and fired 8-7%-6-5 and 4 chilled shot 
in Western 2%” factory loaded car- 
tridges at those ducks, in the order 
named. 
E did not shoot at any duck we 
thought was beyond 35 yards 
with any size, and with the 8s we con- 
fined our shooting to 30 yards. With 
No. 7% we extended the range some- 
what, and with the 6s we took all flight 
chances to 35 yards. As we approach- 
ed the limit, we experimented with the 
5s and 4s. All sizes were effective, 
and nearly every duck that was fairly 
hit simply collapsed with the impact of 
the shot. The 8s were very effective to 
30 yards; and No. 7% in spite of our 
prejudice, because we knew they did 
not pattern well, were also very satis- 
factory so far as tested. It was a joy 
to see how 6s crumpled even the big- 
gest ducks to a full 35 yards, and even 
at teal and this range the result was 
just the same. 
Ducks were not gathered till we 
thought we might be approaching the 
limit. Sixteen dead ducks were picked 
up, one of which had come down a 
cripple and had been killed on the 
water. The last four ducks were shot 
with 5s and 4s, and much to our sur- 
prise, they were killed in a few shots, 
though we chose shots that seemed to 
be about 35 yards. Five ducks were 
knocked down with these big shot. 
Four were killed dead, but one came 
down with a broken wing and was lost 
in the thick tules. 
The writer could have killed 40 
ducks that morning easily with the 
410, so the reader may understand how 
it was possible to not only choose shots, 
but also to keep a fairly accurate 
count of the number of ducks killed and 
the number of cripples. Twenty-three 
ducks, according to our count, were 
knocked down. There were cripples, 
one of which was killed on the water, 
and the other two escaped into the 
tules. One duck that we believed was 
dead fell into the high tules and could 
not be found. 
LL of our party of four killed the 
limit that morning, but some of 
them had difficulty in doing so, but 
never but once before did the writer 
have so many ducks come within close 
range, and that was at Tampico, Mex- 
ico, many years ago when the per- 
formance of his 20 gauge seemed as 
marvelous as does the performance of 
the 410 now. 
This performance was so easy that 
the writer, two days later, thought it 
would be wise to go back to that same 
marsh with a 32 gauge and kill the 
limit as an experiment with that 
gauge, but the ducks were all gone, 
400 
and the best we could do was kill three 
ducks by driving to half a dozen 
marshes. 
After the opening day, only a duck 
now and then was picked up with the 
410, when snipe or quail hunting. The 
writer is very fond of shooting snipe, 
and will leave ducks almost any time to 
shoot at snipe. Our two best times 
at snipe and ducks occurred on the 
afternoons of October 23rd and 24th, 
and the little gun performed marvel- 
ously well on those occasions. On the 
first afternoon, one blue bill, one teal 
and five snipe were killed. The five 
snipe were killed out of seven shots. 
Snipe were very scarce and shots were 
obtained at only six. The second snipe 
was missed twice while flying through 
thick brush, the other five snipe and 
two ducks were killed with one shot 
each. 
On the following afternoon, seven 
snipe and seven ducks were bagged. 
The seven snipe were bagged out of 
ten chances. The shooting was mostly 
in a brushy marsh surrounded by a 
dense growth of high thick weeds. One 
other snipe was shot and fell over some 
high thick weeds while another snipe 
fell over some thick brush _ into 
some high “arrow weeds” and could 
not be found. The nearest snipe killed 
was about 25 yards, and most of them 
were killed at about 35 yards, while a 
few were killed as far as 40 yards. 
LL snipe were killed with the 2” 
All Brass U. S. cartridge and 
No. 9 chilled shot. This size pellet 
drives clear through snipe at all 
ranges to 40 or 45 yards, and is there- 
fore ideal for this shooting, especially 
in the 410, because this tender bird is 
killed perfectly with this size shot and 
the increased number of pellets to the 
charge improves the pattern very 
much, 
Of the seven ducks killed on the 
second afternoon, four were killed out 
of five chances with No. 4 chilled shot, 
and all killed dead at ranges from 30 
to 85 yards. The duck missed was a 
fast flying, crossing blue bill at around 
40 yards, and was missed cleanly twice. 
The other ducks were killed with No. 
6 chilled and all killed dead. Just at 
sunset my companion, Mr. A. P. Coles, 
some 200 yards away, scared some 
ducks from a marsh. One old pintail 
drake made a wide circle and rose to 
what we think was close to 40 yards 
high, and then came straight over the 
writer, who was standing in the road 
on a big high canal bank, and abso- 
lutely in the open. The duck was so 
high he paid no attention to us, but 
came straight on at the best speed a 
pintail is capable of. The shot, though 
apparently hopelessly out of range of 
t 
a 
so small a gun, was too tempting to- 
be resisted, so throwing the little gun 
up and catching the duck’s line of 
flight, the gun was swung forward to 
a lead of about 12 feet and the trigger 
pressed. The duck doubled up and fell 
headlong into the big canal back of us. 
The duck was killed dead in the air, 
and examination showed that three No. 
6 pellets hac entered the breast and 
come out the back of the duck. 
N those two afternoons, nine ducks 
were killed out of ten chances, and 
12 snipe out of sixteen chances. One 
teal was killed dead in the air at 30 
yards with the U. S. No. 9 chilled load 
and the other ducks were killed with 
2%” Western cartridges with 4s and 
6s, as stated above. We have never 
done better shooting than on these two 
occasions, with any gun. 
During the rest of the season a 
chance was had at only five other snipe 
and three of them were bagged, thus 
for the season fifteen snipe were picked 
up out of 21 chances. Four yellow 
legs were picked up at various times 
while dove and snipe shooting. 
Mr. Sherrod and the writer were 
going quail hunting on December 18th, 
when we asked: “Have you ever killed 
a canvasback with the 410?” “No, 
we never have,” was the reply. “Well, 
let’s stop down here at the river and 
kill us a double a piece on canvasback.” 
“All right, we will do that,’ he as- 
sented. We drove down to the river 
at a place a few miles below the great 
Elephant Butte irrigation project dam, 
and we saw that a good many ducks 
were flying up and down the river, 
among which were a good many can- 
vasbacks. We had no decoys, and since 
it was then 10 a. m. and the river was 
very wide, the chances for a shot at 
ducks looked very slim. After an hour 
and a half, without a shot, the writer 
returned to the car while Mr. Sherrod 
went on up the river. While waiting 
for our friend to return, we pulled 
off our rubber boots and put on our 
hunting boots, and feeling good and 
comfortable, decided to go over and sit 
on the bank of the river and wait for 
a possible chance at a duck. 
HINKING that if we had a chance 
at all, it would be a long shot, we 
loaded the little 410 with No. 4 chilled 
cartridges. Where we came upon the 
river, the bank was about 20 feet high, 
and a deep stretch of water lay below. 
Just before the bank was reached, a 
big old canvasback drake rose at about 
45 yards and proceeded in his awk- 
ward fashion to fly away. Throwing 
the little gun up hastily, we were dis- 
gusted to find that he had neglected to 
(Continued on page 428) 
