Sept. io, 1904.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
223 
reputation for marksmanship and veracity goes as high 
as Gilderoy's kite. I have shot squirrels for thirty-five 
years, and the greater part of the time with a rifle. I have 
hunted them in a dozen States and Territories, from Min- 
nesota to the Gulf, and with arms of all calibers and 
weight of charge, from a .22-3-30 to a .45-70-550. Before 
muzzleloaders went out of date, I had killed enough squir- 
rels to fill a grain car to the load limit line, and since then 
I guess I've doubled my score. I've hit them everywhere 
that a squirrel could be hit, from the tip of the nose to 
the last hair on tail, and it stands to reason that I have 
missed them just as extensively and thoroughly. But 
nary a one ever succumbed to the shock of a bullet that 
missed his vitals. Of course, I have often cut the limbs 
from under them, or seen them thrown into the air by the 
bullets passing between their bodies and the wood, and 
some of the squirrels so brought to the ground were re- 
trieved by my dog, but they were very much alive up to 
the time his jaws closed upon them. So much for the 
chance of accidentally barking a squirrel. 
And now as to accomplishing the same feat designedly. 
More than thirty years ago I read of Boone's achieve- 
ments along this line, and set myself to equal them, and 
since then I have essayed the same thing a score of times, 
always unsuccessfully. I have planted dozens of bullets 
directly under the hearts of squirrels, big and little — 
under their throats and jaws — at the very tips of their 
lovely little noses. I have grazed them with round balls 
from muzzleloaders, and soft-lead, hollow-pointed, and 
metal-cased bullets from breechloaders ; but it invariably 
required something a bit closer than a graze to do the 
work. Which fact induces me to say that the squirrels of 
to-day are not as those of long ago. My experience has 
been that you are never sure of one until you get him. 
Shoot him almost in half, and maybe he'll dig his toe- 
nails in the bark and swing there in midair for twenty 
minutes ; break all four of his legs, and he'll balance his 
body across a limb and rest secure; blow his head into 
fragments, and he'll cling to the tree a full minute before 
falling; not invariably, of course, but quite frequently. 
But don't try to bark him. You will only waste your 
ammunition. S. D. Barnes. 
Bald Knob, Ark. PERRY D. FrAZER. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Quien Sabe, in the number of August 27, seems to doubt 
M. D.'s statement that the wind of a ball will kill a man. 
I had at first intended to let the doctor attend to this case 
himself ; he no doubt can give a more scientific explana- 
tion of it than I can, though he may not have had as many 
of these balls shot at him as I have had ; but Quien Sabe 
includes me in the number that he fires his broadside at, 
so I have concluded to ask him a few questions, all 
without our getting mad about it, of course. 
Has Quien Sabe ever had a three-inch shell that was 
fired our of a field gun pass so close to his head that it 
knocked him down and made him think that a mule had 
kicked him? I have had it treat me that way. The shell 
was not meant for me, I suppose, but for my gun ; but 
it missed us both. Had it passed a foot nearer me I would 
have been in the list of killed or missing once more. I 
figured in two of those lists as one of the killed during 
"our late unpleasantness," but always refused to stay 
killed. 
And does he not know that if he stood on the deck of 
one of our battleships when the ten or twelve-inch gun 
was being fired, within forty feet of its muzzle, the blast 
from it would kill him as dead as the proverbial 
mackerel? If he does not know it, allow me to tell him 
that it would. Cabia Blanco. 
Comparison of Rifles. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
A few more remarks seem necessary to make clear my 
position taken in your issue of August 6. 
First, I must disavow any claim to being "posted on 
scientific facts." My opinions as to the Kentucky rifle 
were admitted to be only conjectures. I cannot find any 
precise record of the rifling or powder charge used in 
these rifles, but would be very glad to hear where such 
can be obtained. 
Mr. Darby believes that a high velocity would not have 
been attained in the Kentucky rifle without "stripping." 
Now it is true that with a long bullet a quick twist is 
needed to prevent tumbling, and the bullet must either be 
the jacketed or move with a low velocity; but where the 
diameter of the bullet is equal or nearly equal to its 
length, a slow twist may be employed and a high velocity 
attained without a jacket. Examples of long bullets are: 
The Krag-Jorgenson — Length of bullet, 1 3-16 inches; 
diameter, .30; ratio, 26-100; twist, 1 in 10 inches. Ac- 
cordingly the Krag requires a jacket to utilize its high 
velocity of 1,960 foot seconds. 
