Choosing the Gun and Load 
Making Your Financial Outlay Give You 
the Greatest Amount of Shooting Possible 
GUN, a rifle, or an 
automobile is each 
the source of a vast 
amount of pleasure. 
In one particular at 
least they are exact- 
ly alike. Except to 
=} a crank on the sub- 
ject, who obtains 
W great satisfaction 
from merely looking 
at them, they are of no use at all un- 
less they are actually in use. 
How much they are used usually de- 
pends upon two things: the number of 
opportunities, and the cost of taking 
advantage of them. Both of these are 
actually relative, because it is seldom 
that two people have the same amount 
of time for a certain sport, the same 
number of chances for enjoying 
it, or the same amount of 
money to spend on it. And even 
if they did they would not be 
likely to get equal amounts of 
pleasure from the same outlay. 


EARLY everyone has a 
pretty fair idea of the kind 
of guns he would like to own, 
the types of rifles or shotguns 
that are best adapted to his 
various needs, and the kind of 
game he would like to shoot. 
Everyone who reads the sport- 
ing magazines has been advised by 
dozens of writers of the types and cali- 
bers of rifles that they believe are best 
adapted to certain purposes. 
UT in nearly every case the weapons 
or cartridges suggested have been 
recommended because it is understood 
that they are the best possible selection 
—from the standpoint of effectiveness— 
for the purpose outlined. And this, by 
the way, is the type of question that the 
reader usually asks. But it is un- 
doubtedly true that the vast majority 
of our millions of hunters are vitally 
interested in getting the most sport for 
the least money. It is more important 
for them to know how they can get 
more good shooting for a given expendi- 
ture than how they can shoot more 
effectively. The most deadly cartridges 
are often the most expensive without in 
many cases being worth this extra cost 
for average shooting. 
In this article, therefore, we will go 
in a_ choice. 
By C. S. LANDIS 
at the matter from the other side of the 
question, that of more shooting for a 
given outlay. There is usually no 
difference in the cost of shotguns of the 
different common gauges. A 12, a 16, 
or a 20, of equal quality, costs the 
same. And the most commonly used 
loads in the three gauges only vary 
about $4.00 per thousand shells when 
manufactured in the medium grades 
like the Nitro Club and Repeater. 
S most men who use the smaller 
gauges will miss a few more shots 
per hundred than if they used a 12, we 
can pretty safely assume that per bird 
killed the cost is about the same when 
using the 12, the 16, or the 20. 
But in rifle ammunition it is a differ- 
ent story. There is a great deal of 
HUTTE. 
Have you ever wondered at the {great 
number of rifle calibres on the mar- 
ketP Perhaps you have been undecided 
If so, we feel confident 
that this paper by C. S. Landis will help 
you to see your needs 
UTA Linn nnn 
difference between the cost per car- 
tridge of the .44-40 and the .405, the .25- 
35 and the .30-1906, or the .22 1. r. and 
the .25-20 high velocity; enough to be 
well worth consideration to anyone who 
does much shooting. Some of you may 
have seen a five-ton truck used to haul 
a sack or two of potatoes, two or three 
small boxes of dry goods, or possibly a 
half a ton of coal. Probably you con- 
cluded that you had learned one reason 
why the cost of distribution in some 
cases is excessively high. 
ANP then before long you see the 
head of the house, his boss, nine 
children, two suit cases, a tent and the 
family dog all chugging along in the 
family Ford, and conclude again that 
the matter of economical transportation 
may be slightly overdone. It is possible 
that they might have preferred a 
Packard but probably they couldn’t 
afford it. 
It is somewhat the same way in the 
more clearly. 
shooting game. There is very little 
difference in price between the various 
calibers of rifles. 
A® a rifle will last most hunters ten 
to fifty years if they will clean it 
occasionally, the matter of initial cost 
of the calibre of rifle is negligible. 
The thing to consider is to choose a 
cartridge that one can afford to shoot 
as often and as freely as his require- 
ments demand. But it is also well to 
remember that it is just as poor policy 
to choose a too weak cartridge as one 
that is much too powerful. 
Most city sportsmen are limited to 
one or two hunting trips a year. The 
cost of their rifle ammunition is of 
practically no account at all in compari- 
son to the cost of railroad fare, guides, 
non-resident license fees, and 
the various extras that the city 
sportsman must take care of 
before he reaches the hunting 
grounds. His chances to kill 
big game will be few, far 
apart, and rather costly. He 
would be most foolish to at- 
tempt to use anything but the 
most deadly ammunition like 
the .30-1906, .280, .405, .33 
W.C.F., etc., because at the 
most he could not save over a 
dollar or two on the ammuni- 
tion he would shoot in one sea- 
son, and a lost chance, a miss, or a 
cripple that is lost is a matter of de- 
cided economic concern. 
But consider the case of the trapper, 
the backwoods 
hunter, the farmer, 
the country boy, and 
the like, who have 


game, fur, or ver- i 
min to shoot at Jest 
nearly every day, all may, 
year round and ev- wows 
+e 
ery year. They 
(Continued on page 
Up 
ea 
Le 
Page 272 
