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[JULY 13, 1907. 





GAME BAG AND GUN | 


The Shotguns of Our Fathers. 
(Concluded from page 15.) 
A book, called ‘The Oakleigh Shooting 
Code,” was frequently quoted half a century 
ago by authors on sport. It was written by 
‘Lhomas Cakleigh, owner of Oakleigh Old Manor 
Hall in Staffordshire, and published in the year 
1836. The book contains short but very exact 
directions about the guns best suited for va- 
rious purposes, the best loads and best sizes 
of shot for various kinds of game, and the 
ranges up to which it is proper to fire. The 
author states that some barrels were bored so 
as to be “widest in the center and contracted 
at each end; some widest near the breech and 
gradually contracted up to the muzzle; and 
others widest at the muzzle.’ He adds that 
the contraction or expansion is generally so 
trifling as to be almost imperceptible when 
pushing a tightly-fitting card wad down a clean 
barrel. 
The fowling piece recommended for general 
purposes is “a double-barreled detonator, 
weighing about 8 pounds, with barrels 30 or 
32 inches long and 16-gauge, made of twisted 
stubs.” It was not considered sportsmanlike 
to use double barrels of greater caliber, but a 
single barrel might be of 14-gauge and 34 inches 
long. Barrels for the sole purpose of grouse 
shooting should be 32 inches long, or, for 
covert shooting, only 28 inches.” 
Damascus or wire-twist barrels are stated to 
“have had their day.’ Some idea may be 
formed of the patterns obtained, by the opinion 
expressed, that “a gun should make such a 
close and regular pattern that at 4o yards it 
would be almost impossible for a partridge to 
escape being struck by three pellets of No. 6 
shot.” The mouth of a quart tankard is. said 
to be about the width of a partridge’s body, 
and the reader is advised to use this as a 
measure, when examining the shot marks on a 
target. To find the proper charge of powder 
with any particular gun, if is recommended to 
try one-seventh of an ounce with one and one- 
half ounce of shot. This would be slightly 
more than 2% drams, which, with the fine- 
grained powder of the period, would give about 
the same muzzle velocity as 234 drams of the 
black powder now used in breechloaders. This 
is a considerably smaller charge than that 
recommended by Col. Hawker; but the sizes 
of shot which the Code advises are so much 
larger that they probably gave quite as much 
penetration at 40 yards. 
It appears that Mr. Oakleigh’s friends visited 
him periodically, partly for the enjoyment of 
the shooting which he provided; and while 
staying at the hall the manuscripts of the book 
were submitted to their criticism, so that the 
Code appears to represent the consensus of 
opinion. Some of the details are curious. For 
instance, the advice is always to load a double 
gun with shot one size larger and one smaller 
than a single barrel. If the latter have No. 5, 
the former should have No. 6 in one barrel 
and No. 4 in the other. The quantity of shot 
with which a donble gun should be loaded was 
stated to be 154 ounces in the barrel first fired 
and 134 ounces in the second. The best sized 
shot for grouse, in August, No. 4 in the first 
barrel and No. 2 in the second; for partridge, 
after the first week in September. No. 6 and 
No. 4; for wild ducks, No. 2 and B; for snipe, 
No. 7; for hares, any shot not smaller than 
No. 6. The extreme distance for firing at a 
partridge was not to exceed 60 paces, and the 
same for grouse, pheasants or woodcock: for 
snipe, 35 yards; for hare, 45 paces; for wild- 
fowl, between 50 and 60 paces. The ideas about 
the proper allowances for the speed of birds 
appear to have resembled those of the previous 
named writers. The book says, “When firing 

at a partridge crossing, with a detonator, aim 
2 inches in front of the bird at 30 paces, 5 at 50 
and 7 at 55 paces.” The remainder of the book 
contains numerous details about the manage- 
ment of dogs, the haunts and habits of various 
sorts of game, etc. 
A small work, called “The Sportsman’s Di- 
rectory,’ written by a gamekeeper named 
Mayer, appears to have’ gone through many 
editions. The sixth, which was enlarged and 
published in 1838, contains directions’ not only 
for shooting, but for capturing game with 
decoys, nets, and bird lime. The author’s 
opinions about guns were that the best for 
general use would be a single 15-gauge with a 
barrel of 32 inches, or a double 18-gauge with 
30-inch barrels and weighing 634 pounds—the 
load for the single gun to be 2% drams of 
powder and 2% ounces of shot; for the double 
gun, 2 drams of powder and 1% ounces of shot. 
The best size of shot for ordinary use, No. 7. 
An “Encyclopedia of Rural Sports,” written 
by Delabere P. Blaine, appeared in 1840. It 
contains long accounts af hunting, shooting, 
fishing, racing, etc., and a great deal about guns 
and their use. Respecting these, there are many 
quotations from Hawker, Greener, Daniels, and 
other noted authors on gunnery. together with 
the opinions formed through Blaine’s personal 
experience. He agreed with Hawker in think- 
ing Damascus barrels inferior to those of stub- 
twist. Some barrels of the period,were bored 
with rings on the inner surface, which were said 
to cause them to shoot with extreme closeness, 
at the expense, however, of increased liability 
to become leaded. Others were made slightly 
conical in shape with the same object; but 
Blaine himself preferred those that were per- 
fectly eylindrical and of medium length. He 
thought 18 or 19 to be the best gauge, as that 
size allowed the gun to be made both light and 
strong. He advised the sixth part of an ounce 
of powder for a single barrel, with 134 ounces 
of shot; and the seventh of an ounce, with 13% 
to 15g ounces of shot, for a double gun. As to 
killing ranges, he considered 40 yards the 
distance at which most guns killed with fair 
certainty, and the chances three to one in favor 
of killing at 45 yards. His plan for selecting 
the best sizes of shot for each gun, was to fire 
at a target covered with squares 2 inches wide 
for snipe, 2% for quail, 3% for woodcock, 4% 
for grouse and 5%-for pheasant. 
Mr. W. Greener, father of the present gun- 
maker of that name, wrote a very scientific 
book entitled ‘‘Gunnery in 1858.” He had then 
introduced laminated steel for barrels. and 
naturally considered it to be the best material. 
He agreed with Colonel Hawker that 14-gauge 
was the most deadly size, but thought that. to 
do its best, the barrels should be 34 inches 
long, which made it rather awkward to use. 
Consequently 15-gauge with 30-inch barrels was 
the best for general purposes. The intesior of 
the barrels to be very highly polished and 
bored cylindrical, with a hardly perceptible re- 
lief for a few inches at the muzzle. For select- 
ing the best sizes of shot, Mr. Greener’s method 
was to place a wad the depth of the pellet with- 
in the muzzle and find the number which, 
packed in a layer, would cover the surface with- 
out leaving any half-spaces between the pellets, 
which should lie in concentric rings. This plan 
has frequently been recommended by subse- 
quent writers. but, I think, Mr. Greener was 
the first who did so. He believed that one 
ounce of No. 7 shot in a 15-gauge would kill, 
at 40 yards, as well as 1% ounces of No. 6 from 
a 14-gauge, and with less recoil. He disap- 
proved of the Lefaucheux breechloader, then 
recently introduced into Britain, because it was 
very inferior, both in pattern and penetration, 
to the muzzleloader. This statement was doubt- 
less true at the time he wrote it, but the breech- 

