336 
FOREST AND STREAM 
March i6, 1912 
Twenty-Gauge Guns. 
Halifax, N. S., March 8.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The article on “Small Bores for Wild¬ 
fowl” in a recent issue opens up a subject very 
interesting to the gun crank, if not to all sports¬ 
men. 
Two years ago, ‘ though skeptical as to its 
utility, I purchased a cheap twenty-bore. At 
the end of the season the gun was for sale, not 
because of disgust at its performance, but be¬ 
cause I wanted to get a better grade for perma¬ 
nent use, which I did. 
This second gun is an ejector; single trigger 
with 28-inch barrels; right improved cylinder, 
left nearly full choke; weight, six pounds. 
The load I use in this gun for quail, snipe, 
’cock and grouse over a dog is drams 
powder, ^-ounce of 8s or 9s in the right and 
714 chilled shot in the left barrel. No, brother, 
I am not casting any longing glances back at 
the twelve-bore, now a bit dusty and maybe a 
bit rusty inside the barrels. On the contrary, 
I am now studying up a twenty for duck shoot¬ 
ing purposes, in spite of the fact that a very 
deadly old ten-gauge that has a great antipathy 
to wildfowl stands in my gun rack. 
My present idea of a ducking twenty is about 
as follows: Both barrels full choke, 32 inches 
long, chambered for 3-inch shells. Load, one 
ounce of shot propelled by about 2^ drams 
smokeless powder. The velocity of the shot in 
a load of 2^ drams and ^-ounce No. 7 shot, 
as given by one of our gunmakers, is 974 feet 
per second, which is a trifle better velocity than 
that of the maximum load of 3j4 drams and 
ounces in the twelve-bore, which is given as 
963 feet. Whether the load of powder can be 
increased in the twenty-bore if we increase the 
shot load to one ounce, I do not know. I 
believe, however, that we can increase the shot 
charge to one ounce when using 6s or larger 
sizes, as the friction will not be greater than 
with %-ounce of 9s. 
I have not found an American gunmaker, 
however, who will consent to using over 
ounce shot in his guns. One says the tremend 
ous pressures set up in a twenty-bore using one 
ounce of shot is appalling. Another says that 
though the gun may stand it, the shell will not. 
In spite of this warning I have shot 2^ drams 
and one ounce out of the six-pound twenty 
mentioned above and live to tell the tale; in 
fact, it did not jar me in the least. I know one 
man who shoots this load of powder all the 
time, claiming that he gets a better pattern, 
though he uses only %-ounce shot. 
I have before me the catalogue of a well 
known English maker who builds a twenty-bore 
weighing but five pounds fourteen ounces to 
shoot as high as 1^4 ounces of shot propelled by 
38 grains of Amberite, which is about equal to 
2^ drams. This gun is unquestionably a freak 
and would be unpleasant to shoot, being too 
light, but it shows that there is a difference of 
opinion as to what load this gauge will safely 
handle. 
If you will look at the table showing the sizes 
of Tatham’s shot you will see that from No. i 
to No. 6 the number of pellets in an ounce in¬ 
crease from one number to the next at the rate 
of about 25 per cent., hence one ounce of 6s 
contains the same number of pellets as does 
iJ 4 ounces of 5s, and so on down the list. 
Therefore, to get as many pellets in a one-ounce 
load as there are in the il4-ounce load, we 
have only to sacrifice one size of shot. 
If we can then get a twenty-bore that will 
throw one ounce of 6s containing 218 pellets 
at a greater velocity than a twelve will throw 
its load of ounces of 5s, containing 210 
pellets, the two guns will be pretty nearly on a 
par as to efficiency, and the “man behind the 
gun” will have more fun. 
Information from readers who have experi¬ 
mented along these lines would be very inter¬ 
esting reading, I am sure. 
W. H. Starratt. 
Woodcock in the Provinces. 
Halifax, N. S., March 6. — Editor Forest 
and Stream: In your issue of Jan. 29 there is 
an article under the above heading by W. H. 
Starratt, of this city. 
Yes, a few robins remain with us during 
the winter, although he is correct about us hav- 
MR. ZELENKA AND THREE RACCOONS.' 
ing some cold weather, but on the whole it is 
delightful and there is no reason why our robins 
should not stay, as there is plenty of food for 
them above the ground. I have seen several 
robins this winter. 
He next refers to Wilson’s snipe; yes, they 
were unquestionably more plentiful than in any 
year during the last fifteen. In his next he gets 
lost, until he finds his dog pointing (he has a 
good one, I will not dispute that), and immedi¬ 
ately advertises for Mr. Ewbank to help him out 
of his difficulties. 
Furthermore, in a letter I wrote you in your 
issue of Dec. 16 I showed that woodcock were 
scarcer last autumn than ever in the memory of 
the oldest interested inhabitant, and as our 
ruffed grouse were also very plentiful, and 
Wilson snipe being everywhere, what was his 
dog—“standing on” other than terra firma? 
If by any chance it was a woodcock, I am very 
sorry, at the same time I almost think it was, 
and he “hit hard,” but did not “bag it” and he 
thinks as I do— de morUiis nil nisi bonum. 
J. W. Willis. 
Quail Reports Requested. 
Packer, Conn., March 7.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Apparently our game has fared well in 
spite of the very severe weather since the first 
of the year. This has been owing to small 
amount of snow, I believe. Several bevies of 
quail have been seen during the past few days, 
and their numbers would indicate that few 
have lost their lives, either to snow or vermin. 
In April, 1910, I reported quail beginning their 
love song, “bobwhite” on April 21, when ap¬ 
parently every cock quail in this section became 
busy with his spring music. Later your Missis¬ 
sippi correspondent, Coahoma, reported quail 
still in unbroken bevies and not yet singing 
bobwhite. Would it not prove interesting to 
have reports from your country readers as to 
first love songs heard this spring from South 
to North? E. P. Robinson. 
[Reports on this subject from correspondents 
would, indeed, prove interesting reading.— 
Editor.] 
Quite Different. 
Somerville, Mass., March 2.— Editor Forest 
and Stream: Having in mind the success with 
which some birds and animals keep out of sight, 
I believe that the squirrels, especially the grays, 
are among the most successful in this respect. 
While I never shoot squirrels and therefore am 
not perhaps on the lookout for them, I do not 
remembef having seen a single one in this 
locality this season. Yet I find their tracks 
everywhere on the snow and quite fresh, too, 
as the dogs often notice them, which causes me 
to look up in the trees, but I seldom see them. 
While attending our fox hunt at Belchertown 
last fall, I saw several. I remember one day in 
particular when I could have easily secured at 
least a half dozen while sitting in one place at 
a runway. One of the best ways to get them 
would be to go out in a likely place and sit 
down and wait. I see them quite often here in 
the city, but they are a different animal in the 
woods. After having seen them so tame here in the 
cities and parks, the shooting of them does not 
particularly appeal to me. However, as I have 
said, the}' are a different animal in the woods, 
and furnish good sport to some. 
Charles H. Shaw. 
Coon Hunting near New York. 
Congers, N. Y., March 9. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: Looking through your journal, the 
photographs of trappers and hunters and their 
game induced me to send you a photograph of 
myself and three raccoons that I shot in less than 
two hours’ hunting along a creek leading from a 
lake at Congers. 
There are plenty of ’coons around for the 
hunter who has a good dog; also foxes and 
many muskrats. 
Fishing for bass and pickerel and pike is great. 
Fishermen come in flocks in the open season. 
Wm. G. Zelenka. 
