618 
FOREST AND STREAM 
December, 1917 
a 
m 
• deal 
universal f 
powder 
MEASURE 
N95 v i 
I Y 
Find the Best Load 
for Your Gun 
To find out what your gun, 
be it shotgun or rifle, will 
do with different loads and 
which is the load best 
suited to it for each par¬ 
ticular need, there is no 
way to get at the facts ex¬ 
cept to experiment and 
none so good as to load 
your own ammunition, and 
try it out. Why don’t you 
experiment? It’s a mighty 
interesting pastime — you 
get better results—and save 
considerable money. 
out 
Write us your needs and we will help you 
Ideal Manufacturing Company 
270 Meadow Street New Haven, Conn. 
Books for Sportsmen 
Camp Fires in the Wilderness. $1.50 
E. IV. Burt 
Uncle Lisha’s Shop .. 1-50 
R. E. Robinson 
My Friend the Partridge. 1-00 
S'. T. Hammond 
Bird Portraits for the Young. 1.00 
Dr. W. VanFliet 
Campers Own Book . -50 
Camp Experts 
American Game Bird Shooting.... 3.50 
G. B. Grinnell 
Wildfire . 1-35 
Forest & Stream Book Dept. 
9 East 40th St., N. Y. City 
Ideal Christmas 
Gifts for Men 
Women and 
Children 
Enjoy the 
Snow. Learn 
to Ski, The 
King of Win¬ 
ter Sports. 
Be sure 
your equip¬ 
ment bears a 
Nor t h 1 a n d 
trade mark. 
Write for catalog of Skis, Toboggans, Snow 
Shoes, etc., free 
NORTHLAND SKI MFG. CO. 
Ellis and Hampden Ave. St. Paul, Minn. 
Stop that Squeak! 
in the springs of your car with 
It polishes the metal, the glass 
and the body. It prevents rust. 
Made for sportsmen by 
sportsmen, Homol is the 
“best-ever” oil for every¬ 
thing in kit and camp. Also 
for all office and household 
needs. 
If your dealer hasn’t Homol yet, 
send us his name and a quarter lor 
this big five-ounce can, carriage 
prepaid. 
WILLIAM PETERMAN, Inc. 
200 Fifth Avenue, New York City 
AMERICAN POWDERS 
LESS EROSIVE 
H \ MERICAN guns have less ero- 
sion, or wearing away of the 
. inner lining of the barrel due to 
the chemical combustion than those made 
in Europe. This is due principally to our 
superior powder. Europe did not realize 
this fact until she began to use our powder 
in this war. Then the foreign countries 
recognized that our formula calling for 
a smaller percentage of nitroglycerine de¬ 
creased erosion and lengthened the life of 
the gun.”—Hudson Maxim. 
In applying this fact to small arms it is 
interesting to note that the powder gases 
developed upon the discharge of a modern 
army rifle have a temperature of 4,5oo de¬ 
grees Fahrenheit. Steel melts at 2,800 de¬ 
grees and the shortness of the period of 
exposure to the influence of the powder 
gases is all that saves the barrel from, 
melting. Powders containing nitroglycer¬ 
ine give off far hotter gases than do the 
pure nitrocellulose powders. Using “W. 
A.” powder in the Springfield at 48,000 
pounds breech pressure will ruin a barrel 
in 600 rounds, as our Ordnance Depart¬ 
ment discovered in 1903. With the new 
du Pont No. 20 powder, which develops 
a pressure of approximately 49,000 pounds 
to the square inch, the life of a Spring- 
field rifle barrel for accurate shooting is 
around 15,000 rounds, because this powder 
has no nitroglycerine in its composition. 
As a matter of fact I know of several in¬ 
stances where a barrel remained accurate 
for 20,000 rounds, more shots than a man 
would fire in ten years. 
The wearing out of a rifle barrel is not 
due to the friction of the bullet passing 
through the bore. A barrel would last for 
hundreds of thousands of shots before it 
would be seriously affected or injured by 
the friction. It is the blast of the in¬ 
tensely hot powder gases that gradually 
wears away the inside of the barrel and 
eventually increases the size of the bore 
until accurate shooting becomes impos¬ 
sible. At the instant of discharge the 
super-heated powder gas partially melts the 
surface of the bore and part of the soft¬ 
ened surface is washed away by the me¬ 
chanical action of the blast attendant upon 
the discharge, just as a high wind wears 
away a sand dune. This heating and wear¬ 
ing away of the steel is what is termed 
“erosion,” and any means which tends to 
reduce this erosion tends also to lengthen 
the life of the barrel. 
“Ignoramus,” Buffalo, N. Y.: 
I have a Colt 12 gauge shot gun, 30 
inch barrels (Damascus), full pistol grip 
stock and knurled fore-arm, engraved 
locks, etc. Patented Aug. 22 and Sept. 19. 
1882. What was this gun sold for at that 
time? Is the right barrel modified choke? 
I seem to get the same pattern with either 
barrel at fifty yards. 
What is the idea of a straight stock in 
some guns? 
Ans.—We judge from your description 
that the gun sold for about $100. If you 
can give us the number of the gun we can 
advise you exactly. Relative to the boring 
of the barrels—when the gun was made 
black powder was still in vogue, since then 
diameters have been slightly reduced; but 
you can ascertain whether your gun is 
making what is considered a full choke or 
a modified choke by testing it at a target. 
The standard distance for testing guns is 
40 yards at a 30 inch target. With 1% oz. 
of Tatham chilled shot, 399 pellets to the 
ounce or 449 pellets to the load of 1% oz. 
—cylinder bored, 180 to 190; improved cyl¬ 
inder, 220 to 230; modified choke, 250 to 
275; full choke, 335 to 345. You can shoot 
at the paper target first and draw the circle 
to include the load. 
Straight stock guns are useful on rising 
birds as with them you shoot higher. 
L. H. R., Mitchell, S. D.: 
I have a Lefever double-barrel gun that 
the drop of the stock seems to be too 
great for me. Please tell me how I can 
determine the correct drop for a person 
of my size. 
Ans.—To fit a man properly with a gun 
it • is highly important that yon see him 
handle a try-gun. In no other way can it 
be done accurately. In a general way I 
can tell you that if your gun has too much 
drop you are shooting too low. Try shoot¬ 
ing at a mark on the side of a barn at a 
distance of forty feet, simply throwing up 
the gun quickly and pulling the trigger. 
Let me know where the center of the load 
strikes. Give me the dimensions of the 
gun you are using at present and I may be 
able to give you some suggestions. 
V. E. G., Beaumont, Tex.: 
I have a .25 cal. Remington 8A Auto¬ 
loading rifle and I would like to know if 
it is heavy enough for deer, bear, etc. I 
suppose that the 117 grain S. P. cartridge 
would be the proper one for this game, 
would it not? What are your views on 
the subject of the twenty gauge? 
(continued on page 620) 