The Martini-Henry and .45-70-500 Springfield — Length, 
of bullet, 1% inches; diameter, .45; ratio, 36-100; twist 
1 in 22 inches for the Henry rifling and about the same 
for the Springfield. Accordingly, since these bullets were 
not jacketed, their velocity had to be low — 1,295 foot 
seconds for the Martini, 1,179 foot seconds for the 
Springfield. 
Example of short bullet: .50 express; length of bullet, 
% inch; diameter, .50; ratio, 57-100; twist, 1 in 72 inches. 
Accordingly this express attains a velocity of 1,800 foot 
seconds without a jacket. 
Other high velocities attained with black powder and 
without a hard jacket are .45-150-270 express, 1,913 foot 
seconds; .45-130-310 express, 1,812 foot seconds; .577-164- 
502 express, 1,680 foot seconds. 
Even the 4-bore elephant rifle, with a bullet weighing 
1,257 grains, attains a velocity of 1,500 foot seconds. 
These figures are from "The Gun and Its Development," 
by W. W. Greener. The same author recommends a 
twist of 1 in 84 inches for spherical ball rifles. Yet Mr. 
Darby says: "Those rifles had a very slow twist, about 
one turn in twenty or twenty-four inches." This sen- 
tence seems to me self-contradictory. I hope Mr. Darby 
will not think me discourteous if I ask his authority 
for it. . ; % . . . 
Again, my critic says the express rifling has a twist of 
1 turn in t6 inches, and a long heavy bullet. Greener 
within. Such experiments ; have often been made upon the 
cadaver."— Article in Warren and Gould's Text Book of Surgery, 
by Surgeon-General Torwood, U. S. A. 
"The explosive of the bullet on * * * all vital organs, or on 
cavities is enormous, especially when these are full."— Lieut.-Col. 
J. D. Griffith, Mo. Nat. Guard. Proceedings of the Assn. of 
Military Surgeons of the U. S., Vol. VII., 1897. 
"It is now apparent that conclusions drawn from experiments 
made on dead animals or men are not borne out by what, is ob- 
served when living men are. wounded by small-caliber projectiles. 
It is steadily becoming more and more evident that the appall- 
ing destruction produced in dead animals and cadavers by small 
projectiles is not experienced when men are hit by them under 
ordinary conditions."— Prof. Stevenson, of Netley, in "Wounds 
in War," p. 35, 1897. 
The literature of the time is full of accounts of experi- 
ments on dead men which, as I said in my first letter, 
seemed to prove that explosive effects would be pro- 
duced on live ones. However, it has worked out, the 
adoption of the full mantled bullet can hardly be at- 
tributed to humane motives. 
Mr. Darby thinks that smokeless powder was adopted 
to increase the power of the rifles. He forgets that while 
nitro powders are more powerful than black, a smaller 
quantity is used; that while the pressure generated is 
greater, the area of the base of the bullet — where alone 
it is efficiently exerted — is less. 
The following table gives for each smokeless powder- 
cartridge a black powder cartridge of nearly equal 
strength. ri 
Black Powder. Smokeless Powder. 
.38-55 940 ft. lbs. .25-35 W. C. F 907 ft.lbs. 
.40-72 W 1360 ft.lbs. .30-30 1269, ft.lbs. 
.45-90-300 1466 ft.lbs. 
.45-70-500 1551 ft.lbs. 
Springfield 
Martini Henry 1797 ft.lbs. 
.45-125-300 1786 ft.lbs. 
.50-100-450 1917 ft.lbs. 
.450-130-350 Express. . . .2703 ft.lbs. 
.500-138-444 Express. . . .3134 ft.lbs. 
.577 Holland special .. .3625 ft.lbs. 
S-bore elephant rifle. .5232 ft.lbs. 
4-bore rifle 6316-8832 ft.lbs. 
The term "high 
power," 
.303 Savage 1365 ft.lbs. 
U. S. N. 6mm 1563 ft.lbs. 
.236 
Italian Mannlicher 1790 ft.lbs. 
Krag Jorgensen 1887 ft.lbs. 
Spanish Mauser 1890 ft.lbs. 
.35 W .2600 ft.lbs. 
.405 W 3200 ft.lbs. 
.400 Jeffery Cordite.3343-3988ft.lbs. 
.45 Holland special. .. .5004 ft.lbs. 
.600 Jeffery Cordite. 6000-8000ft.lbs. 
as applied indiscriminately 
Krag- 
Jorgenson. 
.45-70-500. 
Springfield. 
