520 
FOREST AND STREAM 
In Re the .2 80 
In Which is Recited the Wonderful Killing Power of the Copper Tube Bullet, 
By Edward C. Crossman. 
A 
Real Gun 
STARTS 1914 RIGHT 
€| At Pinehurst Shoot E. H. Storr, who 
shot an L. C. Smith gun with Hunter 
one-trigger, was high for entire program, 
including the handicaps. Shot at 800, 
broke 752. 
Highest Honors in Trap Shoot¬ 
ing for 1913. 
The Official Amateur Average was 
won with an L. C. Smith gun with 
Hunter one-trigger by Bart Lewis. Shot 
at 6080, broke 5811; average 95.58%. 
Remember, this is a double gun, two in 
one, and at the price of one. Illustra¬ 
tion is TRAP Grade. Price, $55; 
with ejector, $66; with ejector and one- 
trigger, $86. 
Prices $25.00 to $1000.00 Each 
MANUFACTURED BY 
The Hunter Arms Co. 
FULTON, N. Y. 
776 Hubbard St. 
Send for Catalogue of Redesigned Grades. 
on Green River. The frogs, too, were singing, 
so that though told I could catch no trout so 
early with the fly, I thought I could, and when 
I saw the water / felt that I would; and so to 
make a long story short, I did. 
Had it been any other day than Saturday I 
would have made three times the catch. Too 
many would-be fishermen troubling the stream. 
It was beautifully clear and I found it very cold, 
as I use no waders and I must get in the water 
to cast. Yes, the birds of passage are arriving 
and the concert grows in volume daily. 
ERNEST L. EWBANK. 
There are several bands of the Persian fat-tailed sheep 
on the National forests of Southern Utah. The 'large 
fat-tail sometimes weighs as much as forty pounds, and, 
like the hump on the camel, is a reserve supply of nour¬ 
ishment when food is lacking. 
Captain R. W. Main, state fish commissioner of North 
Dakota, is arranging a permanent exhibit for the museum 
at the state hatchery at Burchwood. 
Governor Fielder, of New Jersey, recently signed a bill 
providing that $14,820 included in the annual appropria¬ 
tion bill of 1913 ‘be paid into the resident license fund 
of the Fish and Game Commission to take the place of 
the funds expended on the fish hatchery at Hacketts- 
town. 
S OME two years and a half ago I took a Ross 
.280 rifle, with copper tube ammunition, to 
Catalina, to try its alleged terrific killing 
effect on the goats of that island. Up to that time 
nothing had been published in American maga¬ 
zines as to the effect of the then new bullet on 
game. After shooting various goats at various 
ranges with this copper tube bullet, I reported 
as follows: 
“There appeared to be no well-defined channel, 
the interior appeared more as if an explosion had 
taken place within. A more horrible effect could 
not be produced with anything short of dynamite. 
Soft point bullets are as the taps of windblown 
thistledown as compared with this Ross copper 
tube. 
“Imbedded in the bones of the shoulder I found 
the only substantial portion of a Ross bullet after 
it had struck game. The fragment consisted of 
the round base of the jacket, and a jagged half 
inch strip of the side, no core whatever.” 
Summing up, I reported that the .280 bullet 
was unquestionably the most terrific missile, size 
considered, that had ever been fired from a rifle, 
in its blow-up, its explosive effect, its lacerating 
of tissue and shattering of bones. 
Since then I have shot deer, bear, and caribou, 
and my first impression of the bullet has been 
more than confirmed by its work on bigger game 
than goats. I have arrived at the stage where I 
know absolutely that no missile obtainable is more 
deadly than this .280 copper tube, and therefore 
use it when I really want to kill things. No 
“placing” is necessary, other than to hit the beast 
fairly in the body, preferably of course forward 
of the first ribs, and such a bullet is the merciful 
bullet in the hands of the ordinary, non-super¬ 
natural being, who cannot absolutely place his 
shots. 
