FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oct. 30, 1909. 
®S 
il'fi 
Small Bores. 
Budleigh, Salterton, S. Devon, England.— Editor 
rarest and Stream: As the discussion about the rela- 
tjve penetration of large and small bore guns still con¬ 
tinues in your columns, the following results of experi¬ 
ments which I have made within recent years may in¬ 
terest some of your readers: 
Strawboards were used, about Sin. square, twelve of 
which weighed one pound. They were placed in a 
rack, lin. apart, and only the boards pierced by at 
least three pellets were counted. 
A 16-gauge with 28in., and a 12-gauge with 30in. bar- 
rels were tried at 40yds., with exactlv the same loads, 
both powder and shot being carefully weighed. The 
powder was Curtis & Harvey’s No. 4 black, and the 
shot contained 330 pellets in an ounce. Six shots were 
fired from each gun with 2^drs. of powder and %oz. 
of shot. The average number of boards pierced was, 
by the 16-bore 12 2-3; by the 12-bore, 12 1-3. Six car¬ 
tridges, each loaded with 2%drs. and loz., gave, with 
the 16-bore, 13 1-6 boards, and with the 12-bore, 13 2-3. 
Six shots from each gun with 3drs. and loz., gave, for 
the 16-bore an average of 13 boards, and for the 12-bore 
13 1-3. 
A single muzzle-loading 36-borc, with a 34in barrel 
was tried against a Maynard breech-loading 28-bore with 
a 26m. barrel. Each was fired six times at 30yds., with 
38grs. weight of Curtis & Harvey’s black powder and 
%oz. of No. S shot, containing 450 pellets in an ounce. 
f he boards pierced by the 36-bore were 8, 7. 8 8 8 7 
average 7%; by the 28-bore 8, 7, 7, 7, 8, 7, average 7% 
The 16-bore with the 2Sin. barrels was next tried with 
the same proportions of the same powder and shot, 
viz., 76grs. of the former and loz. of the latter The 
boards pierced were 8, 8, 7, 8, 8, 7, average 7%. 
An old Purdey muzzle-loading 14-bore, with exactly 
the same charge, penetrated 8, 7, 9, 7, 8, 7 average 
7%. The barrels of this gun are 30in. long. 
A Maynard 18-bore, with a 26in. barrel, was then 
tried with the same proportions of the same 
powder and shot, viz., 65grs. weight of the former 
an “ ‘2 oz - 5^ tb e ' atter - The penetration was 8, 
», 8, 7, 8, 8, average 7%. The Maynard 28-bore 
tired with the same proportions, viz., 4Sgrs. of powder 
§ nd weight of shot (about %oz.), penetrated 
8, f, 7, 8, 8, 8, average of six shots, 7% boards. The 
36-bore, with exactly the same loads and the same 
wadding, pierced 7, 8, 7, 8, 7, 8, average 7% boards. 
1 had the barrel of this gun shortened to 26in. in order 
to try how much it would lose in force. It was loaded 
with a smaller charge, but in the same proportions as 
before, viz., 3Sgrs. of powder and %oz. of shot. The 
strawboards were, thinner than in the earlier trials four- 
teen of them weighing lib. The number penetrated at 
30yds. were 10 9, 9 9,10, 10, average 9%. The Maynard 
..8-bore was then fired six times with the same loads, 
and penetrated 10, 11. 10, 10, 10, 10, average 10% boards. 
these results seem to show that guns of almost any 
length of barrel, or size of bore, give about the same 
penetration if loaded with the same proportions of 
powder to shot. 
Your correspondent “Dick Swiveller,” in Forest and 
Stream of Sept. 11, and others in previous numbers, 
mentioned trials with the chronograph which proved 
that small bores give as much muzzle velocity to the 
same weight of shot, with a few grains less powder, than 
larger bores. They must, therefore, give slightly more 
velocity when the powder charges are equal. 
I read the details of these trials when first published 
t v T- sure that the y can be fully relied upon. 
I believe that the evenness of the penetration in my 
experiments was due to the small size of the shot pellets 
causing them to lose velocity so rapidly that at 30 or 
40yds. the differences between the various gauges could 
not be detected without making the tests unusually deli¬ 
cate by using very thin boards. 