Nutley, N. J., Aug. 27.- — Editor Forest and Stream: 
About five years ago, while hunting deer in Humboldt 
county, California, I succeeded in barking a squirrel after 
the manner of Daniel Boone and his fellow hunters, as 
described in the anecdote. It was of the kind known there 
as the redwood squirrel, somewhat smaller in size than 
our red squirrel. Its color is a deep reddish brown on 
the back and outside of the legs, shading to a much lighter 
brown on the underside. It was crouched on the limb of 
a large cedar, distance about twenty yards or so ; the rifle 
used was a .30-30. At the shot it rose slightly from the 
limb and came to the ground dead, quite in accordance 
with the programme. On my telling the story in camp, 
it was generally laughed at. One old fellow who had 
grown up in the woods, however, seemed to know about 
this method of killing squirrels. When I picked the squir- 
rel up, I noticed a slight perforation through the skin over 
the belly, showing that something had struck there. 
Once before I tried the same trick on a squirrel sitting 
on a fence-post. The bullet cut a groove through the 
top of the post, directly under the animal, but the only 
result in this case was an enormous squirrel leap and 
disappearance of the squirrel up a tree. I also tried to 
stun a mountain quail by shooting close to its head, think- 
ing that the wind of the bullet might disable it sufficiently 
to permit of its capture while alive. The effect of this 
shot was only to daze the quail for four or five seconds ; 
then it flew rapidly off. From the result of these few ex- 
periments, my impression is that in. order to successfully 
bark squirrels, the bullet must pass under the bark on 
which the squirrel is crouched, but near enough to the 
surface to break the bark and force it outward. The 
bullet passing near the squirrel or cutting the bark 
under the squirrel will have but little effect. 
The soft lead bullets used in the old rifles may have 
had something to do with the success of the trick, as such 
a bullet flattened somewhat on striking the wood and 
spread sideways, thus adding to the force of the concus- 
sion. The bullet used in barking my squirrel was the 
mushrooming sporting bullet. The experiment is easily 
tried in any place where there are squirrels, and it is safe 
to "shoot a rifle in the air, using different kind of bullets 
and striking at different distances under the surface on 
which the squirrel lies. 
The principal difficulty will be, I think, in holding 
straight, as it will probably be necessary to hit within 
one-eighth of an inch of the point aimed at, or even 
closer. Nowadays men do not live with a rifle in their 
hands. Of course the closer the squirrel hugs the bark, 
the greater the effect of the shock will be upon it. If the 
bark is so thick and soft that it will not tear out over the 
bullet, there will probably be no effect. 
Josef Kingslanp. . 
to smokeless powder rifles, seems to me to be most in- 
appropriate, and to lead to confusion of ideas. 
Tt is true that most, although not all, the governments 
which have changed from black to smokeless powder 
have slightly increased the power of their arms. But 
I his increase has been in no case sufficient to cause ma- 
terial increase in efficiency or to justify the expense of 
adopting a new weapon. It was not for an increase in 
power that the change was made, but for a more efficient 
method of applying it. David E. Wheeler. 
Buffalo, N. Y. 
Post Mortems on Burst Guns, 
As a general rule, the public hears exceedingly little 
about the instances of burst guns which are bound to arise 
so long as shooting remains a popular sport in this coun- 
try. There are, however, a certain number of persons 
who gain an exceptional amount of experience in dealing 
with the burst guns that are from time to time thrown 
up as wreckage from the world of sport. The greatest 
difficulty which faces the person who endeavors to make 
a careful inquiry into the circumstances of an accident, is 
the almost complete absence of reliable statistics upon 
which to base a sound opinion. The cartridge which 
340-Grain Ordinary Kentucky causes the accident is necessarily lost, the shell onlv re- 
Martini. E3 *^fgS&* omt examination. . 
there is, as a rule, very little difficulty m obtaining 
samples of the batch of cartridges in use at the time of- 
the accident, and it necessarily follows that these must be 
subjected to careful test and scrutiny. Unless there hap- 
pens to be proof positive that some serious error of load- 
ing has been committed, it is unwise to lay the blame on 
the cartridge. An examination of the pressure obtained 
from a certain number of them may show a few indi- 
vidual high records, but even then it is exceedingly diffi- 
cult to lay down the dividing line between what is reason- 
ably safe in a sound gun and what may be considered as 
dangerous. We know that ordinary well loaded sporting 
cartridges give pressures between three and three and a 
half tons during the warmer months of the year. There 
are, however, many instances of commercial cartridges 
which appear to give thorough satisfaction to the shooter 
in which individual records of over four tons are encoun- 
tered. In interpreting results of this kind, it is necessary 
to bear in mind that the actual charge in the cartridge 
which gives a high pressure cannot be ascertained before- 
hand. Consequently it is impossible to say whether a 
relatively high pressure is produced when all the circum- 
stances of the loading tend to produce excessive results, 
or whether only one or two of them have been in active 
operation. This means that an even higher pressure than 
the maximum obtained in taking a series may have existed 
in the particular cartridge that caused the accident. If 
the general characteristics of the ammunition suggest the 
presence of faults that ought not to occur, then of course 
the ammunition must be regarded as under suspicion; but 
even so, it very seldom happens that a clear case is made 
out against the cartridge. 