Now come the English, with their usual conser¬ 
vative attitude, and their enormous globe-trotting 
shooting experience. From the prim, precise, 
accurate, and authoritative London Field, last 
word to the Englishman on the subject of fire¬ 
arms, to King George himself, the .280 is the 
cartridge, boosted by all those that have tried it. 
I am interested—also tickled—to note how the 
experience of the Englishman, with a somewhat 
inferior bullet to the spitzer copper tube, in the 
.280, has checked up with my first report on this 
arm. It is natural to be gratified in finding that 
the years prove you right. 
The king himself, and his son, the Prince of 
Wales, shoot the .280 in preference to any other, 
and report it highly satisfactory. Being English, 
they “go in for” the double rifle, but it is the. 
cartridge, not the rifle, that we are considering. 
After two years’ trial of the .280, the London 
Field says: “The cartridge of to-day is undoubt¬ 
edly the .280, not because when well planted its 
bullet does more than other bullets, but because 
its modern trajectory minimises errors in range 
calculation, and enhances the precision of aim 
under sporting conditions. The very high velo¬ 
city incidentally gives it great smashing power, 
though the recoil is lighter than that of ordinary 
military cartridges.” 
Some English experiences with this rifle in 
various parts of the world may prove interesting 
to the readers of modern publications, whose 
rifle horizon is not bounded by rifles designed in 
1895, and not improved since, with ammunition 
equally venerable to shoot through said relics. 
The bullets used in these instances were most¬ 
ly an inferior form of the copper tube, a blunt 
nose, hollow point, against the very sharp spitzer 
hollow, copper tube, not available to any but the 
holders of the patents on its manufacture. The 
Ross Rifle Co. can doubtless furnish details of 
kills as emphatic as are these, but these details do 
not come through that company, but through a 
maker of inferior .280 rifles. 
The bullet, blunt nose, has a coefficient of .371, 
taking this maker’s own remaining velocity fig¬ 
ures, against .482 for the spitzer bullet of the 
same weight. 
The sharp point bullet of 140 grains has a ream¬ 
ing velocity at 400 yards of 2,290 ft. secs, if 
it starts at the velocity claimed by this gunmaker, 
and it has a punch of 1,630 ft. lbs. The bullet 
used by this maker has by his statement but 2,090 
ft. secs, left at 400 yards, with a punch of 1,360 
ft. secs. . 
In other words, his bullet has, at 400 yards, but 
eighty-four per cent, of the energy of the spitzer 
bullet, taking his own figures as correct. Inspec¬ 
tion of his blunt nose bullet fails to demonstrate 
how it could retain a velocity within 200 ft. secs, 
of the spitzer, but we’ll take his word for it. 
Therefore, in reading the reports of those using 
the .280 of this make, keep in mind that it is but 
eighty-four per cent, efficient as compared with 
the true copper tube spitzer. 
“The only time I used it on a lion, the animal 
dropped instantly, to a shot in the neck, using the 
hollow 140 grain bullet.” 
“I have just returned from an expedition to 
Franz Joseph Land, where I had many opportuni¬ 
ties of using your .280 rifle with I am happy to 
say, the most satisfactory results. My bag in¬ 
cluded seven bears, five walrus, and six seals. I 
shall certainly take the rifle with me on future 
shooting trips.” 
“I shot a jungle sheep with the .280 double rifle, 
legging it hard as it could about forty yards off. 
I struck it in the neck with 140 grain bullet and 
it simply rolled over dead. Small hole in the side 
I hit, but where it came out, there was a hole 
about six inches square, a most awful wound. 
We have full confidence that the .280 will kill any 
animal if it is hit fair and square anywhere from 
the last rib forward.” 
“The results of the post mortem, the bullet 
struck the brute—a boar at 200 yards—about the 
middle of the stomach, and raked forward to the 
opposite shoulder, and we could find a very few 
fragments of the bullet. The bullet after enter¬ 
ing, seems to have set up at once, and ploughed 
a furrow about two inches wide to a length of 
about one and a half feet to the opposite shoul¬ 
der, a terrific wound.” 
