Chamberless Shotguns 
Would 
HE interesting article on Dr. 
T Heath’s Chamberless Shotguns 
that appeared in a recent is- 
sue of FOREST AND STREAM has called 
attention to a form of shotgun boring 
—for chambering is part of the bor- 
ing—that to the present-day Ameri- 
can sportsmen is practically new. It 
has, however, received quite a little 
attention in England where Dr. 
Charles Heath, the President of the 
Wild Fowlers’ Association of Great 
Britain, and other sportsmen, have 
been experimenting with the idea of 
obtaining closer and more even pat- 
terns, higher velocity at long 
range, and consequently greater 
killing power with each shot 
fired. 
The matter of killing power 
per shot is more important to 
the average British sportsman 
than to us because repeating 
shotguns are very seldom used 
by them. Ten-gauges are out 
of style and so they have tried 
out the next best thing avail- 
able—which is a form of shell 
and barrel-boring that allow 
the use of very heavy loads in : 
a 12, 16 or 20-gauge double or 1S 
single barreled gun. 
NATURALLY, this system 
has some advantages over 
the standard factory loaded 
paper shell in our standard 
guns, but it also has its disadvantages, 
both of which I will try to point out 
in this article. 
In most of the 12-gauge chamberless 
guns, the barrel has a diameter of 
approximately .800 inch from the 
breech to the choke. This means that 
there is no cone at all, in contrast to 
all of our standard shotguns, and con- 
sequently the barrel has practically a 
10-gauge interior capacity. 
Thin brass shells, that are three 
inches long, are usually used. For 
duck shooting a 10-gauge load is 
wadded in special 12-gauge shells by 
using 9 or 10-gauge wads. These 
thin brass shells, which are called 
“Perfect” cases, have a larger powder 
and shot capacity than the standard 
paper cases and are thinned down at 
the muzzle so that the wads slide into 
the barrel without much take-off or 
jump when they pass out of the shell. A 
9-gauge felt wad is about .815 inch in 
diameter and is not much too large for 
a bore .800 to ,805 of an inerh in diam- 
HUNT 
sport. 
obtainable. 
They Be Satisfactory in America? 
By C. S LANDIS 
eter. It can easly be seen, therefore, 
that it is very necessary to use super- 
calibcr wads for this style of boring. 
THE 111% or 12-gauge wads that fit 
our standard 12’s, which usually 
measure .734 to .729 in diameter, cannot 
possibly furnish the proper gas check 
to the powder in a chamberless gun. 
It is rather obvious that it would not 
be possible to load 9 and 10-gauge felt 
wads in machine-loaded 12-gauge pa- 
per shells without causing them to be- 
come seriously swollen, especially if 
the shells were carried considerably 
HUIIUIIAUUTAUUTAUUUUU TAU 
Sporting firearms have been brought to 
such a near state of perfection that it seems 
hardly necessary to experiment further. 
fact, a reaction toward lighter loads and 
smaller bores is indicated, in the interest of 
Weapons far more powerful than 
those in common use to-day, however, are 
Super shotguns are used in 
the British Isles, where the repeating arm 
practically unknown. 
Mr. Landis discusses the adaptability of 
the chamberless gun to American sport. 
In this 
MNUUTUUTLUUUUTAUUTAUU CTU 
and had been subjected to a large 
amount of moisture and handling. You 
simply could not get them in many 
standard 12-gauge guns. 
HE factory-loaded shotgun shells of 
present manufacture cannot, there- 
fore, be successfully used in these spe- 
cial chamberless guns. It is not likely 
that paper shells devised for this type 
of boring could be successfully or safely 
used in our present American shot- 
guns because of the increased pressures 
which would result from driving 9 or 
10-gauge wads into the sharp cone of 
a standard gun. A difference of .066 
of an inch in diameter of bore is far 
too great to be ignored. 
of a 12-gauge chamberless gun, there- 
fore, would be absolutely dependent 
upon hand-loaded or imported brass 
shells for all of his shooting. 
Imagine the predicament of a hunter 
on a duck-shooting trip in Minne- 
sota or the Dakotas who ran out of 
shells and was faced with the neces- 
article 
The owner - 
sity of buying 9 or 10-gaupe felt wads, 
primers, powder and shot in bulk in an 
out-of-the-way locality where they very 
likely had not seen a box of 9 or 10- 
gauge wads for the last ten years and 
where 98 per cent. of the shooting was 
done with factory-loaded ammunition, 
nearly all of which was of 12, 16 or 
20-gauge. One such experience would 
be sufficient to give the chamberless 
gun a large black eye, in the opinion of 
that hunter and his friends. Users of 
special 20 or 16-gauges would not be 
quite so seriously handicapped. 
A® chamberless guns use thin 
brass shells they would not 
be well adapted to field shooting 
in this country, as our grouse, 
quail, rabbit and squirrel hunt- 
ers are frequently obliged to 
Th cover a large amount of ground 
in a day. This is especially so 
toward the end of the season 
when game gets comparatively 
scarce. Naturally much ammu- 
nition would be carried in the 
shell vest or coat for days at a 
time and the shot wads in the 
uncrimped brass shells would 
have a tendency to work loose 
and allow the shot to escape, 
just as occurred with our hand- 
loaded brass shells of thirty or 
forty years ago. In addition, 
this type of ammunition would 
weigh much more than the 
standard on account of the use of the 
heavier cases and heavier loads. 
It would be necessary for the hunter 
to save all of his empties for reload- 
ing if the question of cost were impor- 
tant and to carry them with him from 
morning until night. He would need 
to stop and pick up each fired shell 
and. to Carryetrom. Loto moUMmOTmmay) 
of these loud]y-clinking, empty brass 
cases in his hunting-coat. The return 
of the hunter would sound much like 
the arrival of a Salvation Army band 
plus a Labor Day parade and a colored 
funeral. 
[N other words, to get higher velocity 
and to have the privilege of shoot- 
ing 10-gauge loads in a 12, or 12-gauge 
loads in a 16, we must scrap forty 
years of improvements in paper-shell 
manufacture. We would also pass up 
any chance of using repeating or au- 
tomatic shotguns when we want them, 
which to a very large percentage of 
(Continued on page 106) 
Page 80 
