Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1888-06-28
THE OLD FLINT-LoCK.
q 4Fg~ 6A 4
How Fancy Guns Do Not shoot
straIght How ! Four-D Dollar Gun
Did-How the Cheap oid Bores send
the Mos shot odt -

/ began my career as a Sportsman
when was 10 years old. commenced
with the bow and arrow, and after
awhile Graduated in the higher class Of
the cross bow, with areal gunstock and
trigger. With the. former / did pretty
good work, but when got the latter,
squirrels, chipmunks, biackbfrds. ETC.,
and even frogs had to suffer. have
even killed pigeons with the bow and
arrow. After few years when grew
old enough, | got fiint-lock muzzle
loader, and then felt was really on
the war path. / used itufor number
of years with grand results, at sitting
objects only, and Always If possible,
with rest against stump, or tree,
or over the rail of fence; but it was a
long time before I attempted ashot at
bird on the wing; and when / did be-
gin, without any instruction, and less
calculation, made the most wretched
work that could well beinlagined. i
feel certain that during o number OF
years, fired off'upward Ofone hundred
pounds of shot at pigeons, even in
flocks, ducks and other birds before l
succeeded in bringing down . single
bird, Although I took good aim,
straight at them; I found out afterward
that had been holding my gun still,
while the object was moving swiftly;
and the consequence was that the shot
went, perhaps, twelve or twenty feet
behind. At last an old pensioner, who
saw me miss two or three shots, at fiocks
of pigeons, told me to hold on q bird in
the front of the flock, and then move
the gun about six inches in front, and
keep the gun moving as. ! drew the
trigger IClid scat the next flock, and
down came two fine red breasted cocks.
My shot was too large, being No. 8, but
after that brought them down every
time. That was the only lesson ever
received in shooting on the wing.
I remember gun which cost only $4
when I was q boy. 1t was single
barrel, no RIB. from the end of tile half
stock, and the inside was so rough, ap-
parently full of coarse rings, that rag
could scarcely be driven through it for
cleaning; but this gun, the soft iron
tumbler of which wore out in couple
of days shooting, would put its entire
charge of No. 4 into nine inch ring at
thirty yards, at fifteen yards into two
inch circle. Well, finally got hold of
an "Indian gum of M-caliber, stocked
to the muzzle, with q flint lock as large
and as slow as that on the old British
"Brown Bess," but it was rattler to
shoot. 1t was equally good for ball,
buckshot, and small shot. imagine
that it must have been contracted at
the nluzzle for billet shooting and that,
consequently,. it was, in a manner, a
chokebore.s lido know that a duck sit
ting onthe waiter was not safe sixty
yards off. In firing at ducks flying
close to the surface of the water /
found, even with my late Instructions.
that at thirty yards the shot would
strike many feet behind. Iaccordingly
settled upon about five feet as the pro-
per distance to hold ahead at thirty
yards, and I have never had gun in
my hands since that did its duty better
at that range and at all other ranges
up to sixty yards, with a corresponding
allowance, ahead. It was, however,
quite useless at muskrats in the dusk,
as they had time to get two feet under
water between the flash in the pan and
the report. Now, with my hammerless
Greener, twelve bore, twenty-eight
inches long, full choke, at thirty yards.
with any number of shot up to No. 2, /
hit best by holding on, and, of course,
no standstill at the moment of pulling
the trigger. At longer distances 1 hold
ahead three, five and ten or even fifteen
feet, according to range.
The Indian gun referred to was
equally effective with small buckshot,
SSG. / once shot three-year-old buck
at seventy-five yards with charge of
nine grains of this size, three pellets
having pierced the lungs and gone
nearly through the animal. When |
parted with the latter gun, which 1
exchanged for a detonating pill gun,
which / found a great nuisance, al
though quicker than the flint, / bought
another Indian guu of the same kind,
which threw shot closer even than the
first one. / was looking at the ground
yesterday, where tried this gun at
target, and fired a charge Of BIB shot at
a board fence which once stood on the
spot, every grain ofwhich was confined
to circle of eighteen inches. / did not
the distance at the time, but
did yesterday, thirty years after the
shot was fired. it was across a street
12O feet wide, a few of which we have
In Ottawa; consequently the distance
was forty yards, the regulation distance
for gun trials to-day.
What mean by an Indian gun is the
kind of smooth-bore guns given as
to the Indians long ago by the
Governments. The tw0I had !
were each about thirty inches long in
the barrel Ishayes seen and owned |
others of the same make aud equality |
forty inches and upward in barrel, but
the shorter kind were far the better,I
guns. The trigger pull WAS tremen-
dous, ] should say not less than
eighteen pounds, the lock dreadfully
clumsy and the stock very straight, |
with square heel plate; but, after all,
the shooting qualities of those cheap
old small-bores were of high order of
excellence. A sporting friend with |
whom ! had padded many a hundred
ducks into camp had one of these
Indian guns, with which Il once saw
him kill sixteen swallows in succession,
without one miss, with very small
charges of BIB shot. The birds were
not shot wantonly or to improve his
shooting that was as near perfection |
~ possible--but for the purpose of train
Ing a young spaniel to fetch from the
water; and / may here remark that he
never required another lesson. Brave
old Trio! Many duck he towed
ashore.--Anaericaa Field. ..r.
s-<-e----a .fH
A Sound Legal Opinion.
e. Bainbridge Munday ESQ. County