Nov. i, 1913- 
FOREST AND STREAM 
555 
For the .22 Hi-Power there is an adapter 
made to shoot the regular .22 long rifle car¬ 
tridge, practically the same size in bullet as 
the .22 Hi-Power barrel. 
Another meat-getter is the “Pocket Rifle." 
This affair consists of a stretched out pistol, 
single shot in persuasion, with a nickel-plated, 
skeleton-shoulder stock attached by a thumb 
screw. They come from 10-inch to 18-inch 
barrel lengths, and weigh around two pounds. 
The sights are any front you fancy, and an 
aperture rear sight set on the barrel ahead of 
the hammer. There is also a lighter model 
weighing one pound with 10-inch barrel. All 
of these shoot the .22 long rifle, or in the 
heavier model, the .25 or .32 long rim fire. 
These guns are very accurate, and what is 
an entirely different thing, can be shot ac¬ 
curately by the average man. 
A number of our big-game chasers pack 
.22 single shot pistols or revolvers, sometimes 
carrying them on the hunt itself, after camp has 
been made. My preference is for a medium 
priced arm, costing around $7, and known as 
the off-hand model. This, for the reason that 
if you forget to clean it, or remember it all 
right, but the flesh prove weak, you have not 
ruined much. A new barrel costs but $3 or so, 
and if you drop the whole works in the creek, 
you are not out $15, as you would be with the 
finer model of hand gun. 
Such an arm should have a small, gold or 
ivory front and a rather wide “U” notch in the 
rear, and the ordinary buck-horn rear sight 
should be cut down to a flat bar to enable you 
to hold elevation. Trigger pull should never 
run over three pounds, two is the limit set by 
the United States Revolver Association for 
single shot pistols. 
If your choice falls on the .22 revolver of 
one of the new models advertised, see that it is 
of the best make, and that it handles the .22 
long rifle, not the other .22 cartridge that costs 
double the long rifle, and that refuses tO' allow 
any other form of .22 cartridge to associate 
with it. 
What is perhaps the most useful arm of all 
the accessory sort of weapon is the hybrid 
affair yclept. “Game Getter." It also costs 
double.the others, a fact to temper one’s judg¬ 
ment. 
At first sight it is a joke, a queer-looking 
two-barreled gun with skeleton stock, made on 
the general lines of a long pistol, and having 
a hammer with wiggly, undecided nose. The 
upper barrel is bored for the .22 long rifle, and 
will, of course, shoot shorts, the lower one for 
both .44 shot cartridges and .44 round balls. 
The stock is adjustable for drop, and by pressing 
a button it is released and folds around under 
the barrel, making the length of the gun over 
all just the length of the grip and barrel, like 
a pistol. 
I took one out and tried it last fall. I wore 
a broad grin, and I produced it with consider¬ 
able sheepishness before the gang at the club. 
Also they did not say anything to remove the 
feeling. 
Presently the smile and the sheepishness 
wore off. I did not feel surprised at finding 
that the .22 barrel would keep in the four ring 
at 200 yards, or a two-foot circle, from the 
regular off-hand position, and do a lot better 
from a rest. I have seen pocket rifles do this. 
I did get a surprise party when I broke 12 
out of 20 blue rocks thrown from the trap on 
the hill, over my head, and 10 out of 20 thrown 
across me from the ground level at 20 yards, 
using, of course, the .44 shot cartridges. It is 
imposible to cheek the gun—there is nothing to 
cheek—and the feat of hitting flying objects 
consistently seems a remote one—but it can be 
done. Missing a quail at 25 yards or under is 
the fault of the shooter, not the gun; and it 
really can be pointed surprisingly well. 
With round balls in the shot barrel the gun 
will hold the 8-inch black at 50 yards, fired off¬ 
hand. How much better it will actually do I 
do not know, but I am counting on what the 
average shot can expect to get out of the gun 
as he would fire it. There is ample punch to 
the round bullet, enough to knock out a deer 
at short range, and more power than had the 
famed Kentucky rifles of old. The round ball, 
weighing 115 grains, drives seven inches into 
pine, enough to knock out a deer save under 
unfavorable circumstances. 
The arm weighs around 2P2 pounds. The 
sights are a gold front, a folding leaf on the 
barrel, and at the option of the purchaser, a 
folding peep sight on the tang above the grip. 
Also, as I said, the gun costs as much as a 
high power rifle, something to temper its mani¬ 
fest advantages as a supplementary weapon. 
The man seeking a small game combination 
for the big-game hunt, or seeking a side arm 
for his fishing excursion, might do well to keep 
these points in mind, points developed by ex¬ 
perience. 
