180 
FOREST AND STREAM.^ 
[Feb. 27, 1904. 
toionthly club contest. A blue ribbon shall count as ten and a red 
ribbon as five points. 
5. All ties for first or second prize in a class, in regular semi- 
Jncnthly contests, shall receive a ribbon. 
6. A merchandise prize shall be awarded to each of the five 
members who shoot in the greatest number of regular semi- 
monthly contests during the year, and a merchandise prize shall 
be awarded to each of the five members who obtain the highest 
number of points during the year, and a merchandise prize shall 
be awarded to each of the five members who make the highest 
actual scores during the year. The winners of the high point 
and high score yearly prizes shall be determined on the basis of 
the best records made by each member in twelve semi-monthly 
contests. Any member shall be required to shoot in at least twelve 
semi-monthly contests during the year to be eligible to compete 
for yearly prizes, and said prizes shall be presented at the club's 
annual dinner at the close of the year. The yearly prizes shall 
be awarded according to the high gun system, and any member 
shall be allowed to compete for one of each of these prizes. 
Y. Every member who makes a perfect score in a regular semi- 
monthly contest during the year shall be awarded a merchandise 
prize, and said prize shall be presented at the time perfect score 
is made. 
The price of all practice targets during the year, except on 
special tournament days, shall be 1% cents each. 
The Balancing' of Shotguns. 
A GUN, being a two-handled weapon, should be balanced with 
reference to its use by both hands, but constructional difficulties 
often lead to the neglect of this consideration. One sees a two- 
handed sword balanced by a pommel at the end of the hilt, and 
shotguns so excessively balanced by weight in the action only 
that they may be condemned as presenting a fault that would 
never be excused in the case of a two-handed sword. 
Gun-makers are fond of balancing guns by means of weight in 
the action because they are in the habit of holding guns with the 
left hand only in the shop, and in this position a large weight at 
a short leverage produces a much more elegant balance, because it 
gives, mechanically speaking, slower oscillations. But the gun- 
maker is apt to forget that in use, if a gun be held in one hand 
at all, that hand is the right one, and that therefore the balance 
should be much more like that of a billiard cue. The gun-maker, 
however, as a rule, dislikes this billiard-cue balance; and he is 
still further misled if he balances a gun over a wedge of wood, 
or suspends it at a single point. For, supported in this way, it 
is a matter of indifference as regards the balance whether it be 
effected by a large weight acting at a short leverage or a smaller 
weight at a longer one. Thus, if AB represents a gun supported 
A D B . 
iilllllllllllilllll|ill!llll!llllll |ill|liy|il|l!ll||||l||||||IKIllll!lll|||||||||l|l||||IB lllili|:|[illi|iii i|lllll|l|||iniii||iiiiliiii 
A _D __B 
^ A. 
E F 
by a wedge C, it is a matter of indifference whether the balancing 
be effected by B or D. If, however, the support, C, be decom- 
posed into two separate ones, E and F, lying on either side of D, 
as regards the relative weights imposed upon E and F, it makes a 
great difference whether the balancing is done by D or B. There- 
fore, we may have two guns both balancing at the same distance 
from the breech, and yet in one the weight may be distributed 
equally between the two hands, and in the other the left may 
carry the greater part. Now fatigue developed by the handling of a 
gun may generally be'traced to excessive weight carried by the left 
hand and forearm. The right-handed man is not only more adroit with 
his right hand, but also stronger, and the supine position of the , left 
hand in holding a gun imposes an active strain on the muscles 
of the forearm, as the result of which the aiming of the gun is 
done by a tired member. It is therefore very desirable for the 
user of a gun to know how to analyze the distribution of its 
weight, and for this purpose the following method will be found 
useful : 
From any kind of horizontal support, like a curtain rod, sus- 
pend a gun by two small spring balances, one being fastened to 
the handle, and the other capable of being moved into different 
positions along the barrel by means of loops of string; then the 
weights shown in different positions represent the distribution of 
the gun's weight as between the two hands. Of this the following 
are examples : 
First of all, I take two guns having what I should term billiard- 
cue balance, the first being a single 10-bore, with a 32in. barrel, 
weighing 61bs. 14oz., of which 31bs. 2oz. is contributed by the bar- 
rel, 60Z. by the fore end, and 3 lbs. 6oz. by the stock. When put 
together the gun balances at l%in. from the breech, and when 
suspended as I have described at two points, one of which I will 
take as standard at Tin. from the breech, each hand if found to 
be carrying equal weights, namely, 31bs. 7oz. This point. Tin. 
from the breech, may ' be taken as representing the average posi- 
tion of the hand when grasping the fore end. The second gun is 
a light double-barreled 16-bore, having a total weight of 61bs., 
with barrels 30in. long, which weigh by themselves 21bs. lloz. This 
gun is made with about the lightest action ever devised for a 
breechloading gun, and consequently it balances at no more than 
l%in. from the breech. Suspended by the handle, and also at a 
point situated Tin. from the breech, each h?indle is shown, in this 
gun also, to carry exactly half the weight, namely, 31bs. 
