Nov. 5, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
755 
gunner has never been given and there is there¬ 
fore some doubt as to the authenticity of the 
performance. 
The best season's bag of snipe ever put to¬ 
gether in Great Britain is stated to be 688 
couple, shot by Patrick Halloran in County 
Clare in the season 1880-81, but Mr. Pringle’s 
snipe shooting exploits in Louisiana, U. S. A., 
constitute the world’s record. In the years 
1874-75 that gunner bagged 6,615 snipe to bis 
own gun and three years later killed 366 birds 
in a single day. His total for twenty seasons 
was nearly 35,000 couples.-—London Globe. 
THE CARE OF GUNS. 
After cleaning the bore of your shotgun 
with hot water and carefully oiling it inside and 
out, do it again within a day or two, especially 
if you have been shooting shells loaded with 
nitro powder or half and half and smokeless 
powders. In the days before acid powders were 
used, the sportsman had confidence in the com¬ 
bination of sulphur, charcoal and nitre and de¬ 
pended upon the residue from the combustion 
of the ordinary black powder making a cake 
in the barrels of bis gun and resisting oxidation. 
It was a peculiar chemical action, when it 
is considered that nitrate of potash was the 
active element, but it is a well known fact that 
guns in which the burned powder was allowed 
to dry were clean and polished when brushed 
out with a dry swab. It is not so with modern 
breech-loaders, in which smokeless powder is 
used. The action of the nitric acid causes 
pitting in the steel and iron barrels and attacks 
the steel first. To keep a barrel free from 
pitting requires several washings with hot water 
and oiling between the washings, which may 
occur several days apart. 
This, says the Hoboken Observer, is es¬ 
pecially necessary when a gun has been used 
for shooting on salt marshes or in wildfowl 
shooting on the bays. The salt air penetrates 
the inmost fibers of the Damascus or twist 
barrels, which are merely twisted ropes of metal 
forged into tubes. The salt gets into the most 
intricate formation of the metal and is thirsty 
for moisture. The chlorine is replaced by 
oxydizing compounds which result in what we 
ordinarily call rust, an oxide of iron. 
There is just one sure thing which will pre¬ 
vent this rust, and it has been known for a 
century. It is the blue precipitate of mercury, 
commonly known as blue mass or blue oint¬ 
ment. Oxygen will not attack anything smeared 
with this metallic compound. In every old case 
of flintlock dueling pistols was a little box of 
blue ointment, and it was used internally and 
externally on the weapons. Every old English 
gun case contained in its fittings a metal box 
of this stuff. It is a sure preventive for rust, 
and don’t let anybody tell you that it has an 
equal. 
For treating weapons so that they can be 
handled with impunity there is another com¬ 
bination which might be improved by the ad¬ 
mixture of blue precipitate, although it is good 
in its way. It consists of heating camphor 
crystals in olive oil until the oil has absorbed 
all the camphor gum that it can in twenty-four 
hours on the back of a stove or steam radiator. 
This combination rubbed on a gun or other 
steel or iron weapon, will effectively resist rust 
for years, although the weapon may be handled 
with sweating palms and fingers. The non- 
drying oil and gunpowder form an almost im¬ 
perceptible lacquer or varnish on the bright or 
blued steel and effectually prevent oxidation. 
A piece of cotton rope or wicking saturated 
with vegetable oil or mixed with a small quan¬ 
tity of mercuric precipitate, either red or blue, 
and packed in the barrel of a shotgun or rifle 
will insure it against rust in any climate as long 
as it remains in the bore. Pure olive oil 
saturated with gum camphor and then beaten 
up with mercuric ointment will protect the 
weapon inside and out, and it is so cheap that 
it is ridiculous to place any faith in advertised 
rust preventives. It can be put up in collaps¬ 
ible tubes, tin boxes or jars, and carried any¬ 
where from tropical Africa to the Arctic regions 
without spoiling. 
Tke “Old Reliable” PARKER GUN 
At the Post Series Tournament 
Indianapolis, Ind. October 17-21, 1910 
THE SPECIAL MATCH 
For the t.en High Professionals during 1910 
Was won by L. S. German, shooting the Parker Gun. Score 234 ex 230 ; 18 yards rise; 60 yard targets, 
HIGH GENERAL AVERAGE 
All Programme Events, Including 100 Pairs 
The second place was won by L. S. German, shooting his Parker Gun. Score 960 ex 1000 shot at; 96 $. 
HIGH GENERAL AVERAGE ON DOUBLES 
Second, Fred Gilbert, 178 ex 200 ; 89 $. Third, L. S. German, 177 ex 200 ; . 885 $. 
The honors above mentioned were all won by gentlemen shooting the PARKER GUN, 
which again conclusively proves that the PARKER GUN is the “OLD RELIABLE." 
SHOOT THE PARKER GUN AND WIN! 
PARKER. BROS. 
New York Salesrooms : 32 Warren St. Meriden, Conn. 
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His Best Book 
MY FRIEND THE PARTRIDGE 
By S. T. HAMMOND 
This delightful presentment of the glories of Autumn days with gun and dog in 
the crisp New England woods in search of the noblest of native game birds, which 
has already delighted thousands of readers of Forest and Stream, is now ready 
for delivery in book form. 
Mr. Hammond knows his upland coverts as no other writer of the day. He 
makes no empty boast when he calls the partridge his friend, and, moreover, makes 
his every reader a friend of this splendid bird. He succeeds in a rare degree, not 
only in describing the ruffed grouse, its habits and habitat, and the pleasures of its 
pursuit, but in surrounding his reader With the very atmosphere of the leaf-scented 
Autumn woods. Mr. Hammond's book is a welcome addition to the library of sport. 
Cloth. 150 Pages. Illustrated. Postpaid, $1.00 
FOREST AND STREAM PUBLISHING CO., 127 Franklin Street, NEW YORK CITY 
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THE NARRATIVE OF A SPORTSMAN 
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1 INTER-OCEAN HUNTING TALES 
EDGAR F. RANDOLPH 
A series of. hunting reminiscences of rare charm for the sportsman and for 
the wider circle which delights in true tales of outdoor life. With none of the high 
coloring and exaggeration which give a false note to so many hunting stories, Mr. 
Randolph's book is never lacking in interest. 
He covers the field of sport with the rifle, east and west, drawing a vivid word 
picture of life in the open, subordinating his own exploits to the main incidents of 
outdoor experience, giving much valuable information on camp life, hunting and the 
habits of wild game, and continually delighting the reader with the freshness of his 
viewpoint. 
This book will strike a sympathetic chord in the memory of every big-game 
hunter of experience and will prove of real value to the novice who is planning an 
excursion into the wild. 
Cloth, 170 Pages. Richly Illustrated. Postpaid, $1.00. 
FOREST AND STREAM PUBLISHING COMPANY, 127 Franklin Street, NEW YORK 
WOODCRAFT 
By “Nessmuk.” Cloth, 160 pages. Illustrated. Pjrice, $1.00. 
A book written for the instruction and guidance of those who go for pleasure to the 
woods. Its author, having had a great deal of experience in camp life, has succeeded 
admirably in putting the wisdom so acquired into plain and intelligible English. 
FOREST AND STREAM PUBLISHING CO., NEW YORK 
