272 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oct. 3, 1903. 
Recoil. 
It is questionable whether the sportsman who is not a mathe- 
matician or an engineer in his spare time is any the wiser when 
he is told that such and such a cartridge Will give so many foot- 
pounds of recoil when fired from a certain gun. He finds it dif- 
ficult to appreciate as a concrete notion a 561b. weight falling on 
his shoulder from a height of, say, a couple of feet. All he 
Icnows is that if he saw it coming he would get out of the way as 
quickly as possible, He is aware that something of the kind 
happens When he shoots his gun, but at the time his attention is 
taken up with the shot, so that he cares but little what particular 
decimal quantity represents the figure value of the blow he re- 
ceives. If lie is of an experitnenta] turn b^. mind, and fires a 
series of shots at a wliitewashed plate in order to note the pat- 
terns given by his gun, he finds to his surprise that there is an 
ucpleasant jar at the moment of discharge more serious than any- 
thing he had previously noticed. The interval of suspense before 
pulling the trigger puts him on the alert, and he notices, for the 
first time, mayhap, that recoil has something in it that reminds 
one of a friendly round with the gloves. 
Those scientists of the sporting press who delight in mathemati- 
cal gymnastics "arc at all times willing to tell us all about re- 
coil, but unfortunately - more often than not it is a little dif- 
ficult to follow their abstruse arguments— at any rate, to 
get any tangible itlformation therefrom. Taking recoil in its sim- 
plest aspect, it is greatest with a light gun firing a heavily 
charged cartridge that imparts a high velocity to a large charge 
of shot; conversely, it is least when the gun is heavy, the shot 
charge small, and the velocity moderate. Since there is a limit 
to the amount of recoil that can be taken with comfort time 
after time in the course of a day's shooting, the sportsman, with- 
out being a student of applied mechanics, sets up a personal 
standard of recoil beyond which he does not care to go. Mean- 
time, he knows full well that a heavy gun is fatiguing to carry, 
and is not handy enough to enable him to do justice to the 
chances of distinguishing himself that are available in the course 
of a day at the covert side or among the roots. Whether aware 
of the fact or not, lie is at one with the general body of sporting 
opinion which favors a light gun with a low recoil. 
These mutually contradictory conditions are very hard to trans- 
late into practice. To arrive at some method of computation, the 
recoil of various guns and cartridges has been systematically ex- 
amined, with the result that our technical infoi'mation is well 
nigh complete. Hitherto it has been customary to measure recoil 
by its.energj' — ^that is, by its reduction to the gravity standard of 
a falling weight. Now, this assumes that recoils which have the 
same energy value affect tlie shooter equally. This is to say that 
the shock would be alike from the blow of a 561b. weight falling 
one foot as against a one-pound weight falling 5Gft. Supposing 
the shoulder to be the buffer receiving these two blows, we feel 
sure that after a practical trial the person submitting himself to 
the test would prefer the heavy weight blow to that of the light 
weight striking at a high velocity. One should assume for the 
purpose of argument that in each case the person experimented 
upon reclines upon a spring mattress, so as to leave the body 
full liberty to give way to the impact of the blow. This very 
point lias lately been emphasized in connedtion with an argument 
concerning guns of diverse weight. We all know that recoil is at a 
minimum with a heavy gun, but it has not been made clear 
hitherto that if a cartridge is so proportioned to a light gun as 
to give the same foot-pounds value of recoil as a more powerful 
cartridee fired from a heavier gun, the shooter will by no means 
experience an equality of sensation.. 
This stands to common sense, because the light gun will recoil 
with a sharper movement than the heavier onfe", thus making up in 
velocity of recoil what is lacking in weight. In practice, this 
means that a given value of recoil in foot-poimds which would 
be tolerable in a heavy gun would be unpleasant in a light gun. 
Yet we find that a sportsman who shoots mostly at driven game 
prefers a light handling gun. As he fires a large number of shots 
in the course of a day, he asks for tlie lightest possible recoil. 
