Aug. 26, 1911] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
337 
Guns and Their Users. 
Many a good man is put wrong by an indif¬ 
ferent gun, while similarly many a good gun 
does not get a chance, because the man using 
it is a duffer. This combination of a good gun 
in the hands of a poor performer or a bad gun 
in the hands of a good shot, is not infrequently 
met with. The net result is failure, and danger 
as a rule. The best man going is handicapped 
if his gun is wrong, nor will the very best ham¬ 
merless ejector do much for the bag if the man 
is wrong. Taking these points then, as the ex¬ 
treme of either end, we find all degrees of 
gradation between them—good, bad, middling 
and indifferent, but where the correct standard 
when the day is over. It is cleaned and then 
put away, and as a matter of fact many owners 
hardly know the difference between an old side 
lock and a modern up-to-date gun. Therefore, 
it is obvious that these men know really noth¬ 
ing about a gun, and it is they who so often 
purchase the cheap and nasty variety, or the 
dear and worthless sort; for there is high priced 
rubbish as well as cheap trash on the market, 
and no man who does not take an interest in 
a gun can possibly know enough about one to 
differentiate between rubbish and the real article. 
It has always struck me as being singular that 
so many men allow themselves to be deceived 
in buying a gun. Those that adopt the advice 
so often given, and when they want a gun at 
marked “grays,” but barrels and action were 
marked “proved.” An utterly trashy gun. Any 
respectable maker would at once tell an intend¬ 
ing purchaser that this gun was wrong, and so 
would any practical shooter who knows anything 
of the elementary details of a well-made gun. 
Yet this is as a rule the sort of things we see 
in the shops of country dealers, but never in 
those of respectable gunmakers or dealers. 
W. R. Gilbert. 
Quail Abundant. 
Hendersonville, N. C, Aug. 19. — Editor Forest 
and Stream: Now we begin to look forward to 
the shooting season, which opens in the most 
lake m'donald, glacier national park. 
Copyright, 1910 , by Kiser Photo Co., for the Great Northern Railway. 
of efficiency is found it takes the shape of a 
sensible man armed with a suitable gun, the one 
being so to speak part and parcel of the other 
and making a conglomerate machine, each part 
of which works harmoniously with the other. 
No such combination will ever be arrived at 
by anyone who buys a cheap and dangerous gun. 
Taking sportsmen as a class it is curious how 
many are careless about their guns. The hunt¬ 
ing man is ever and always thinking of his horse 
and goes to the stable to admire him even when 
hunting is impossible. The motorist is wrapped 
up in his car whether able to go out for a spin 
or not. Other instances may be adduced in as¬ 
sociation with other pastimes. But with the 
usual exceptions the shooter lays down his gun 
a moderate outlay, go to a respectable maker 
and buy a genuine second hand article, are never 
done, for no respectable maker will sell them 
anything that is not right. 
I remember well some time ago looking at a 
gun offered by a dealer at $40. It was a double 
hammerless of the side lock style, the lock plates 
covered with cheap scroll engraving. It was 
pistol grip, with a vulcanite heel plate and cross 
bolt action, but the bolt did not go through 
from side to side. The barrels were adorned 
with a gorgeous flat file-cut rib. The stock was 
of straight-grained wood and was highly polish¬ 
ed with some yellow varnish. The gun weighed 
exactly seven pounds and was badly balanced. 
In the right hand barrel were two distinctly 
westernmost of our counties in October, but in 
this (Henderson) county, Jan. 1. Partridges 
(quail) are reported to be more plentiful than 
for years past. Ruffed grouse, too, are said to 
be plentiful in the woods least frequented by 
the “razorback” hog, and we that shoot occas¬ 
ionally are looking forward to having some rare 
sport this fall and winter. Ernest L. Ewbank. 
Book Exchange. 
No doubt there are many of our readers who possess 
old books, and others who would be glad to possess 
them, and we are, therefore, making a special place in 
our advertising columns, which may be called a book 
exchange, where those who wish to purchase, sell or ex¬ 
change second-hand books may ask for what they need, 
or offer what they have. 