Some years ago I tried, from a 12-gauge with 30in. 
barrels, the penetration at 40yds., of six cartridges 
containing 3%drs. of black powder and %oz. of No 7 
shot and six loaded with 3drs. and l%oz. of No. 6 shot 
* he latter proved superior by two boards. This shows 
that penetration at. long ranges is more easily obtained 
bv increasing the size of the shot pellets than the charge 
of nowder. Large shot, however, is only required for 
birds like water fowl with thick down next the skin 
l„!i j ordinary game. No. 7 shot (English size), if 
nowder ,n -i, he i . 1 ’? ro P° rt, , on °f loz- to 43grs. of nitro 
powder, will kill on the spot up to fully 40yds I 
fnund S n S M ■ hat S,Z< ; for ™ ff ? d S rot,se in Canada, and 
pigeo d ns n in h i n n g dia eqUaI ^ Wi ' d bIuerock 
sn£ll ,a bo e b . ore , gun does not give its best results with 
small bore loads. When using No. 6 shot (270 pellets 
in an ounce), the 12-gauges, as now bored, give the best 
l%oz' n ?be°V Pattern and penetration at 40yds„ with 
%oz 16-gauges with loz. and the 20-gauges with 
If %oz. be deducted from each. of these loads the 
pattern suffers at long ranges ’ 
%oz 0m in ttrVT l \ se loz - 12-bores and 
is at aA; lfi ' rhat , IS because much of the shooting 
beyond 30vds ga /w\i W f hen very fe - w birds are fired at 
d f y °" d ..?, yds \ At that range an improved cylinder 12- 
gauge will put at least 160 pellets in a 30in circle with 
cf Z ab°out S 140: and 3 16 With wiU make C a pattern 
witV 1 ft n than y l°io i° f shot is re ?u ; red, a 16 will do better 
h " lL 1 a ? 1—bore as usually made. The latter can 
™ne I 
«7n^of% h r P ett at & 
targets. ® ^ S 
two, but the small gauge showed slightly less diminu¬ 
tion, in the velocity of the outer pellets, than the large. 
Small bores are of course stronger than large if made 
of the same weight and length of barrel. A 16-bore 
with 30in. barrels can be made perfectly strong at 61bs. 
weight, and, when loaded with loz. of 6 or 5 shot and 
nitro powder, it gives no unpleasant recoil. If black 
powder be used, 6%lbs. is amply sufficient; 12-bores are 
made of 61bs. weight or slightly less, but their barrels 
are usually from 26 to 28in. long, in order to- retain 
enough metal, at the breech ends. For those who can 
shoot well with short barrels they may be as good as 
the smaller bore, but most men do better work with 
30m. Other things being equal, barrels of the latter 
length give more velocity than those of 2(S or 2Sin., so 
they must be better where great penetration is required, 
as at duck shooting. However strong a man may be, 
he cam. aim more quickly and accurately with a light 
than with a heavy gun, and even %lb. makes a con¬ 
siderable difference. 
In this respect a 20-gauge is of course better than a 
lb, but for most men, even among the best shots, an 
ounce of lead is not too much, and when large shot 
is required, l%oz. of No. 4 will give a fine pattern and 
not cause more recoil than loz. of No. 6. 
One of my oldest friends, who shot game for fifty 
years m India, Canada and various parts of the British 
Islands has a gun of 6%lbs., with 32in. barrels, cham¬ 
bered for Kynoch’s “Perfect” 20-gauge shells of solid- 
drawn brass. I heir interior being .660 of an inch in 
diameter, the gun is really 17-bore. It does well with 
both large and small shot. Its owner has killed ducks 
with No. 4 and one large hare with No. 3; but for 
ordinary game used No.7 (340 in an ounce). With that 
size he once bagged a grouse at 02yds. and found that a 
pellet had broken the largest bone of a wing. 
One of our most noted London gun-makers assured 
me that small-bore guns require straighter stocks than 
large. 1 cannot understand why, but doubtless he is 
n ^ ht - __ J. J. Meyrick. 
Hudson Gun Club. 
- b ” ® ct - —Tbe wind played havoc 
riK , a sc 2I e ? at th , e 8T°unds of the Hudson Gun 
Club to-day, 22 being the best that any of the fourteen 
shooters that took part in the several events could do. 
Jack Williams with S3 per cent, was high gun and had 
to keep stepping some to hold Emmons and Engel, who 
shot a dead heat, finishing one point shy with 82 per 
cent. Emmons also gave an exhibition of pistol shoot¬ 
ing at blue-rocks thrown from the trap and succeeded in 
breaking 16 out of 20 shot at. 