This is generally provided for hy using a reduced "charge of shot 
and one of' the new light-weight powders, which give less recoil 
for the same result cn the shot as the older 42-grain charges. The 
slight deficiency of shot rs not noticed, as game fired at under 
these "conditions is generally fairly close to the gun. While most 
of US' are willing fp take these things for granted, there are others 
who have to go into details, so as to be al?Je to define the most 
favorable combinations for giving a good practical result. Thus 
it happens' that the problem arises as to how best to measure 
recoil. : 
The accumulated experience of years goes to show that the best 
way pf judftlng recoil is to hang up the gun. and measure the 
movfeiiient that results from the discharge. This gives us" either 
the v;elocity of the recoil or by calculation its energv in font- 
pounds. It is difficult ' to lay down how far the holding of the 
gun at the shoulder will alTect the amount of recoil registered 
experimentally with a freely suspended weapon. If the weight of 
the body resists the recoil during the time that the movement is 
in process of development, that is for the first third of an inch 
of travel while the shot is passing along the barrel, then the bodv 
resistance must reduce' recoil in iust the same way that, added 
-weight in. the gun tends to pull down recoil. Whatever m-iv he 
fhe precise, answer to this question, we know that the conditions 
are practically alike for all guns, and therefore that the conih'na- 
tion 'of gun and cartridge that registers a given recoil under 
experimental conditions' will reproduce a proportionate amount of 
that recoil when fired from the shoulder. We can. therefore, 
saftly assume that recoil measurements are sufficiently exact to 
give a .reliable measure of the consequent effect on the shooter. 
One must, however, avoid taking too much for' granted in deal- 
ing .-fcith scientific, measurements of recoil, however carefully they 
may be taken. A given energy of recoil cannot be pronounced 
excessive or the reverse without bearing in mind the weight of 
the e-tiii. Aeain. the distress arising from recoil is far greater with 
,T badTv , fitting stock than with one that takes an easy bearing on 
the .shou'der. W'hh a cap that hangs fire ever so little, the bad 
timing of the shot finds tlie shooter slightly unprepared for the 
shock. In fact, the more we look into the question of recoil the 
clearer is it that if it takes an expert to expound its measurements, 
it requires a still higher -grade of intelligence to. translate those 
measurements into actual workaday practice.— County Gentleman. 
EST mW JERSEY. 
Rahway Gun Club. 
The liahway, N. J., Gun Club held a very interesting handicap 
shoot on their grounds, Saturday, Sept, 19, In the first event 
Way and Browne tied for first and second. Way capt^l^ed first. 
Crane winning third. 
In the second event Acker won first, Way second, and Slater 
tllird. 
There has been so much interest shown in these shoots that the 
club has decided to hold one each month. Following is the score: 
Event 1, 25 targets, allowance added: 
Gaskill, 3 OimOUlllOllllllllllOU— 23 
Lovett, 2 lOlOllllllimilllOlOlOll— 22 
Way 6 .lUllOlllllllllllll 011111— 25 
Mahiikin, S 0010110100010111111011110—13 
Housman, S 1110011110111001101101000—13 
Crane, 0 1100111111011011101111111—25 
Browne 4 1111111111111111111101111—25 
TTadkin 4 1110111010110110011011111—22 
Slater 'i 1111111101111111110111111—25 
Ackcn 9 .. 1000111010110011111011100—24 
T Goodman, 2; ' 1111101111111110101011110-22 
llermes 9 011101 OmOUOl 0101000101— 2::! 
Hartmaii 5 1100101100111101011111111—23 
A Goodman 4 OlOflOlOUlOlllllllllllOU— 22 
Bolleschweil! s' 0001100000111110100010000—17 
Ga'Ikilf I' nil 110111110111111111111-25 
Tovett' 9 1111111111101111110011011—22 
VVav 4 1111111111011011110111111—24 
I adkins "4 '. ' 1111011101110111110110111—24 
Tlous iiak h" " 1110110111111110110111101-25 
Hartman 5 0110010110101111011101010-20 
Browne 4 1011101111111111111101111-25 
Mahnkii'i 8 1111001001000110111110110-23 
Slater 3 1111111100111111111111111-25 
\cken <) 1111010100111111001110111—25 
1 Goodman^ ' Id 1111110010111010011001—18 
A Goodman, 4 . 
Bollcschweil, S 
.10111 00111011111111111100—25 
1110010000001111001010000—18 
Franklin Gun Club. 
Franklin Furnace, N. J., Sept. 26.— At the club shoot to-day the 
following scores were made. Shooting at 30 targets, Fred Suthern 
broke Hi, Andrew Wright broke 21. John Williams broke 20 and 
Frank Kishpaugh broke 15; each shot at 29. Will Pope broke 
9 out of 32. Elmer Blake broke G out of 20. Harry Pope broke 
13 out of 25, and J. Hawkins broke 2 out of the same number. 