These two guns are, of course, what is generally known as butt 
heavy, and consequently are easily carried over the right shoulder 
in walking, and brought down into the left hand when they have 
to be fired. I now compare with them two guns presenting a 
fault. The first is a double-barreled gun, a 12-bore, having a 
wood bar and front action hammer locks, weighing in its different 
parts exactly the same as the 10-bore. The weight of its barrels 
is 31bs. 2oz., that of the fore end 6oz. and that of the stock 31bs. 
60Z., making a total of 61bs. 14oz. ; and when the gun is put to- 
gether it balances at 2%in. from the breech when singly sup- 
ported; but when suspended from two points the left hand is 
shown to carry 41bs. of the weight, if placed at Tin. from the 
breech, while the right carries only 21bs. 14oz., and at 5in. from 
the breech the respective weights will be 51bs. and lib. 14oz. ; and 
it is only when the second spring balance is shifted to the extreme 
tip of the fore end, as much as -9in. from the breech, that the 
weight is found to be equally distributed between the two hands. 
On a smaller scale the same fault is shown by another gun, a light 
double 16-bore, having only 29in. barrels; but they are rather heavy 
forward, and weigh 21bs, 13oz., while the total weight of the gun is 
61bs. 2oz. Its point of balance is advanced by the action having 
been made very substantial, while the stock is light, so that it 
actually balances at 3in. from the breech end, the result being that 
at Tin. the left hand is found to carry 3%lbs. of the total weight, 
and the right hand 21bs. lOoz. only. Carried as most men would 
carry their guns, these two show a preponderance to the left hand 
of I80Z. for the 12-bore, and 14oz. for the 16-bore. 
Lastly, I will record the preponderance which by actual experi- 
ence I have found suited to me personally, so that with guns 
having this amount I shoot more automatically, and with better 
success, because the guns come up level, the explanation being 
that the natural difference in strength between my two arms is; 
suited, and any active exertion of my wrists is spared. The first 
of these guns is a double 12-bore, and weighs 3oz. more than the 
second named, the difference being due to the barrels only. These 
weigh 31bs. 5oz., while the fore end weighs 6oz. and the stock 
3Ibs. 60Z., the whole producing Tibs. loz. But, thanks to the 
greater lightness of the action, the balance of this gun is at 2i4in. 
from the breech instead of 2%in., as in the other, and suspended 
as before with the left point of support at Tin. from the breech 
end, the left hand is found to be carrying 3%lbs. only, while the 
right has increased to 31bs. 5oz. The second guri is a heavy 16- 
bore weighing 6%lbs., having barrels 31bs. in weight; this also 
balances at 2%in. from the breech end, and when held by two 
hands the left is found to carry 3%lbs., and the right 31bs. Lastly, 
there comes a 16-bore weighing 6Ibs. 2oz. ; this also balances at 
2i4in., and gives to my left hand 3i41bs., and to the riglit 21bs. 14oz. 
From all this I gather that guns for me should have a preponder- 
ance, to use the artillerist's term, of from 6oz. for a light gun 
to 9oz. for a heavy one. I could, of course, by holding a gun in 
an uncomfortable and unnatural position, get this preponderance 
with any kind of gun, but not without producing needless fatigue. 
One can now approach more closely the difficulties of balancing 
light guns. The low recoil given by modern nitro powders has 
tempted the gun-makers to reduce the weight of their 12-bore 
guns; but they have not been able to do so in a thoroughly 
scientific and symmetrical fashion, because the strain produced by 
these explosives has not been reduced in the same proportion as 
the recoil. Therefore the barrel and the wood of the stock have 
been cut down in weight, but not the action, because the gun- 
maker does not dare to do so. I have now at hand a modern 
hammerless 12-bore. gun having ejecting mechanism, of the type 
that weighs about 6i/41bs., with a pair of steel barrels weighing 
only 31bs.; but I venture to say that it would be difficult to find 
one that would give, me as good a balance as that of the heavy 16- 
bore gun above described, that is to say, balancing only 2i4in. 
from the breech, and giving a preponderance of only %lb. to the 
left hand. I should rather expect to find the left hand burdened 
with a weight of nearly 41bs., while the right did not carry much 
more than 2%lbs. Such a 12-bore gun is, in use, a most deceptive 
weapon for all but very long-armed men, and for the majority not 
so good as a heavier gun. 
