Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-03-23

! will be quite accurate at any range with
! in 80 yards, and will kill any game that
boys are privileges to hunt. / say this
| because game that is large or dangerous
| should never be followed by the young
or inexperienced. If, however, a boy
| must shoot large game, let him have q
| gun of large caliber. For deer, ante
| lope and the like, q 44-gauge is quite
heavy enough, but for bear and all large
| and dangerous animals the guns to be
used are extra heavy express rifles which
none but strong men should try TO
handle
For target-shooting at short range :
22-caliber or even a smaller rife may be
used, and these small guns are very
effective for squirrel shooting in low
timber or for killing rabbits.
The rife may be used for shooting at
moving objects, but it requires great ex-
pertness and there are few who can attain
to success in it.
The shotgun is a later invention than
the gun throwing one ball, though its
origin oates back to about the middle of
the Sixteenth century when ''hail shot'
began to be used in rude smooth bore
gun. AS time passed many improve
ments were made in the parts of the
fowling piece until by slow degrees the
present perfection was reached. At this
time the shotgun most used is the double
Darrelled, breach-loading, hammerless
weapon, but 1 advise boys to be content
with the best make OF hammer gans.
In choosing a shotgun, the chief thing
is to get one of excellent workmanship,
and to do this requires some knowledge
of the parts of the weapon. OF all the
parts the barrel is the most important,
though for that matter nearly all the
reputable makers turn out good ones and
no other sort. Order q gun with Damas-
Gus or laminated steel barrels and re-
bounding locks; have the left barrel
"choked' and the right barrel with
cylinder bore. A choked barrel is bored
SO that it throws the shot very close to-
gether and with even distribution. The
cylinder bore is of the same diameter
throughout its length, and it scatters the
shot over a large surface.
y Boys will find gun Of the size called
20-gauge the lightest and best for shoot
ing all game not larger than quail. For
all ordinary inland shooting, however,
the preferable weapon is the l6-guage,
weighing about seven, or better, six and
a half pounds. Let the stock be as
straight as you can we'll use, and the
barrels should be twenty eight or not
under twenty-six inches long. 1 have
used q gun of the heavier weight men,
toned for years and have found it just
the thing for all small game, and have
used II successfully on wild fowl. Still,
for shore and boat, when water fowl are
flying high and fast, it is much more sat-
isfactory to handle a heavier gun.
The safe range of a shotgun loaded
with small shot is from fifty to sixty
yards at the greatest, though you will
hear men boast of their guns killing
every time at much greater distances.
About forty yards is the more probable
limit of safety for light guns, loaded
with, say No. shot. The pellets go
with great force when they first leave the
gun, but lose speed rapidly as their dis
lance from the muzzle increases; more
over, they spread apart or scatter as they
fly, soon getting so widely separated
that there can be no certainty OF their
hitting the object aimed at.
The object in having the left barrel Of
YOUR gun choked is to make it more effec-
tive at long range. Thus, If bird is
fired at and missed with the right barrel,
which is always first used, the left barrel
is better suited to make the second shot,
as the flying bird has got much further
away.
Now, having chosen and bought your
gun, whether rifle or shotgun, the next
thing is to learn how to handle it with
ease, accuracy and safety.
First let US learn the use of the rife.
MAURICE THOMP SON.