Pattenbufg Gun Club. 
Pattenburg, N". J., Sept. 26.— The regular monthly shoot was held 
tc-day. Three tied on 20 in the club event at 25 targets. In 'the 
shoot-off K. Stamets was first, N. Stamets was second. The 
scores : 
H 1111111111000111110011111—20 
V sAmetV 1011011011111110110111111-20 
T TCi>rlien " ""' 1100110110010111110101010-15 
P pr^'lJ 1111110110100100100010110-14 
A K Hellman 0101011000010001011010001-10 
r W Bonnell ." 1111011101101101111101011-18 
TC Stamens 1111111111100011100111111-20 
H P Mnburn 0101111110111010011100110-16 
C Flomerfelt . 0101110010100000101111110-13 
G!no°''°^'- 0 -ON Stamets 11110-4 
1^ Stamets IIIU-S ^ ^^^.^ 
North Rhrer Gun Qub. 
Edgewater, N. J., Sept. 26.— Event 5 was a shoot-off of ties for 
silver cup; Glover defeated Eickoff, Truax defeated Morrison. 
Event 9 was the silver cup shoot, and handicaps apply to that 
event only. _ „ „ 
Fvpnfs- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 
-p^r" t,-. 10 10 10 15 25 15 35 10 25 
l-iokoff I' ? 6 7 11 18 11 11 9 IS 
uid^^V::::::::;;::::: ^ i i i ^'^ ■■ \l 
Vosselman, 7 • • ' » ^ •• « ■■ 
Harland, G | 6 ^ 6 .. 12 10 .. 20 
clove"' 0 - « 9 w 23 ii i2 io 22 
McMillan » 1 5 .. 1 
Bittner * J •• -g ■• ^ ^ 
iJ^on/r:::::;::::::::::::::::: :: i « 20 •• ^ '■■} 1 
jAsVRiMEKi'secV' 
Ttoy Totttnament. 
Troy, Pa.— The tournament of the Troy Gun Club, held Sept. 
16 and 17, had a programme whose total was 100 targets each day. 
Events 6 and 12 on the first day were extra. On the second day 
events 4, 12, 13, 14 and 15 were extra. 
This was their semi-annual shoot at Alparon Park, and held as 
an attraction to the Troy Fair Association. The trade was repre- 
sented by Neaf Apgar, E. B. Calkins aiid E. Stowell. 
Mr. Apgar gave a fine exhibition ©f shooting at singles and 
doubles, and made many friends among the boys, both by his 
clever work and his pleasant ways and cheerful manner at the 
traps. Mr. Apgar is a true sportsman and a gentleman, and it 
was a pleasure to the boys to meet him. We hope to have him 
with us again. 
There is a great deal of enthusiasm among the members of the 
club, but the large audience made some of the younger member? 
timid about shooting in public. 
Much credit reverts to the officers, C. B. Kimber, president; 
D. J. Fanning, secretary, and A. L. Budd, manager, for theif 
mnnagement of the shoot. 
One of the features was the shooting of Louden Budd, who, 
while the oldest member of the club, being sixty-five, is still 
young at the traps, and made the younger members "take to the 
tall timber" in a number of the events. 
The boys are now working to have an interstate shoot held 
here, and can guarantee a good time and good accommodations. 
The following scores were made: 
Sept. J6, First Day. 
4 5 6 7 S 9 10 11 13 
97796979 13 
8 7 19 .... 8 9 10 18 
Neaf Apgar 9 10 10 9 10 24 10 9 10 10 10 24 
Events: 12 3 
Ballard 2 10 !) 
Al Budd 8 8 10 
Cincinnati Gun Club. 
CiNCiNNA-tJ, O., Sept. 26.— The c^sh prize shoot of the Cincin- 
nati Gun Club to-day had. nineteen . contestants. Mr. Ralph 
Tiimble. from the 22yd, mark, scored 41 out of a possible 50, 
fvmg with IMaynard, 18yd$,, and Randall, 16yds. The scores: 
K. Trimble (22> 41, Maynard (18) 41, Randall (16) 41, See (17) 38, 
r-rker (18) 37, Falk (16) 37, Norris (16) 36, Gambell (20) 35, 
T'. '>o r^O) 3S, Faran (18) 35, Harris (17) 34, Sunderbruch (20) .33, 
{ Trhr.l.'ir (17) 83, Roanoke (17) 38, Williams (!■?) 31, Ackley (Ki); 
&, lack (17) 29, Herman (17) 27, Jay Bee (16) 24. 