loader was so rapidly improved that, within 
one or two years, there was little difference in 
pattern, and probably little in penetration, when 
a quarter dram more powder was used. 
In 1859 a work appeared, called ““Yhe Shot- 
gun and Sporting Rifle,” written by Dr. Walsh, 
then editor of the Field newspaper. In it is a 
record of a trial in that year between breech- 
loaders and muzzleloaders. The same kind of 
powder—No. 2 grain—was used in both, and 
No. 6 shot (then containing 290 pellets in an 
ounce—234 drams) were used in the three best 
muzzleloaders all of 12-gauge, and 3 drams in 
the three best breechloaders also of 12-gauge. 
Both were charged with 114 ounces of shot. 
The average patterns on the 30-inch circle at 
40 yards were for muzzleloaders, 128 pellets, and 
for breechloaders,.109. The average penetra- 
tion, tested at paper pads, was: Muzzleloaders, 
27 1-3 sheets; breechloaders, 28 2-3 sheets. This 
method is so totally unreliable (giving such 
varied results with equal charges) that no re- 
liance can be placed upon it, or upon any other 
methods up to the present date, except the 
chronograph and cards separated from each 
other in a rack. 
Dr. Walsh gives full details about the muzzle- 
loaders of his time, which show that no im- 
provement. had been obtained in closeness of 
pattern, over those made half a century before. 
He writes, “According to my experience, a good 
muzzleloading gun of 12-bore, with a charge of 
234 drams of powder and 1% ounces of No. 6 
shot, will distribute evenly about 150 to 160 
pellets on a 30-inch circle at 40 yards and 55 to 
65 at 60 yards.” This is certainly an excellent 
pattern suitable for almost every kind of shoot- 
irig, especially considering that, being made by 
a cylinder bore, the killing circle would be large 
for either long or short ranges. 
Mr. James Dalziel Dougall, a well known 
gunmaker of London and Glasgow, and also 
a practiced sportsman, wrote a work entitled 
“Shooting, its Appliances, Practice and Pur- 
pose,” which was published in 1875. Although 
breechloaders of both cylinder and chokebore 
had then been brought to a great degree of per- 
fection, he includes in the book full details of 
muzzleloaders. Fourteen-gauge with barrels 
30 inches long appears to have been the most 
general favorite until they were superseded by 
breechloaders. The charge he recommended 
for this was 2% drams of. powder to 1% ounces 
of No. 6 shot, or about the same proportion 
of powder and lead as that mentioned by Dr. 
Walsh for a 12-bore. 
; These extracts show that the guns used dur- 
ing the first half of the nineteenth century 
were, as a rule, smaller in caliber than their 
successors, but heavier in proportion to caliber 
and frequently with longer barrels. The 
charges of shot were usually much larger and, 
of powder, smaller than those now advocated; 
yet the velocity of the shot must have been 
sufficient, if we may judge by the unanimous 
testimony of the sporting writers, as to the 
distances at which game was killed. Although 
most guns, except those used at driven game. 
are more or less choked, yet a shot at 45 or 50 
yards is still considered a long one. Twelve- 
gauges when fully choked will often kill at 
greater distances, but comparatively few sports- 
men use them, because they require extraordi- 
nary ranges and are liable to mangle game 
badly when they hit it. J. J. Meyrick. 
BuDLEIGH SALTERTON, South Devon, England. 
CAMP SUPPLIES. 
Camp supplies should include Borden’s Eagle 
Brand Condensed Milk. Peerless Brand Evapor- 
ated Milk and Borden’s Malted Milk, all of 
which contain substantial and compact nourish- 
ment, and supplying every milk or cream require- 
ment.—Adv. 