Event No. 5 was shot from the 22yd. mark, and was a 
sweepstake which was divided by Williams and Craft 
each scoring 20, and after shooting two strings of 20 and 
purse^ ^ eac h both times, they decided to divide the 
11 .T' as .e c,< ?“ d , y and threatened storm all dav, conse- 
quently the light was not good, and it was cold enough 
?° tb i? , og , fire In the club house was greatly en¬ 
joyed by both shooters and visitors, as the sharp wind 
outside" ltS W3y through one ’ s clothing while standing 
.Grille was down to the grounds to-day with eight rab¬ 
bit hounds, trying them out. At the first crack of the 
Arffnlwf ° f th , em , w J re se 1 n ,S° in g in the direction of 
Arlington one took fits and the remainder of the pack 
took to the club house and tried to climb up the chim- 
!l ey - ,-/ ack W illiams says they are coon dogs—thought 
the chimney was a hollow tree, X guess 
hu^'lw 38 > lis three hound dogs." That’s too bad, 
but there will be Frankfurters and hot coffee at the 
next shoot at the Hudson Gun Club grounds on Novern- 
ber 7. .Everybody is welcome. 
Fn E I“ ts: 1 2 3 4 5 
Williams .20 °2 
Emmons .. 
Strader . 
Burlington . 
Craft . . 
W O’Brien .!|" 
Dr Groll .. . . . . 
Malcomb . 
I^eary . 
Brewer .*' 
Hunter . 
Hughes . ’ 
Whitley .20 
21 
22 
18 
22 
20 
21 
22 
21 
19 
13 
16 
16 
15 
19 
20 
20 
18 
19 
14 
20 
16 
11 
17 
21 
14 
14 
13 
20 
16 
18 
16 
11 
15 
10 
17 
17 
19 
20 
20 
T. H. K 
Sec’y. 
Garfield Gun Club. 
Chicago, Oct. 23.—The Garfield Gun Club held its 
weekly shoot in a cold gale on afternoon of above date, 
and the shooters were much handicapped. Merchandise 
and C H We Einre?d n t. by kUSS ’ W ‘ Einfe ' dt ’ Dr ' Shaw - George 
t E - Graham was a welcome visitor and had high 
for the day with 92 ner rent ICikc \\ r 
day with 92 per cent. ICuss anT\\C EinfHdt^ed 
for second place with 89 per cent. The folic 
were made: 
Events: 
Dr T Sh g a e w : .. 1 25 25 25 25 ^ 25 
George . ]g £2 
H err . -j 2 
lowing scores 
6 
21 19 21 13 
16 16 19 .. 
Kus 
15 19 13 
22 22 22 23 23 
21 
it . 22 22 22 2fl 25 66 o° 
E Graham . 2 3 21 . 2 4 24 
K u ss won the club trophy (No. 4) with 23 in Class A, 
while TIerr won in Class B with 15 
the n honnr? l ^T r i Ar T 5) ’ T Einfe,dt carried off 
the honors in Class A with a perfect score, while Ilerr 
was again high in Class B with 19 
J" Dupont (No. 6), W. Einfeldt won in Class A 
with 23, and Herr in Class B with 13 
Class A'wfth'ff 6 (N °- 7) ’ W ' Einfe,dt again w °" ' n 
Jersey City Gun Club. 
Jersey City, N. J., Oct. 23.—Twenty-nine contestants 
took party in the day’s programme, of whom nine were 
professionals. German was high professional with 193 
out of 200. Scores: 
T ^ V< 2‘ ts ei„- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 
JAR Elliott. 19 IS 18 IS 19 15 17 18 17 19 
H S Welles. 20 16 15 19 20 16 18 20 18 19 
N Apgar . 16 IS 17 19 19 19 19 19 16 18 
L S German. 18 20 19 20 19 20 19 20 18 20 
Sim Glover .20 19 18 17 18 18 17 17 19 13 
E Hall . 17 19 19 16 17 15 17 16 18 20 
G H Piercy. 19 19 13 18 17 17 17 17 19 17 
\Ym Hopkins . 19 17 14 15 18 17 16 17 18 17 
F Bmier .17 17 18 16 13 10 17 15 19 16 
Dr W H Mathews. 18 15 16 16 14 18 19 17 17 16 
A W Church. 15 19 13 9 9 10 11 7 
J M Dalton. 12 14 17 15 15 14 14 13 12 18 
L Schortemeier . 18 18 17 15 15 17 15 17 17 18 
F W Moffett. 18 18 19 20 17 14 18 19 20 18 
p MKhng . 13 18 14 19 14 14 19 16 15 16 
II W Dreyer. 14 9 7 12 14 8 17 9 12 11 
H D Bergen. 17 16 14 17 16 16 14 18 15 16 
F 1 anderveer . 15 17 20 16 10 13 16 17 18 15 
F Muldoon . 17 19 15 16 17 19 16 16 17 16 
Dr Moeller . 12 15 15 14 15 15 16 10 16 13 
if H Shannon.15 17 19 13 16 14 16 13 
BSchneider . 17 14 18 IS 14 16 12 
' Metz . g io 9 9 9 
Dr O’Brien .12 15 12 12 11 13 i'2 
A A Schoverling.14 15 15 13 15 15 
H G P rc ™: n .15 18 18 17 19 20 
A % Perkins. 9 15 13 12 15 13 
\V Seymour .14 10 16 12 13 13 
II Koegel .14 16 18 15 17 17 
Northern Kentucky Gun Club. 
