insufficient margin has 
been allowed between the two diameters. Good barrel making 
is rendered difficult by the fact that the eye, and the eye alone, is 
the sole test of straightness in a tube. 
In the early stages of barrel manufacture, the tube, as it comes 
from Ijirmingham or from Whitworth's, in Manchester, is bored 
to an average diameter of about .010 less than the nominal finished 
size, and the exterior diameter has a still more liberal allowance 
for subsequent operations. The number of workmen who can by 
looking down such a tube, detect any slight want of straightness 
is limited. Granted, however, a competent workman, the tube 
may be bent or "set" until the proper conformation of bore is 
obtained. It is admittedly impossible to bore a straight hole over 
so great a distance as thirty inclies, and the sole means of ulti- 
mately obtaining the required trueness is to set the barrels until 
the faults of the first drilling are rectified. It is well known that 
in the operations of boring out a tube to the requisite diameter 
an untrue barrel cannot be made into a true one. If, on the other 
hand, the irregularities are altered by setting the rough-bored 
tube, the subsequent operations of the boring tool will work tlie 
hole out clean and true, so removing the local irregularities pro- 
duced by the setting process. By this means a pair of tubes in 
the rough are made true in the interior. To make the external 
surface in agreement with the bore the barrel is truly spun upon 
a lathe, and grooves are cut on the surface, which are necessarily 
concentric with the bore. These grooves are cut at different dis- 
tances along the barrel, corresponding in depth with the required 
thickness of the walls at those points. The subsequent filing, 
known in the trade as "striking," makes the general contour of 
the barrels agree with the strength demanded at the different parts 
of the barrel, the grooves previously cut in the lathe serving to 
guide the workman in removing the surplus metal. 
The above short reference to some of the operations of barrel 
m.anufacture will show that, given the capacity to form a true in- 
terior for the barrel, the exterior may be harmonized therewith by 
the use of a lathe. If, however, a bend or curve in the bore is 
passed uncorrected, the niming process will cause one side of the 
tube to be thicker or thinner than the other. It happens in this 
way that barrels of ample weight, and having a sufficient allow- 
ance for thickness of wall, show signs of distress due to local 
tliinness of the wails, and it is such barrels which give trouble 
when dents occur. The operations of boring have a vast influence 
upon the patterns produced by the gun. The chamber must be 
true to size in order to provide for proper combustion of the 
powder, or else velocity will suffer. That part of the barrels 
beyond the chamber must be strictly parallel until the choke is 
reached, 'and here again skillful workmanship is an essential factor. 
A gun we recently exa-mined showed a difference of as much as 
.010 of an inch in the diameter at different parts of the length, 
such a variation being of a kind to cause peculiarities of behavior 
that must influenc the effectiveness of the shooting. 
We therefore maintain tliat in a good gun the chambe.- and the 
rest of the bore must be in agreement with the standard sizes 
and strictly parallel throughout. The exterior must be similarly 
correctly formed, so that the expansion of the barrel under the 
action of the powder gases shall be regularly distributed around 
the circumference. With the above conditions fulfilled, and a 
chamber true with the cone, the cone true with the bore, and 
the bore with the choke, good and regular shooting is almost 
bound to result, the distribution of the pellets as regards number 
on a thirty-inch circle being proportionate to the amount of 
choke allowed for. We cannot accept as desirable any kind of 
tinkering with the bore of a barrel when once the conditions laid 
down have been complied with. It is only when a barrel is badly 
made that there is any apparent need for those tricks of boring 
which are supposed to improve pattern, but which generally do so 
at the expense of introducing other defects. In asking, therefore, 
for good shooting from a cartridge, the sportsman must assure 
himself first of all that he has a well-bored gun; but he must not 
expect a high grade of workmanship in this direction at a price 
which does not pay for the needful operations of inspection and 
adjustment. 
Reverting once more to the results of experiments for patterns, 
such as are published in our columns from time to time, we can 
only say that they are produced by the aid of a gun specially 
selected on account of its proved capacity for doing good work. 
Some day we hope to publish a series of records, showing the 
behavior of various ftandard cartridges as fired from different 
kinds of guns selected haphazard from those we have constantly 
available. It is no uncommon thing when testing a gun to find 
cylinder patterns suddenly run down from 110, or with improved 
cyliiider 1^ to 50 or 60, which would be hardly capable of insur- 
ing one pellet on a six-inch bull$eye at forty yards. For the 
purpose of testing powders and cartridges such guns are instantly 
discarded, though, of course, sportsmen tiot being able to do like- 
wise with their game guns, must encounter a certain proportion 
of disappointing results,. We are not certain that there is any 
royal road to a remedy for the difficulties we have named. It is 
not every sportsman who cares to pay the price of a best gun, 
though it is among these that the most consistently accurate work 
on the barrels is to be met ^ith. There are of course, exceptions 
to evfery rule; but the reputation of, the maker rettjain? as always 
the chief safeguard. We think, however, rtiat if gunmakers would 
adopt a strictly standard forita o( boring, limiting the allowable 
variations of diameter by thp ysf of ?^tabl^! gw^tt, and vyould 
Do not bring riic batiel up ic 
the stock, but— 
Deprcis uxt barrel and raise the The Kight and VVrong Method of Carrying the Gun 
stock, when Walking up to the Birds. The proper way is 
^, ^. , , „, ,,,,,, ■ shown in picture on the left, and the other on the 
The Right and Wrpng Method of Loading a Gun,- right. 
Firing at a Pheasant Flying Very High, A clay bird is sent 
over the tower. 
Practice at Birds coming Over the Trees. 