Now, it is easy , to see what is the difficulty about reducing the 
action of a light double gun of wide caliber; for, when one barrel 
of a double gun is fired, the strain is not simply that which is 
developed in a single gun, or in a double one when both barrels 
are fired together. In the latter case the strain is symmetrical, 
and resisted by the whole breadth of the action and bolts; but in 
the former, through the unsymmetrical position of the cartridge, a 
sideways strain is produced, which, combined with that upward 
and forward, results in a torsional stress very trying to the gun. 
We accordingly find the burst barrel twisted off the lump, or the 
side of the action fractured by the leverage of the bolts, and such 
a strain is very fairly imitated by placing a gun with one or other 
lock plate in front of the knee, and pretending to break the gun 
with the hands like a stick. It will be seen how very little strength 
there is in a modem breechloading gun to resist any force applied 
in such a direction. 
The only way to reduce such a strain is by approximating the 
line of reaction to the center of the breech face by reducing the 
caliber, and it is thus that the actions of express rifles are rela- 
tively so strong. For equal weights of metal, the action of a 20- 
bore must be stronger than that of a 12, for I read in the Field 
that the strain in the chamber of a 20-bore loaded with 32grs. of 
nitro and loz. of shot is 3.06 tons per square inch, while that of a 
16-bore loaded with 36grs. and loz. is no more than 2.66 tons, and 
that of a 12-bore cartridge loaded with a light load of 38grs. and 
loz. is only 1.38 tons (Sporting Guns and Gunpowders, Vol. I., p. 158) ; 
but to ascertain the relative strains on the actions I must multiply 
these figures by the areas of the bases of the respective cartridges, 
which works out to approximately equal totals. Therefore, as the 
point of impact of the 12-bore cartridge is further from the center 
of the actioUj the 12-bore gun will be relatively weakest, and thtls 
arises the gun-maker's difficulty in giving the customer the bal- 
ance which he needs in a light 12-bore gun. 
Here, then, is the right indication for the employment of small- 
bore guns as serious weapons. They should not be much lighter 
than 12-bore guns, but will differ from them advantageously in 
balance, and their loading on correct principles will proceed on the 
plan of taking the standard ounce of shot as a basis, and working 
back from this to the requisite charge of powder. Such weapons 
are no novelty, and are fundamentally rightly designed, and 
though the strains produced in them are often severe, they do 
not suffer if of good construction. But to go on trying to use 
nitro powders safely in light guns of wide caliber seems to me as 
futile as trying to make a Snider rifle safe with cordite. Here, 
however, we get away from the question of balancing guns. — J. B. 
Nias in Field (London). 
Trap at Pmcfaufst. 
The following, taken from the Pinehurst, N. C, Outlook, will 
show that the high school shooting education of Mr. C. A. Lock- 
wood, of Jamaica, L. I., is of the kind which will not come off: 
"C. A. Lockwood, of New York, had things all his own way in 
Thursday's trapshooting tournament, easily outdistancing his 
nearest opponents, H. Nelson Burroughs, Philadelphia, and C. H. 
Stockwell, Troy, N. Y., with one of the prettiest strings ever 
made over the Pinehurst traps. 
The event was 50 singles and 30 doubles, 80 targets, and of 
these Lockwood broke 48 singles and 21 doubles, a total of 69. 
The score in details follows: 
Lockwood 1111111111111111101111111111111111111111111111111—48 
Lockwood 11 11 01 10 11 11 11 10 01 10 00 10 10 11 11—21 
"Btirroughs broke 33 singles, 16 doubles, 49; Stockwell, 30 sin- 
gles, 19 doubles, 49; F. R. Chapman, Jamaica, N. Y., 22 singles, 
13 doubles, 35; M. C. Parshall, Warren, Fa., 24 singles, 3 doubles 
and withdrew, 27; Powell Evans, Philadelphia, 10 singles, 12 
doubles, 22; M. B. Byrnes, New York, 13 singles, 1 double, and 
withdrew, 14. . 
"Lockwood, Bvirroughs, Parshall and Stockwell shot from 
scratch. The other participants were given handicap allowances of 
8 singles and 2 pairs, which it was useless for them to shoot." 
Castleton Gun Clufa. 
Port Richmond, N. Y., Feb. 16. — At the annual meeting of the 
Castleton Gun Club, formerly the Richmond Borough Gun Club, 
of Castleton Corners, Staten Island, New York, the following of- 
ficers were elected for the ensuing year 1904: President, Harry 
Boreham; Vice-President, George Smith; Treasurer, Edward 
Housman; Secretary, L. A. Scofield, Port Richmond, N. Y. 
