698 
December, 1918 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Prone — breech closed 
Sitting — breech closed 
Sitting—breech open 
Squatting — breech closed 
Prone — breech open 
to observe that the gun makes a better pattern when wearing 
its bayonet than it did without it, owing to the fact that the 
weight of the bayonet substantially reduces the “flip” of the 
short barrel. The bayonet is part of the weapon, do not take 
it off. 
It is a twelve-gauge, being simply the standard pump gun 
cut down and remodeled for military purposes, capacity six 
shots, five shells in the magazine and one in the chamber. The 
load is 3J4 drams of smokeless powder and i% ounce of “oo” 
buckshot, nine .34 caliber spherical bullets that run about 122 to 
the pound. This places at the command of the shooter 54 
effective balls that can be delivered in 3 seconds. My target 
was supported by 2 by 4 inch hemlock joists and every bullet 
that struck them passed straight through and kicked a splinter 
out of the far side, so I did not make any further test for pene¬ 
tration, that being more than sufficient to inflict a mortal wound 
Fitting on a Sling 
T HE lower sling swivel is located six inches from the toe 
and the distance between the swivels is 30 inches. These 
swivels, I am told, were placed on the gun for no other 
purpose than to accommodate a tote-strap, and even for that 
purpose the forward sling swivel is a flivver, being merely a 
piece of soft wire utterly devoid of any semblance of strength, 
so I took the forward swivel off one of my Springfields and 
made it secure with a piece of strong twine, giving strength 
and utility sans beauty. When I first proposed equipping the 
piece with a web sling similar to that used on the service rifle, 
several of my men solemnly declared, “It can’t be done.” They 
insisted that while a properly adjusted sling would unquestion¬ 
ably be a great aid to holding and materially reduce the effect of 
the recoil, the forward loop of the strap when secured to the 
left arm would prevent the shooter from operating the action 
slide handle, or forearm, that functions the magazine, and so< 
render the'gun useless as a repeater. Having had consider¬ 
able experience in adjusting slings to all sizes and breeds of 
guns, I knew this would not be the case as the forward swivel 
is placed well ahead of the grip for the left hand, leaving plenty 
Squatting — breech open 