First, the adapter or supplemental chamber 
for the .30 caliber rifle necessarily shoots a 
bullet of the caliber of the rifle. It possesses 
unnecessary ginger for small game, is a bit 
noisy and requires change of sights or change 
of hold to strike what you aim at. Said change 
is both in elevation and “Windage,” because of 
the altered whip of the rifle, or lack thereof, 
with the small pistol cartridge. It is an excel¬ 
lent thing to have along if much small game is 
to be seen on the hunt itself and there is no 
danger of alarming the bigger quarry. Whether 
it is preferable to use the adapter or a sepa¬ 
rate small gun depends on the country and the 
shooting to be done. The most useful adapter 
of them all is that for the .22 Hi-Power, owing 
to its shooting the long rifle cartridge perfectly, 
and not a noisy pistol cartridge of .30 or .32 
caliber. 
When it comes to the single-shot pistol or 
revolver, it is a fact, sad, but true, that nine out 
of ten men cannot hit a bushel basket at twenty 
yards with such guns. Pistol shooting is a 
game by itself, requiring much practice, and 
falling off sadly at the slightest touch of un¬ 
favorable circumstances—such as a puff of wind, 
heavy breathing from exertion, excitement, or 
the necessity for quick shooting. Shooting a 
grouse off a limb thirty yards away with the 
rifle or pocket rifle does not require more than 
ordinary skill, while hitting it with a pistol even 
in expert hands is doubtful, unless all the con¬ 
ditions are favorable. Turn loose your expert 
and see. 
The slight addition of a light wire stock to 
the long-barreled pistol, making it a pocket 
rifle, adds about five times the accuracy it 
would have, fired from the extended hand alone. 
I know this talk does not sound pleasant to 
those who fancy themselves no small beer as 
pistol shots, but 1 have seen the game tried. 
Carrying a heavy caliber revolver into camp 
may be advisable; this depends upon circum¬ 
stances. I have never yet heard an adequate 
excuse for carrying one on the hunt itself. If 
the tenderfood is the man toting the heavy re¬ 
volver to camp, it would be well to hide said 
gun in a hollow stump until the time for the 
return. 
I saw one sit up and blaze away at a 
coyote he heard howling close by one night. 
The coyote happened to be in the direction of 
another fellow’s bed, but luckily he was lying flat 
at the time. There was language, and a cessa¬ 
tion of nocturnal revolver practice, but you will 
grasp the danger. 
If the small gun is really taken along with 
the intention of supplementing the pot there¬ 
with, then it had best not be the ordinary pistol, 
but the pocket rifle, or the game getter. There 
is slight difference in weight and a large dif¬ 
ference in accuracy, the chief advantage of the 
pistol is greater ease of carrying. This is an 
argument good only to the man carrying the 
gun on the hunt itself as a supplement to the 
big rifle. 
The pocket rifle and the game getter fit 
nicely under the arm in a scabbard. If a strap 
is run across the breast the scabbard cannot 
slip off. regardless of the scrambling done. It 
is particularly desirable for the fishing trip, in 
which case the game getter is a great bringer 
of joy, small game and rattlesnake trophies. 
Smokeless .22 ammunition is less noisy than 
the lesmok or semi-smokeless, but it requires 
stringent care and religious cleaning that night, 
while the other stuff can be removed with noth¬ 
ing more efficient than water and some dry rags, 
and if it remains in the barrel over night, no 
great harm is done. 
Bears are Fat in North Carolina. 
Linville Falls, N. C., Oct. 25 .—Editor 
Forest and Stream: The bear season in the 
Blue Ridge has opened, and the first bear taken 
by the Burleson hounds was a record breaker. 
It weighed 251 pounds after having been killed 
several hours, its entrails removed and the bear 
carried nearly two miles to this place. Yet this 
specimen was not as large as several others that 
have been taken here in recent years. Its frame 
was much smaller, but it was loaded with fat, 
and that made the weight. It has been many 
years since the chestnut and acorn crop has been 
as heavy as this year, so bears, squirrels, ’coons, 
turkeys and pigs are all getting fat on them. 
This bear had fat on his back five inches thick 
and was completely coated with it from one 
to five inches thick. The burden of fat is so 
great the bears can't travel much, so the race 
is short. This one ran only about half a mile 
before the dogs held it, and Commodore Burle¬ 
son and Arnold Penland came up and poured 
lead into it. The bear had plenty of fight, how¬ 
ever, and made away with one of the best of the 
Burleson hounds. F. W. Bicknell. 
Marydel, Md., Oct. 25 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: I like your paper all right and enjoy 
reading it. I have always gotten good results 
from advertising in its columns, and think it is 
second to none. 
H. FI. Smith, O. K. Kennels. 