5 .. 
7 .. 
4 
5 7 7 
Yates 6 7 3 
Fanning 7 7 6 
Woodworth 6 6 4 -.. .. 
Lou Budd 4 7 6 .- 
Stowell - — ..- 6" 6 7 6 7 
L Rockwell 9 7 
O B Ballard 6 .. 
Gustin 5 3 
Burr 7 10 
Moore 
T Rockwell 7 ■• •■ 
I'arker , - 4 5 
7 5 9 
8 7 '8 
5 .. .. 
5'.. .. 
7 7 9 
•> 
7 6 
9 7 
7 -. 
4 .. 
Sept, 17* Second Day. 
Mack 5 3 3 2 6 4 4 7 6 8 .. ., , 
Woodworth 773984765 ,... 5 .. 8 .. 
A Budd 9 8 6 9 8 6 9 7 8 8 10 5 4 8 4 
Fanning 4 .. 
Stowell' 6.. 7 8 6 5 7 9.. 
Apgar 9 10 9 . . 8 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 7 8 9 
Yates 8.. 4 6 
L Rockwell 7 3 5 7 5 10 6 8 7 8 1 4 
W B Ballard ...... 6 7 9 6 7 8 8 --8 3 8 7 
1) Budd 7 7 5 7 7 6 3 ..., 
Bun 8 8 8 7 8 7 7 9 
Dr Barker .... 6 8 6 6 6 6 6 5 4 1 
D B Bullard 7 7 7 8 
O L Krise 4 
W Sargent .- 2 5 5 . , 5 
WESTERN TRAP. 
Garfield Gun Club. 
Chicago, 111., Sept. 26. — The appended scores were made on our 
grounds to-day on the occasion of the second trophy shoot of the 
fourth series. Dr. Meek carried off the honors in Class A on a 
score of 23, while Snyder captured the jewelry in Class B on 18, 
and Birkland did the trick for Class C on 16. 
The day was a fairly good one for trapshooting, and but for a 
rather strong head wind, which interfered with the flight of the 
targets, would have been^ al! one could ask for. The attendance 
was good, considering that the duck season is on, about twenty 
shooters participating in the various events of the afternoon. 
Pollard 1111111110101111001111111—21 
Thorn as 1100110111111110011011111—19 
Dr Meek 1111111111111011011111111—23 
Wilson 1011111111111001011111111—21 
Smedes 1111111101110111101100111—20 
Snyder 1011111111111001001111001—18 
A MeGowan IIIIUOIOIIOOOOIIOOIOIOU— 15 
Eaton ; 1111001100111011111111111—20 
B u-k1 and 1011100110100110111110011—16 
F Wolff iioiiiioiiiioiiuiimm— 22 
McWilliams 0000000100000000110000000— 2 
Furgison llllOOUOOlOOll 
McKinnon . . . . . lOlllllOOlimOlOllOllllO— 18 
Stone 0110011010101001111111011—16 
McDonald 1001111011101111110111111—20 
W Tones lOOlOlOlOlOOlOOUOlOOOOlO— U 
Bates 0111100100001100111001100—12 
Wakeman llllOlOOlOllllllUOlOllll— 19 
Dr. J. W. Meek, Sec'y- 
Frcdericktown Tournament. 
Fredericktown, O., Sept. 24. — A copy of the scores made at the 
shoot, held here Sept. 22 follows. The club had an ideal day for 
holding the tournament, with light attendance. All parties were 
perfectly satisfied with everything, and everything passed off 
nicely: 
Events: 123456789 10 11 12 
Targets: 10 15 10 15 20 15 10 15 10 20 15 15 Broke. 
Darling 7 14 10 11 18 13 7 15 9 19 15 13 151 
Purbaugh 7 12 9 15 18 13 9 13 9 18 14 14 151 
ttulshizer 6 14 7 15 15 13 10 14 10 18 14 13 148 
Dague 9 10 9 14 15 14 6 15 10 16 13 15 146 
Fletcher 9 12 9 14 16 10 7 11 10 16 15 15 144 
Singery 9 11 9 12 19 10 10 12 8 15 13 15 143 
Campbell 
12 9 12 17 13 8 14 7 17 12 13 142 
Bottenfield 8 14 8 14 16 12 8 9 9 14 13 13 138 
Couter 5 9 8 12 17 12 7 10 10 16 9 15 130 
E Rinehai-t 7 12 8 6 14 10 8 10 7 12 6 5 105 
Harris 6 11 ....19 15 9 8 10 20 14 13 125 
Struble 8 15 10 12 17 13 10 11 .... 15 14 125 
Deny 8 11 8 9 . . 14 8 . . S .... 12 98 
Zeig 9 12 8 12 .. 11 6 13 9 16 .... 96 
A Rinehart 8 lo 8 12 10 11 15 12 85 
Say When 7 . . 8 11 . . 11 9 . . 9 .... 12 67, 
A. D. Rinehart, Sec'y- 
PUBLISHERS' DEPARTMENT. 