L. A. Scofield, Sec'y. 
Marilla Gun Clob. 
Marilla, N. Y., Feb. 16. — The following scores were made a* 
the semi-monthly meet of the Marilla Gun Club, at Marilla, N. Y., 
Feb. 13. Cash prizes were given. Philipps won first money; 
Smith, second. 
Event 1, 25 targets: Reichert 12, Philipps 19, Smith 18, Brewer 
12, Myers IT, Lamb 10, Fones 16. 
SIDE LIGHTS OF TRADE. 
On Feb. 9, 1904, on the range of the Zettler Rifle Club, New 
York city, Mr. W. A. Tewes, scored 2460 out of a possible 2500, 
equaling the record of Mr. M. Dorrler, May 5, 1901, whose score 
stands as the 100-shot indoor record. The conditions were simi- 
lar— T5ft., position strictly offhand. Each used Peters .22-short 
cartridges loaded with King's Semi-Smokeless powder. 
The J. Stevens Arms and Tool Co., have issued a circular in 
which is set forth under the heads "The Pest of Sparrows," "Th^ 
Joy of Owning a Gun," "American Progression," and "Who Wijl 
Shoot the Squirrels," the wholesome advantages to be derived 
from the use of the Stevens rifles by man, woman and child. 
The Baker Gun and Forging Co., Batavia, N. Y., inform us 
that they have secured the services of Mr. W. H. More for their 
sales department. 
Why Not Shoot A BAKER? 
Do you know that we build to order special Trap and Field Guns at 
$60 and $75 that, for efficiency and />^r»w finish, equal 
most $100 and $150 grades ^-«s^^pv8 
of other makes ? 
MANY MEDIUM AND HIGHER GRADES ALSO. 
Send for a copy of the Baker Gun Quarterly containing full information. 
BAKER GUN AND FORGING CO., 
Cor. Liberty &. School Sts., - - - BATAVIA, N. Y. 
Florida. 
Last Two Weeks' Tour via Pennsylvania Rail- 
road. 
The last Pennsylvania Railroad tour of the 
season to Jacksonville, allowing two weeks in 
Florida, will leave New York, Philadelphia, Bal- 
timore, and Washington by special- train on 
March 1. . 
Excursion tickets, including railwav transpor- 
tation, Pullman accommodations (one berth), and 
meals en route while traveling on the special 
train, will be sold at the following rates: New 
York, $50; Trenton, $49; Philadelphia, Harris- 
burg, Baltimore, and Washington, $48; Pittsburg, 
$53; and at proportionate rates from other points. 
Tickets will be good for return passage on regu- 
lar trains until May 31. 
For tickets, itineraries, and other information 
apply to ticket agents, or to Geo. W. Boyd, Gen- 
eral Passenger Agent, Broad Street Station, Phil- 
adelphia. 
The Southern's Palm Limited. 
Leaves New York daily, except Sunday, 12:40 
noon, via P. R. R. and Southern Railway. 
Is operated through from New York to St. 
Augustine, with the exception of one Double 
Drawing and Stateroom Sleeping Car, which is 
operated to Aiken and Augusta, Ga. The train 
is composed o/ fyll^iai} Compartment C9r§. 
Drawing and Stateroom Sleeping Cars, Club, 
Library and Observation Cars, and up-to-date, 
exquisitely appointed Southern Railway dining 
car, with service eqtial to any high class hotel. 
Other Handsome Trains. — Two other first-class 
through trains, with elegantly appointed Pull- 
man Sleeping Car and up-to-date Dining Cars, 
speed between New York, Washington, and 
Florida, making travel on the Southern Railway 
a pleasure and delight. Thus it will be noted th.at 
three high-class trains are operated between the 
East and Florida by the Southern Railway. 
Round-trip tourist tickets are on saleat reduced 
rates to all the principal resorts of Florida and 
the South, which will allow stop-overs en route, 
thus enabling passengers to make side trips to 
other resorts, if desired. For further information 
call on or address New York offices, 2T1 and llSo 
Broadway, Alex. S. Thweatt, Eastern Passenger 
Agent. 
Though the winter has been hard and long, the 
angler begins now to smell in the frosty air 
some foretaste of spring, and to get out his 
tackle, so that when the season for fishing comes 
he will be prepared to start. A large number of 
our readers make their annual angling tours to 
Michigan, to have their _ share in the bass ariu 
trout fishing there, which is reached by the 
Detroit & Mackinac Railroad. _Mr. J. D. Hawks, of 
the Maj^.tic Building, Detroit, Mich., will send 
■matter descriptive of the fishing localities r?ache(} 
by bis line on applicatiofj. 