There is, however, a very satisfactory piece of general 
experience which appears to characterize investigations of 
this sort. It is that accidents very seldom occur with the 
better known varieties of English nitro powder. These, 
as is well known, are carefully regulated by the manufac- 
turers so as to produce a reliable level of result when 
reasonably well loaded. They are bulked in such a man- 
ner that overcharges are promptly evidenced by the un- 
due space occupied by the contents of the cartridge. Such 
powders are specially manufactured to suit the require- 
ments of the English market, with the result that they 
mostly receive fair and intelligent treatment from the 
cartridge loader. It is, therefore, the little known and 
exceptionally bulked powders that, are liable to be so 
loaded as to produce doubtful results. A powder which 
occupies so small a space that it may easily be over- 
charged without the fact being apparent to the loader, 
necessarily opens the way to accidents of manipulation ; 
and if it be badly regulated so that an ordinary charge 
puts an unusually, high strain on the gun, then two possi- 
bilities at least exist for the production of unduly severe 
pressures. If combined with these is stiff and resisting 
wadding and hard turnovers,, there is no obvious limit to 
the pressure that may be experienced. Consequently 
when dealing with biurst guns, a large amount of valuable 
but- still indirect evidence may be obtained from a care- 
Length. — Krag-Jorgenson, 1 3-16; .45-70-500 Springfield, 1.25; Mar- 
tini, 1.25; 340-gr. Express, %; Kentucky long rifle, .52. 
Diameter. — Krag-Jorgenson, .30; .45-70-500 Springfield, .45; Mar- 
tini, .45; 340-gr. Express, .50; Kentucky long rifle, .52. 
Ratio.— Krag-Jorgenson, .26; .45-70-500 Springfield, .36; Martini, 
.36; 340-gr. Express, .57; Kentucky long rifle 100. 
Twist — Krag-Jorgenson, 1 in 10in.; Martini, 1 in 22in. ; 340-gr. 
Express, 1 in 72in. 
Velocity. — Krag-Jorgenson, 1960 ft. sec. ; .45-70-500 Springfield, 
H79ft.sec. ; Martini, 1295 ft. sec. ; 340-gr. Express, 1800 ft. sec. 
gives the twist as 1 in 48 to 72 inches, and the bullets are 
short and light in proportion to their diameter, as he can 
see for himself if he will pay me a visit or examine the 
pictures in any English gun catalogue. 
Now, all the above shows that with the length and 
diameter of the bullet equal, or nearly equal, a velocity 
closely approaching that attained with smokeless powder 
and jacketed bullet has been given by black powder to 
an unjacketed projectile. I must admit it does not prove 
this to have been the case with the Kentucky rifles, but 
their weights and the slight elevation possible with their 
back sights suggest heavy charges of powder and high 
velocities. In the quotation from Audubon in Forest and 
Stream August 6, we find the following : "Pouring as 
much powder from his horn as will cover it. This quan- 
tity is supposed to be sufficient for any distance within a 
hundred yards." This is rather vague, but certainly 
gives the impression that fairly large charges were used 
for long range. 
Davy Crockett's rifle fired a bullet which weighed 
about the same as that of the Krag. As in the express, 
its bullet was short and light in proportion to its 
diameter. If, then, it agreed with the military smokeless 
rifle and the express in burning a large charge of powder, 
it seems to me the comparison is close enough to be 
interesting. 
In regard to the flat trajectory, and smokeless dis- 
charge of nitro powders, my meaning was not that these 
advantages were secondary in point of importance, but 
only in point of time. Historically the experiments which 
produced the smokeless powder rifle were undertaken for 
the purpose of reducing the weight of ammunition. It is 
true, however, that the incidentals have proved of more 
value than the prime object. You will remember that 
Saul went in search of his father's asses and found a 
kingdom. 
Mr. Darby says: "Experiments with the full jacketed 
bullet proved that it had no so-called explosive effect 
whatever." He is evidently unaware of the fact- that 
while an explosive effect is rarely produced in practice 
on live animals, it is almost always produced in experi- 
ments on dead ones. Let me quote from a few articles 
published while the arm was still in its experimental 
stage : . .. •' 
"The skull at short range will be extensively ruptured, the 
brain more or less disorganized, and large pieces of the ' cranial 
vault may even be thrown put. .through the torn scalp' to a rlis- 
tpnee of several meters, as though an explosion had occurred 