Events: J. 
'iRomer 8 
iLoomis C 
S 3 4 S 6 7 a 9 10 11 12 13 14 IB 
.. .... 8 7 8 6 6 9 6 6 6 0 4 
5 ; 3 4 7 2 
We are informed that at the Williamsport, Pa., shoot, Sept. 
16, 17, and 18, all the high averages were made by shooters using 
Winchester -factory loaded shells. Of the expert class, H. L. 
Stevens, J. A. R. Elliott and J. Fanning broke respectively 463, 
462, and 460 targets out of 480 shot at. At the practice shoot of 
the Charlotte Gun Club, held at Latta Park, Sept. 18, J. E. 
Crayton broke the amateur record of the South by breaking 96 
out of 100 targets from the 20yd. mark. At the Indianapolis, Ind., 
Gun Club shoot, Sept. 22 and 23, Chauncey M. Powers broke 100 
straight, a perfect score, in the preliminary match. Mr. W. R. 
Crosby missed only four out of 200 targets shot at, and Mr. 
Spencer missed only 6. All these gentlemen used Winchester 
factory loaded shells. ^_ 
New Adveftisements. 
People who are interested in yachting know no seasons. If 
they are not getting their yachts in commission or racing or 
cruising, they are considering models and plans, or are building 
their new yachts. That the season for this is at hand, is shown 
by the advertisement this week of Messrs. Burgess & Packard, 
Naval Architects and Engineers, who attend to the purchase, sale 
and alteration of old boats, as well as to the designing of new 
ones. 
In our business columns the St. Paul Bread Company, St. 
Paul, Minn., call attention to their Champion Dog Biscuit, a food 
specially prepared and baked for kennel use. The manufacturers 
claim that, aside from its intrinsic excellence, it is crisp and 
tender, and ready to eat without any soaking. They have many 
earnest testimonials of its sterling worth. Prices, samples and 
descriptive pamphlet are obtainable on application to the manu- 
facturers. 
The W. S. Dickey Clay Mfg. Co., of Kansas City, Mo., give 
five good reasons why their targets, known as Dickey birds, should 
be used. The vast amount of such targets consumed at the pres- 
ent day is strong testimony to the very great increase in the 
trapshooting interest. The distance between the old-fashioned 
potato thrown into the air by hand and the clay target of to-day 
is interesting to contemplate. 
To a very large number of New York gunners Long Island is 
now and must always remain a sort of Mecca for duck shooters. 
There are many places where this can be had, and one of these, 
recently discovered, is the Canoe Place Inn, kept by E. A. Buck- 
muller at Good Ground, L. I. Besides the shooting to be had 
here, on Shinnecock and Tiana bays, the hotel is exceedingly 
comfortable and well kept, and the cooking beyond praise. 
The praises of the Barnegat Sneak Box have so often been sung 
that it is hardly worth while to repeat them. This- is one of the 
most useful of all around craft, and fishing, gunning and sailing 
may all be practiced from it. As might be inferred from the 
name of the boat, Barnegat, N. J., is the birthjDlace of this boat, 
and J. H. Perrine is glad to estimate on building them from 12 
feet up. 
Buying and selling yachts has become, in these days, as legiti- 
mate an occupation as buving and selling stocks or cotton or 
produce. Messrs. Small Bros., of Boston, besides being de- 
signers of commercial and pleasure vessels, sail or power, buy 
and sell yachts on commission. Their advertisement is found, on 
another page. ; i, i«t* 
The ideal Duck Decoy has long been sought for, and there are 
few gunners who have not given thought to devising something 
different, and better, than the old wooden decoys, to which, how* 
ever, most of us still cling. Ths Acme Folding Canvas Decoy, 
manufactured bv tlie St. I^ouis Manufacturing Co., seems to 
possess very useful qualities, and the description given of it is 
very attractive. 
