ITHACA WINS 
OZARK RIPLEY, editor of National 
Sportsman, said—"The fast Ithaca lock 
will make an expert field shot out of an 
ordinary one.” " I 
shoot better with 
the Ithaca you 
built for me than 
with any gun l 
have ever owned 
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253 Church Street 
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BAKER GUN CO. 
the alleged deficiencies of the 16, based 
on alleged performances of the com¬ 
mon 2%xl lod. Ballistic tables have 
been published, showing the muzzle and 
instrumental velocities of the 16 in 
various loads to be far below what 
should be expected in comparison with 
both 12 and 20 ga. For instance: One 
set of published tables of velocities 
gave the m. v. of the 3 dr. 1 oz. 12 ga. 
as 1350 f. s., and the same load in 16 
ga. at only 1272 f. s. or 72 f. s. less. 
Any student of ballistics would know 
at a glance that either the 12 ga. figures 
were too high, or the 16 ga. figures too 
low; maybe both, for the figures vio¬ 
lated a well known law on the subject. 
Indeed, one writer put the velocity of 
my pet 3 dr. 1 oz. (6s) load so very 
low with duPont powder, that a letter 
was addressed to that concern, with 
the following reply: 
“You say you have always been under 
the impression that 3 dr. duPont and 1 
oz. (6s) shot in a 16 ga. gun gave a 
vel. of more than 950 f. s. at 40 yds. 
This is true in all sizes up to and in¬ 
cluding No. 6s. For instance, No. 1 
shot gives vel. 1066, No. 2 1049, No. 3 
1034, No. 4 1034, No. 5 997, No. 6 976, 
No. 7 946.” 
Taking No. 6 shot as a basis, the in¬ 
strumental velocity above given shows 
the muzzle vel. to be about 1410 f. s. 
Further satisfied that published tables 
with reference to other 16 ga. loads 
were wrong, duPont replied that the 
vel. of the 2-3.4 dr. 1 oz. No. 6 load 
was 943 f. s. and 7s 911 f. s., which 
would make the muzzle vel. over 1300 
f. s. and more than sufficient, since a 
m. v. of 1250 f. s. is generally accepted 
as furnishing enough penetration in a 
balanced load to kill duck at 40 to 50 
yards, such being the ballistics of the 
12 ga. 314x1 Va No. 6 load. It will 
thus be seen, that from every stand¬ 
point all of the 16 ga. loads are amply 
sufficient for the purposes intended. 
Due to machine methods of manu¬ 
facture, our American made guns are 
generally V 2 lb. heavier than those of 
foreign make, 6% to 6% lbs. being the 
average for 30 in. barrels, and while 
in some cases lighter weights may be 
had, it is generally at the expense of 
barrel length. Personally, I have no 
use for very short barrels in any 
gauge; a certain length of tube ap¬ 
pears necessary for both velocity and 
distribution of pellets. Most 16 ga. 
shooters regard 614 lbs. with 30 in. 
barrels as the proper weight, arguing 
that a lighter gun cannot be as read¬ 
ily and steadily aligned for proper trig¬ 
ger timing when hurriedly thrown to 
the shoulder, though personally we be¬ 
lieve a 614 lb. gun to be considerably 
faster in action. Such guns of either 
weight will fire the heaviest charges 
without undue recoil, the writer hav¬ 
ing fired many thousands of 3 x 1 hand 
loads in a Parker of 614 lbs. weight; 
also in a Winchester weighing 6.9. A 
16 ga. of 6 lbs. weight will fire fac¬ 
tory loads of 214 x 1 with less recoil 
than a 20 of the same weight will fire 
2!4 x %, and a 16 of 614 to 614 will be 
found entirely satisfactory. Once 
tried, the difference in weight in car¬ 
rying afield will put the 12 in the dis¬ 
card if for no other reason. Hunting 
nowadays consists only too often of fol¬ 
lowing the dogs through field and 
marsh, and with birds becoming fewer 
each year, in spite of protective mea¬ 
sures, the weight of gun to be carried 
becomes more and more a considera¬ 
tion. 
A few words regarding boring and 
patterns might be well worth while, 
and this applies to guns of any gauge. 
The tendency of the times is to bore 
guns with extreme constriction of the 
muzzles, commonly called choke, in or¬ 
der to throw a narrow stream of shot 
and show more pellets striking within 
a circle at any given distance. The or¬ 
dinary sportsman, unacquainted with 
the whys and wherefores of gun bor¬ 
ing, quite naturally supposes that if 
his gun gives a dense and even pat¬ 
tern on paper pattern at 40 yds. that it 
makes the same kind of pattern on fly¬ 
ing game or other moving objects. No 
greater mistake was ever made in con¬ 
templating shot gun ballistics. The 
choke of a gun does to the shot charge 
exastly what the nozzle of your garden 
hose does to a stream of water; it 
forces some of the pellets forward and 
in advance of the bulk of the shot load, 
and the whole charge into a narrow 
stream or string and directs them to¬ 
wards a common center. In passing 
through the choke, the diameter of the 
shot load is reduced 35.1000 to 45.1000 
in. and lengthened, forcing some of the 
load forward. This process commences 
within the bore of the gun, and it con¬ 
tinues to lengthen the charge until 
gravity overcomes velocity and move¬ 
ment. On the arrival of the shot at a 
target say at 40 yards distant, this 
string of shot, commonly called the 
shot column, is actually 30 feet or more 
in length between the first and the last 
of the shot, but the bulk of the shot 
are to be found within a column 14 to 
16 feet in length for full choke guns. 
This form of shot column, while hav¬ 
ing the advantage of forcing the shot 
to a restricted center, also has the dis¬ 
advantage of distributing it along 14 
to 16 feet in length. Greener photo¬ 
graphed a charge of shot from a full 
choke gun, and found that at only a 
few inches from the muzzle the shot 
had strung out several inches, and ac- 
tuually left the muzzle in strings; and 
that at 6 feet the shot had strung out 
a foot. In a true cylinder, having no 
choke or other constriction to lengthen 
or disturb the shot, the same leaves the 
Page 526 
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