The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-04-22

pistol 1t Is rare indeed Tor boy 70 need a
pistol, and l shall only say hers that it Is the
most dangerous and the least useful OF all
arms. 1t IS 50 short that it is hard to handle
with perfect safety. and it Is not accurate
enough for use as q sport weapon. My ad'
vice to boys is to let it alone
The rifle Is leng range weapon Of sport,
and for large game it is the only effective
one. Since the perfection of the shotgun the
old time rife has been less and less in de
mand for small game; still, for squirrel hunt
ing, especially in the so2th, It is in common
use. and for target practice 1t cannot be
equaled.
All the best guns now made are breech
leaders. No other kind is worth buying.
cannot here recommend any special makers
gun, but l would say that Americans make
as good guns rs the English or anybody else.
The best rife for boys is a 32-caliber
breech loader. which uses short metal shells.
Such gun, If of good make, will be quite
accurate at any range within $50 yards, and
will Kill any game that boys are privileged to
hunt say this because game that is large
or dangerous should never be followed by the
young OF inexperienced. If, however, boy
must shoot large game, let hin have gun Of
large cahber. For deer, antelope and the liks
q 44gauge 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
10 handle.
For target shooting at short range 22-cali-
Der or even a smaller rife may be- used, and
these small guns are very effective for squir-
rel shooting in low timber or for killing rab-
bits.
The rife may be used for shooting at NOV
ing objects, but it requires great expertness,
and there are few who can attain to success
in it.
In choosing 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 10 other sort. Order gun
with Damascus or laminated steel barrels
and rebounding locks; have tie left barrel
''choked" and the right with cylinder bore.
A chOked barrel Is bored SO that 1t throws
the shot very close together and with even
distribution. The cylinder bore is Of the
same diameter throughout its length, and it
scatterS the shot over large surfaca
Boys will find gun of the size called 20
gauge the lightes6 and best for shooting all
game not larger than quail For all ordinary
inland shooting, however, the preferable
weapon is the 16-gauge, weighing about seven,
or better, six and half pounds. Let livestock
be as straight as you can well use, and the
barrels should be twenty-eight or not under
twenty-six inches hong. have used a gun OF
the heavier weight mentioned for years and
have found it just the thing for small game,
and have used it successfully on wild fowl.
Still, for shore and boat, when water fowl
are flying high and fast, it is much more
satisfactory to handle heavier gun.
The safe range of shotgun loaded with
small shot is from fifty to sixty yards at
the greatest, though you viii 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. s shot The pellets go
with great force when they first leave the
gun, but lose speed rapidly as their distance
from the muzzle increases. Moreover, they
spread apart or scatter as soon 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 effective at
long range. Thus, if bird is fired at and
missed with the right barrel, which is al
ways first used, the Left barrel is better suited
to make the second shot, as the flying bird
has got much further away.-M Thompson
In Minneapolis Tribune.