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Small-Bores. 
Adrian, Mich .—Editor Forest and Stream: Your Los 
Angeles correspondent, Mr. Hedderley, is most interest¬ 
ing. His letters always make pleasant reading. I have 
shot over the Bolsa Chice as a guest of Count von 
Schmidt, a former president of the club, so I am some¬ 
what familiar with the shooting described. 
I will agree with Mr. Hedderley when he says the 
duck shooting near Los Angeles is a most sporting type. 
But when he compares the relative merits of the 20- 
bore and the 12-bore, I must take issue with him. 
That the small bore, either 16 or 20 is capable of 
doing wonderful work in the field, when, in the hands 
of a more than average good shot, I am willing to admit. 
But it is equally true that the small-bore gun, no 
matter how loaded, cannot compare with a moderate 12 
when tested at the plates. The London Field has con¬ 
ducted a series of experiments to determine this. I have 
not the references at hand, but I would say that there 
had been half a dozen such trials within the same 
number of years. , ... 
Speaking from memory, my impression is that each 
trial showed the 12 to be superior to the smaller bore 
in pattern, and at least equal in penetration, if not 
better. 
I may be wrong in this. If so a reference to the hies 
of the Field will show. But, as every one knows, it is 
not what a gun will do at 40yds. on a 30in. circle which 
determines the effectiveness of a load. On a plate the 
first shot which strikes and the last are of equal value. 
But not so at the trap or in the field. 
With a good killing load, only about 40 per cent, of the 
charge is effective. It is that part of. the charge which 
gets up to the mark in a hurry and in. a lump. 
In the old days, when we were shooting pigeons, we 
d'd not trv a- load on a paper pattern. We watched the 
effect on the birds. 
When you could see two small puffs of fine feathers, 
dust like, floating in the air after the two barrels were 
fired, you knew you had a killing load. . 
Mr. Hedderley is correct when he says the 20 is here to 
stay. But when he says. “They cannot compete with the 
12 at the trap,” he tells the whole truth. 
What is the difference between the performance of a 
gun at the trap and in the field? 
If it be true, as the advocates of the small bore claim, 
that the 20 will drive its charge into a duck at long 
range in a heavy wind with greater killing power with 
less drift from the wind than a 12, why does it not 
show the same qualities when tested at the traps? 
A pigeon at 30yds. rise, when assisted by a good 
breeze, is as hard a mark as I want to shoot at. 
Now, if the 20 possesses such wonderful qualities, 
would not this be a fine opportunity to display them? 
The trouble with all men who judge by results on game 
is that they base their opinions upon too slight evi¬ 
dence. The number of shots fired in game shooting is 
small compared to tests at the plates or . at the traps. 
The conditions are constantly varying in game shoot¬ 
ing. No two shots are fired at the same distance or 
under the same circumstances. Then a star kill of a 
difficult bird at long range or under adverse conditions 
will produce a more lasting impression upon, the shoot¬ 
er’s mind than a dozen average kills or misses. 
I have had experience with small bores. My first was 
a 16, 30in. barrels, full-choke. I shot it one fall at rail, 
near Philadelphia, and on that easy shooting thought it 
capital. Later in the year, in December, I tried the 
same gun on quail in North Carolina. It was not very 
long before I was hunting up a blacksmith to cut off a 
couple of inches from the barrels to get rid of the choke. 
My next was a beautiful little 20, 61bs. hammerless 
ejector, full choke, 30in. barrels, made by a Lond^ 
maker, who was building me a pigeon gun, and while 
fooling around his shop I got so enamored of the little 
20 that I bought it. That is the trouble with the little 
beggars. You pick one up in a shop, and it feels so 
nice and light that you fall in love with it at once. 
The first time I tried the 20 I fired fifteen shots be¬ 
fore I killed a quail. Then I got the hang of the gun 
and used it with more success. 
If one fired with the quick snap which is the keynote 
of successful trapshooting, the 20-bore was absolutely 
useless. But dwell on the bird for the least part of a 
second and it was surprising how effective the little 
gun became. ... 
For ordinary game shooting, inside 35yds., the 20-bore 
is just as effective as the 12, provided you have time to 
steady yourself for the shot. 
As I was shooting at the trap quite a bit at this time, 
I did not bother much with the 20. That dwelling 
upon the shot is fatal in trapshooting, and I did not 
want to get into the habit. 
The merits of the small bores were often discussed by 
the members of the Riverton Guun Club, of Philadel¬ 
phia, of which I was a member. Several matches were 
shot with the small bores to test their efficiency. In 
the history of the Riverton Gun Club, page 42 of the 
records, I find the following: “1901.—May 6: J. H. 
Davis using a 28-bore at 24yds.; Geo. C. Thomas, Jr., 
using a 20-bore at 26yds.; Yale Dolan, using a 20-bore at 
26yds. Won by Thomas, 24. The sixth bird falling 
dead out of bounds. Dolan 21, 2 dead out; Davis 18 
with 5 dead out of bounds. Demonstrating a 28-bore 
too small to shoot pigeons on a short boundary 
[50yds.].” Again (page 43 idem): “1901.—Dec. 7, 50 birds: 
Geo. C. Thomas, Jr., 23yds., 20-bore gun; L. Finletter, 
30yds., 12-bore gun. Won by Finletter, 48 to< 44. 
“Same day, second race, 25 birds, exchange of guns 
and distances: Won by Geo. C. Thomas, Jr., 17 out of 
19; L. Finletter, 14 out of 19.” 
I remember these two matches very well. Mr. Thomas 
always had a fancy for the extreme in guns from 4 to 
20. He liked that little 20-bore of mine and thought he 
could shoot it against a 12 with a reasonable distance 
handicap. My offer to him was that he could stand 
anywhere he wanted, from 21 to 31yds.; my mark to be 
30yds. That he could shoot a 20 is shown by his scores: 
On May 6 he scored 24 out of 25, and on Dec. 7, 44 
out of 50. That would be good shooting for any size 
of gun. . , 
It was a very fortunate thing for me that I was 
