^292 
FORES T A X D 
S T R E A yi 
June, 1919 
ITHACA 
WINS 
Captain Tracy H 
Lewis, Associate 
Editor of the Morn- 
ing Telegraph of 
New York, and 
just from over 
seas, won the 
George H.Lyon 
Memorial Cup 
at the New 
York Athletic 
Club’s big shoot. 
Captain Lewis 
shoots an ITHACA 
because any man 
can break more 
targets with an 
ITHACA. 
Catalog FREE. 
Address Box 25 
ITHACA GUN CO. 
ITHACA, N, Y. 
Singles, $107.1 1, includ* 
ing war tax, and up. 
Doubles, $34.78, includ- 
ing war tax, and up. 
Wing Shooting Made Easy 
The Wilbur shotgun peep sight will revolutionize 
wing shooting: no excuse for missing: game birds or 
clay birds. Patented and perfected by an old trap 
and field shooter. Teaches the art of wing shooting: 
will increase the score of the trap shooter: cor- 
rects the faults of old shooters: shows how to lead 
your birds: compels proper handKng of gun: puts the 
shooter down on his gun where he belongs; proves 
the correct fitting of your gun. 
The sight is made of hlued steel, clamps instantly 
and rigidly (»n tireech nf barrels. ■ Fast enough for 
use in snap .shooting. Sight has two openings with 
center post for alignment with ordinary sight at 
end of barrels. 
Any object seen by the shooter through this sight 
when trigger is pulled, is DKAD— as such object 
must be at the time in shot pattern wlien gun is 
discharged. On riuartcring birds lead is shown 
ab.solutelv — (JT’IvSS WORK. 
MADK IX 12 and 20-(;Ar(IK ONLY, 
Price, postpaid. $2.50. with full instructions in the 
art of wing shooting. 
Write for “ Treatise Wing Shooting Made Easy.” 
WILBUR GUN SIGHT 
lib West 39th St.. Room 140. New York City, N. Y. 
For 
35c 
Poitpald 
all lubrication and 
polishing around the 
house, in the tool shed 
or afield with gun or rod. 
NYOIL 
to the New Perlectioo 
Pocket Package 
i$ a matchless combination. 
Hporttmen kiinwii it i»r 
years. Pealera seU NYOIL at 
15c. aiul35c. bend uh the name 
of a live one who doesn’t Hell 
NYOIL with other uerrMsai lea 
for eportsmen and we will send 
you a dandy, handy new can 
(arrew top and arrew tip) con- 
taining Zh oooeet postpaid 
for 35 cents. 
WH.F.NTE.NewBe4foiJ. Mul 
SHORT BARRELED GUNS 
THERE IS NO SURER WAY OF SPEEDING UP A SHOOTER 
THAN TO SHORTEN THE LENGTH OF HIS BARRELS 
By W. A. B. 
UN -MAKERS and 
sportsmen are an ex- 
traordinarily conser- 
vative body of peo- 
ple. It was only by 
the slowest stages 
and the most gradual 
steps that the flint 
lock was eventually 
perfected and a long 
period ensued before 
it was Anally dis- 
placed by the percus- 
sion lock, and later the breech loading 
principle was adopted only after the 
greatest deliberation and the severest 
tests had been made. 
The conservatism displayed in relation 
to the various changes in the methods 
of loading and igniting weapons is quite 
apparent today in a blind acceptance of 
certain fixed calibres and an arbitrary 
length of barrels for all guns, for today 
sportsmen and gun-makers cling closely 
to adages and principles that were laid 
down in the days of black powder. To 
begin with, it may be mentioned that the 
black powder which was in use in the 
days of the flint lock, the muzzle loader, 
and in the early days of the breech loader, 
was a chemical mixture of slow ignition 
and it required barrels three or four feet 
long to develop its full energy. 
