258 
JUNE, 1917 
FOREST AND STREAM 
THE APPEAL OF THE TWENTY-BORE 
IF YOU ARE CAREFUL IN OPENING THE BARRELS 
YOU WILL HAVE A GENUINE “SPORTSMAN’S COMPANION” 
* 
By SYDNEY G. FISHER 
F OR many years—in fact during nearly 
all my shooting days—I have used 
twelve-bores for all kinds of game. 
But two or three years ago I thought I 
must turn in with the rest and try the small 
calibers. 
I was led to it by seeing A. F. Bancroft, 
Secretary of the Corinthian Yacht Club of 
Philadelphia, use his 28-gauge with such 
success in shooting rail birds on the marsh¬ 
es of the Delaware river. Taking his 28 
in my hands one day, I fired it at a group 
of English sparrows on a limb, and picked 
up seven of them on the ground. Then I 
fired the left barrel at a single sparrow on 
the top of a tree and brought him down. 
That ruined me—and has led to no end of 
expense and waste of time that should 
have been devoted I suppose to more seri¬ 
ous and higher things. 
Well, never mind the 28-gauges. They 
are all right for rail birds, but as yet hard¬ 
ly suit my usual game. I wish to speak of 
the 20-bore. I got one, of 6^2 pounds 
weight; which is rather heavy for a 20, 
but I had a reason. Both barrels were 
fully choked. I always start with a gun 
that way. I tested it at my iron target and 
took it to Florida with me, where it did 
badly at quail and snipe, and I had to rely 
on my twelve for supplying the houseboat 
with good meat. 
T HE twenty not only shot too close, 
but it shot too high. I corrected some 
of the high shooting by scraping the 
lower edge of the muzzle with my jack 
knife.—That is a trick you will find worth 
knowing, some time when you are a hun¬ 
dred miles away from a gunsmith. It dulls 
your knife a little; but that is soon reme¬ 
died; and it does not ruin the gun as some 
people suppose.—But still the twenty was 
inferior. So when I returned north I took 
it to my gunsmith to have the barrels 
opened. 
This is a much more delicate operation 
than is generally supposed. It is com- 
20-GUAGE modified choke 
34 oz. No. 7 Shot—35 Yards 
monly done by a long bit inserted up the 
barrel and revolved at the other end by a 
brace, like Hie one used by carpenters. I 
have watched the operation; and as I am 
fond of using tools, have experimented a 
little with it myself; and I soon came to 
the conclusion that it would not do for 
any gun of mine. It is too uncertain. No 
human hand can use a brace of that sort 
delicately enough to make sure of accurate 
work. 
Sportsmen who want their barrels 
opened, usually dump them down on a gun¬ 
smith and go away. He reports that he 
has opened them. But if he uses the brace, 
he does not really know what he has done. 
He may have opened them with a ven¬ 
geance. It is a narrow space to work in, 
and opening them is a question of thou¬ 
sandths of an inch. Many a good gun has 
been ruined. Often, however, the result 
satisfies the sportsman. He gets a scatter- 
gun, which is what he really wants be¬ 
cause it gives him a chance for luck, or 
killing by the doctrine of chances, which 
any old gas pipe will do as well as the 
finest product of the mechanic’s art. 
T HE best way to open barrels, as I 
finally learned, is by polishing. A 
wooden rod is wrapped at one part 
with strips of emery cloth a couple of inch¬ 
es or so wide until it is a shade thicker 
than the choke to be cut out. The rod is 
then inserted in the barrel placed in a 
lathe, and the barrel wrapped in wet 
cloths to keep down the heat. When the 
lathe is revolved, a skilful mechanic with 
both hands on the barrel can bring the 
swiftly whirling emery cloth to the exact 
place he wants cut away, and control the 
cutting perfectly. After a few seconds he 
should remove the barrels and measure 
carefully to see if he has cut enough. He 
can cut infinitesimal amounts or large 
amounts, just as he pleases. 
My rule with a 12-gauge is to cut away 
only a half a size at a time, and then try 
the gun at an iron target and also on game, 
to see if enough has been cut. If you cut 
too much, you cannot get it back again. 
Thus if a 12-bore measures 14 at the 
muzzle and is too close, I would cut it 
away to 13^4, and then give it a good trial. 
The cutting away of half a size is often 
plenty. It is also a good plan to stand by 
the gunsmith and see him open your bar¬ 
rels. You always learn something. If you 
had a lathe you could learn to do it your¬ 
self. 
ALWAYS have both barrels bored 
alike. What suits me in one always 
suits me in the other. The conven¬ 
tional method of having one more open 
than the other is a delusion, so far as I 
am concerned. I do not believe in very 
open guns or cylinders. It has been proved 
over and over again that the heavy wads 
now used on the powder, compressed to¬ 
gether by the explosion until they are like 
a bullet and have nothing at the end of 
the barrel to check their speed, fly into the 
shot and make a blank in the middle of 
the pattern. That is why so many open 
guns never hit the small object you aim 
at; but give a good pattern all round it. 
This is called a cartwheel pattern in Eng¬ 
land, and a squib with us. Many open guns 
will, out of say ten shots, make four or 
five good ones, and the rest squibs, accord¬ 
ing as the wads vary in their plunge into 
the shot. 
So keep as much choke as you can stand 
in your gun, so as to catch the wads for 
a fraction of a second, and give the shot 
a chance to get away. Sometimes a cart¬ 
wheel open gun can be improved by cut¬ 
ting a jug or recess near the muzzle, which 
will catch and check the wads. I have a 
gun that was greatly improved in this way. 
Some people accomplish the same result in 
a rough way by slightly denting in the 
edge of the muzzle on one or two sides, 
to catch the wads. 
S O I had my 20-bore opened in the way 
I have described—by polishing on a 
lathe. It had measured 23 at the 
muzzle; that is to say was badly choked. 
In these small bores, the difference of a 
size is an extremely thin layer of metal. 
A few whirls of the lathe reduced it one 
size; that is, it measured 22. I took it 
away, tried it at the target and liked it 
better. This winter I took it with me to 
Florida, and the quail and snipe thought it 
had greatly improved. I tested it against 
my twelve-bore: having fired 108 shells at 
game with the 20, I laid it aside and used 
108 shells at game with the 12. Strange 
to relate, the result turned out exactly the 
same: 
20 bore, 2 ds. 34 oz. No. 8, with 108 
shells, got 49 quail, 11 snipe—60; 
12 bore, 3 ds. 1% oz. No. 8, with 108 
shells, got 46 squail, 14 snipe—60. 
This was very interesting, to see 34 of 
12—GUAGE IMPROVED CYLINDER 
i l /s oz. No. 7 Shot—35 Yards 
.. • 
4 
