THE GENERAL PURPOSE SHOTGUN 
A Timely Paper for Those Who Know 
Guns As Well As Those Who Don't 
M UCH has been written 
the past few years re¬ 
garding guns, particu¬ 
larly small bores, yet little has 
been said regarding general 
purpose guns, one gun for all 
shooting. Many sportsmen will 
contend that there is none such, 
but an experience of practically 
50 years afield and in the 
marshes leads me to believe this 
an error, and that one gun can 
be chosen that will answer for 
every purpose, and that a bat¬ 
tery of guns for use on differ¬ 
ent kinds of game and at the traps is 
wholly unnecessary. 
A general purpose gun, to be ideal, 
must not be too heavy for such small 
game as quail and snipe, nor so light 
as to punish the shooter with undue re¬ 
coil when using maximum loads for 
such large game as duck, geese and 
turkey. It must be capable of giving 
a high velocity to the charge when 
needed, yet not heavy enough to bur- 
By GEORGE G. CLOUGH 
Many sportsmen swear by the 12-gauge gun, 
others are 20-bore cranks, and still others 
favor the 16. Some think there is no all- 
around gun, while many say there is. One 
man’s general purpose gun may not suit the 
temperament of another. The writer of this 
article tells us many interesting things about 
ballistics, boring, weights, etc., and presents 
his nomination of the “general purpose gun.” 
PARKER 16 GA. 3-4 CHOKE. DISTANCE, 
35 YARDS; CIRCLE, 24 IN. DIA. IN CIR¬ 
CLE 111 PELLETS, 72%- NOTE EVEN 
DISTRIBUTION, EACH QUARTER PRAC¬ 
TICALLY THE SAME. A DUCK LOAD 
GOOD FOR 50 YARDS 
den on a long tramp afield or in the 
marsh. The 20 ga. while in many re¬ 
spects an excellent weapon, fails to 
meet these requirements, as it falls 
short in velocity and penetration at long 
ranges. No load having a muzzle veloc¬ 
ity of less than 1250 f. s. or an instru¬ 
mental vel. of less than 900 f. s. over 
40 yd. range with No. 6 shot, can be 
relied on to kill duck with regularity 
at 40 to 50 yards; and the very highest 
velocity of the 20 with No. 6 shot over 
40 yds. is 930 f. s. and this only when 
using 3 in. shells and an excess of wad¬ 
ding. The velocity of the average 20 
ga. load (2Y 2 dr. 7-8 oz. 6s) is far less 
than 900 f. s., dropping as low as 869 
f. s. with some brands of powder. 
But a 16 ga. gun, weighing 6 x /4 to 
6 V 2 lbs. with 30 in. bbls., and bored 
right x /4 to V 2 choke, left V 2 to % choke, 
will be found to meet all the require¬ 
ments of the American sportsman. This 
gauge gun has the greatest latitude in 
loads, of both powder and shot, of any 
now made; factory loaded shells with 
shot from % oz. to 1%, with appro¬ 
priate powder charges can now be 
had, and with such a range the shooter 
can get any combination of powder and 
shot necessary to make this gauge a 
perfect weapon for any use, and can 
get velocities from that of the average 
20 ga. ( 2 V 2 7-8 oz. No. 6 886 f. s.) up 
and beyond that of the standard 12 ga. 
duck load of 314 x lVk No. 6, and with 
a much lower breech pressure than the 
20 ga. with 3 in. cases, and only a trifle 
above that of the 12 ga. load above re¬ 
ferred to. In hand loads, 3 to 314 dr. 
bulk smokeless and 1 to 1-1/16 oz. shot 
can be safely loaded, and velocities can 
be obtained up to approximately 1060 
f. s. (No. 6 shot), and these hand loads 
are standard among many 16 ga. shoot¬ 
ers on the coast. 
With the recent development of 20 
and 12 ga. shells, about which so much 
has been recently written, the Western 
Cartridge Co. have brought out an en¬ 
tirely new 16 ga. load, primarily for 
heavy shooting, such as duck and geese, 
since these Super X 16s are loaded with 
iy 8 oz. No. 4, 5, 6 and 7 x /2 shot only. 
These, like their fellows in 20 and 12 
ga., are loaded with the new duPont 
No. 93 powder, and at one jump put 
the 16 ga. in the 12 ga. class in range, 
pattern and penetration, without the 
necessity of carrying around the 12 ga. 
weight. I have not been fur¬ 
nished with the velocity, either 
muzzle or instrumental of these 
new loads, but tested for pene¬ 
tration against bulk duPont and 
Ballistite, 2-3.4 of the first and 
22 gr. of the latter, both with 
1 oz. shot, these Super X shells 
show better penetration, both on 
cardboard sheets and in blocks 
of paraffine, and yet they han¬ 
dle in a highly satisfactory 
manner 1-8 oz. more shot. Many 
of us 16 ga. shooters have im¬ 
plored the factories for years to 
give us a heavier load both in powder 
and shot, and finally they yielded 
enough to increase the powder load 1-4 
dr. in bulk and 2 gr. in dense, but they 
balked at increasing the shot load be¬ 
yond 1 oz., though they must have 
known that our English cousins com¬ 
monly use 1-1/16 and frequently 1 -Vs 
oz. shot. Now comes Super X with a 
full 1-Vs oz. shot, with a higher veloc¬ 
ity and a lower breech pressure, made 
No. 6 SHOT, 245 PELLETS TO LOAD. GUN, 
WINCHESTER 16 GA. MODIFIED. DIS¬ 
TANCE 35 YARDS ; CIRCLE, 24 IN. DIA. 
IN CIRCLE 147 PELLETS, 60%,. BULK OF 
PELLETS LOW ACCOUNT FAULT IN HOLD¬ 
ING. GOOD FOR DUCKS AT 45 TO 50 
YARDS 
possible, perhaps, only through the use 
of the new No. 93 powder, which pos¬ 
sesses a progressive burning charac¬ 
teristic, reducing shot jamming to the 
minimum, and wonderfully improving 
pattern and distribution. One thing is 
now certain: no longer can there be 
any objection to the use of the 16 
gauge because of the restricted shot 
charge. 
The writer endeavored for 25 years 
or more to load 1-1/16 and 1-Vs oz. 
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