The First Step. The instruc- A Lesson in the Proper Learning to Shoot at a Rising Firing at a Disappearing Bird on a 
Method of Changing the Bird. Fixed Target. 
Guns. 
tor shows the pupil the 
safest method of receiving 
a gun from an attendant. 
refuse to countenance systems of freak boring, and would gener- 
ally set their faces against the undue sweating of weight in guns 
whose price does not allow for the necessary quality of workman- 
ship, a marked all-round improvement would be registered. Then 
by tlie paying of more consistent attention to the straightening 
of the rough tubes and to their proper assemblage without pulling 
them round bow-shaped, they would be enabled to produce their 
weapons to a more consistent standard than seems to be observed 
among the cheaper grades at the present time. More than this, 
very careful attention should be paid to all barrels that come in 
for repair. It is more often than not possible to remove dents; 
but if the barrel was previously too thin it can be no certificate 
of strength to guarantee an equal degree of security to that which 
previously existed. The gunmaker is, as a rvUe, a master of 
mechanism, but it is difficult, in the ordinary course of his daily 
work, for him to become equally expert in the examination of 
barrels. Unfortunately, that most valuable instrument, the All- 
port barrel gauge, is no longer purchaseable. We hope, however, 
to be in a position shortly to give particulars of an appliance 
which, we think, will serve a useful purpose in dealing with the 
barrels which are sent to us for examination and report. — ^Field 
(London.^ 
TrapshooUng Beneficence* 
OssiNiNC, N. Y. — Editor Forest and Stream: Apropos of trap- 
shooting, now that the game shooting is about over, those who 
have been foremost in shooting afield will attend the regular 
Saturday afternoon shoots to improve their form. Some have 
foimd that the thing most necessary for them to do to enable 
them to bring home a string of game was to hire some one to go 
along to do the shooting. These weekly clay-bird shoots are at- 
tractive from different standpoints. First, in appealing to one's 
vanity. If a man becomes a good clay-bird shot, he can hit any- 
thing that flies, accurately gauging the speed, whether from right 
to left, mastering the elevation, which is not the simplest thing in 
wing shooting, he may be able in a year's consistent practice to 
bring down 50 per cent, of his birds. You wonder where the 
vanity comes in. Did you ever go hunting with some good shot 
and have him repeatedly "wipe your eye"? Wouldn't you at the 
time have given a dollar a shot if you had dropped the bird in- 
stead of giving him the chance to look at you in a superior sort of 
a way as he picked up the bird and stuck it in Jiis already heavy 
game pocket? 
You have been leaning over a desk all the week; your shoulders 
have been stooped, thus compressing your lungs. Possibly you 
have been breathing the impure air of the city, doubly impure 
since soft coal has come into use. You need recreation; your 
system needs revivifying. Two hours of the pure air at the shoot- 
ing ranges, with the gentle jarring of the gun, will open the 
unused cells of your lungs and will make you feel like a new man. 
These unused cells of our lungs, whjcli we all have more or less, 
are the ones which foster disease germs. Tuberculosis lurks here. 
Show me the man who loves outdoor sports, who likes to shoulder 
a gun and tramp through the woods, rastling and pressing the 
crispy leaves und^erfoot and smell their fresh fragrance; who Icrves 
the open air, the God-given pure north winds which blow down 
laden with the indescribable balsamic freshness which even the 
interlying cities caaaot taipt, I'll show you a man who haa no 
need to fear tuberculosis or kindred diseases, and one who, as 
Nessmuk put it, can, if need be, "Trusted with your life," This 
is an appeal to those of us who are apt to qeglect the simple de- 
mands of health in the pursuit of the hackneyed "almighty dollar," 
To those who scorn what they consider a frivolous pastime — 
clay-bird shooting — a game which, by the way, demands better con- 
trol of the nerves and muscles than they can command; to trap- 
shooters, hail! C. G. B. 
IN NEW JERSEY. 
Mountciioside Gun Club. 
Orange, N. T., Nov. 4, — ^The main event of the shoot of the 
Mountainside Gun Club to-day was at 25 targets, Mr. C. Zeigler 
was high, with 24, and Mr. A. Baldwin was second with 22. The 
scores: 
A Baldwin 1110111011111111111110111—22 
M R Baldwin , 1111101111101111001101101—19 
M F Pratt 1001111101011101111111110—19 
A Williams » ...1111110111110101100110101-18 
F Wright lOOOllOlOllUOOlllOnOm— 16 
C Zeigler 1111111111111111111111110—24 
W Henley 1011000101110110011011100—14 
. Two target sweepstakes were shot as follows: 
C J Zeigler 10 8 M F Prott.. g 1 
W Henley..-,...,.,.,.,,, 7 6 A Williams 7 6 
A Baldwin. „,»..r 9 9 F Wright 6 7 
lmwet§ to ^otUB^and^nh. 
«s> 
Ko notice taken ot anonymonB oommnnlcattoM. 
R. T. — See the point discussed in our shooting columns. 
T. B. J., Toronto. — ^When shooting partridges or quail, which 
is proper in the case of a hammerless gun, to have the safety 
on or off in going through the woods? Ans. Off. When shoot- 
ing partridges or quail in cover, there is no time for mechanical 
readjustments. However, whether the safety is on or off, the gun 
should be carried so it cannot do "accidental" harm. 
PUBLISHERS' DEPARTMENT. 
Messrs. Schovcrlihg, Daly & Gales, 302-304 Broadway, New York, 
have published a catalogue of guns, shooting and fishing acces- 
sories, descriptive of different qualities and grades which they will 
be pleased to send to those who are interested in gun. dog and rod. 
Besides being valuable for the information with which it is replete, 
it is pleaaiafc as a work of high ^ 