The modern smokeless powder which 
has been in use for a quarter of a cen- 
tury and more has been brought to a 
very high degree of perfection. It de- 
velops its power quickly and a barrel 
fifteen to twenty inches long is all that 
is required to insure its full ignition, con- 
sequently any excessive barrel length 
through which the shot is forced to travel 
simply retards its velocity. To be sure, 
this is so slight as not to be appreciable 
in itself, but it immediately develops 
new possibilities for the gun-fitter. It 
enables a man to use a gun with barrels 
of the length which he can handle with 
the greatest faciltiy. He is no longer 
confined to certain limitations. Just 
why a 12-gauge gun barrel should be 
30 inches long has never been satisfac- 
torily explained. It is perfectly appar- 
ent that a man 5 feet 4 inches tall of 
moderate stiength, and short arms, can- 
not handle with the greatest facility a 
weapon pre-eminently adapted to a long- 
armed man 6 feet 2 inches tall, of heavier 
build and more powerful physique. The 
gun-fitter however, as a rule, fits both 
of these men with weapons with the same 
barrel length. It is not the proper thing 
to do theoretically and the theory has 
been proven correct by scientific tests and 
practical experience in. the field. 
S OMETIME ago Mr. Winans, who has 
perfected many ingenious devices, 
called the attention of experts in 
gunnery to certain results attained in 
shooting 22-calibre rifles at a cinema. 
The misses with these rifles were all in 
front of the bir.ls. In shooting with 
shot guns the misses were behind the 
birds. Mr. Winans further confirmed 
these results when taking running shots 
at deer or wild boar with the rifle just 
as clearly as when taking crossing shots 
at pheasants, grouse, and other game 
with a shot gun. The solution that he 
arrived at was that the velocities rec- 
orded for the shotgun were roughly half 
of those attained by the rifle, therefore, 
the sliotgun fell behind. This solution, 
so far as ir goes, is undoubtedly logical 
and correct, but the fact must not be 
overlooked that Mr. Winans’ rifle barrels 
were from four to six inches shorter 
than the barrels of his shotgun. This 
enabled him to swing on moving objects 
more quickly with the rifle than with the 
shotgun as the muzzles of the rifles would 
have to do a less amount of traveling 
than the muzzles of the shotgun. 
It is very well understood that a gun 
with short barrels can be s%vung much 
more rapidly than one with longer tubes. 
In fact barrel lengths play a very im- 
portant part in the speed of swinging a 
gun either to the right or the left in 
the field or at the traps, and few birds 
are lost through aiming too far ahead. 
The misses usually are the result of 
shooting behind; in other words insuf- 
ficient lead. It, therefore, follows that 
anything that will quicken up the swing 
and increase the lead will improve the 
score, particularly on crossing shots. 
There is no surer way of speeding up a 
shooter than to shorten the length of his 
barrel and this will apply particularly 
to men of moderate strength with short 
arms. It is impossible for men of this 
type to handle speedily weapons that are 
more suitable for powerful, longer limbed 
men. A man accustomed to barrels, 30 
or 32 inches long, will not at first feel at 
ease with a 26 or 28-inch weapon. This 
feeling, however, will soon disappear and 
in this connection it may be also men- 
tioned that nothing ■will true up a man’s 
line of sight more accurately, give him 
greater confidence or reconcile him more 
completely to the use of shorter barrels, 
than to have them equipped with the 
large ivory sights that are sold by the 
Lyman and the Marble people. 
Thirty inches has come to be recognized 
as the standard barrel length for 12-bore 
guns, but this length is entirely arbit- 
rary. It dates from the days of black 
powder and it does not apply to modern 
weapons using smokeless powders. 
Therefore, the sportsman who is shoot- 
ing behind his birds either in the field 
or at the trap can dispense with two, 
three or four inches of barrel length with 
the result that he will handle his new 
weapon much more smartly and rapidly 
without suffering in any way from loss 
of pattern or penetration. Ten years 
ago there was a very strong disposition 
towards trap guns with 32 and 34-inch 
barrels. This has gradually moderated, 
while in the field 12-bore guns of 28-inch 
barrel are more frequently seen. 