The eighth in the series of monthly shoots for the 
club s live-bird trophy took place on the grounds north 
°f Dayton, Oct. 21. The day was unseasonably warm, 
and partly cloudy. The birds were inclined to be a 
little sluggish, but when once on the wing, most of 
them proved to be screamers, aided by half a gale of 
wind blowing across the grounds. Most of the misses 
were, clean ones, only five birds being scored “dead 
out.” Walker, Payne and Gould tied on 36 out of 40 
for the afternoon. There are only two more contests 
for this trophy, the next one taking place on the second 
Ihursday in November. The scores: 
Event No. 1, miss-and-out, $1 entrance; 
Walker .11211—5 Gould .22220—4 
Schreck .21211—5 Dameron .20 " —1 
Payne .11110—4 Murphy .0 —0 
Event No. 2, club trophy, 15 birds, entrance $8.75, 
birds, included; divided 60 and 40 per cent.: 
Walker, 30 .i.102222222222121_14 
Gould. 30 .1*2122212222222_14 
J Payne, 30 . 212122121*20111—13 
Dameron, 30 .222122022222020_12 
Schreck. 30 .201212012002122—11 
Anderson, 30 . 02020122102°!22_11 
Murphy, 2S .! .220000022220221— 9 
Event No. 3, 20 birds, $10 entrance; divided 60 and 40 
per cent.; 
J Payne, 30 .22111221221222101112—19 
Schreck. 29 .12222221022212222111—19 
Gould, 30 .22220122212*11222211—18 
Walker, 31 .01111221221222*12210—17 
Anderson, 27 . 21112120022211022022_16 
Murphy, 27 .120222022220*0220220—12 
Highland Gun Club. 
. Edge Hill, Pa., Oct. 23.—The main event of special 
interest was the contest for the amateur trapshooting 
championship of Philadelphia, between Chas A Mink 
(holder), and Harry L. David fchallenger). The con¬ 
test was, shot in the regular 100-target event of the 
club. Mink shot in excellent form, notwithstanding a 
cloudy sky and a strong wind blowing across the traps. 
Each scored 20 in the first string, but in after strings 
Mink gained a lead every time and won with plenty to 
spare. The scores follow: 
Mink . 
Lamborn . 
Overbaugh . 
Perry . 
David . 
McCartv . 
"Ringgold . 
Dr Wentz . 
Anderson . 
v an Artsdalen . 
Hoover . 
20 
18 
20 
20 
19 
97 
18 
18 
18 
18 
17 
89 
20 
19 
18 
19 
20 
96 
18 
17 
17 
17 
19 
88 
20 
16 
17 
17 
18 
88 
18 
17 
18 
12 
15 
SO 
18 
14 
16 
15 
17 
SO 
16 
14 
19 
16 
15 
SO 
14 
10 
16 
14 
18 
72 
12 
16 
16 
13 
13 
70 
12 
16 
16 
13 
13 
70 
13, 
David 
14, 
Overbaugh 
Bergen Beach Gun Club. 
Bergen Beach, T^. I., Oct. 23.— The weather " r as un- 
nlea^ant, but there was a fair attendance nevertheless. 
Suvdam was called awav soon after starting. Wood¬ 
cock shot well considering that h#» iiQ^rl a nfu 
Scores: 
T XT Vanderveer. 
A Suydam . 
H D Bergen. 
XT W Dreyer. 
R Morean . 
A Griffith . 
W Skidmore . 
T C Armitage. 
H W Woodcock. 
W H Rvder. 
W Vanderveer . 
that he used 
a 
new 
gun. 
IS 
20 
90 
21 
17 
19 
14 
20 
19 
19 
20 
iri 
21 
23 
22 
15 
15 
14 
15 
21 
17 
19 
13 
18 
20 
18 
14 
12 
17 
12 
19 
13 
16 
14 
15 
13 
13 
19 
IS 
IS 
15 
lfi 
13 
16 
18 
17 
16 
11 
19 
17 
15 
16 
18 
12 
3 
9 
14 
