The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-11-08

for lady that will hardly raise afour pouno
weight ON the scales. This season and the
one or two preceding it have been
prolific in the production Of new
things in the sporting and hunting
line. The introduction of nitro explosives
that take the place of powder are re-
sponsible for much of it. Then target
shooting is growing in popularity under the
disbursements advanced by many states
TO live bird shooting on account OF the
cruel nature of the sport. The sale of in
animate targets to be thrown from traps
has grown 10 enormous proportions, and
under the encouragement OF this great de-
mand many new devices of traps and tar
gets Eave come forward this season. The
latest expert trap is one pulled by cleo
tricity, and which throws the birds from
constantly changing angle. Then the i'm
provement in the hammerless gun that
has now almost entirely superseded the
old hammer muZzle-loader goes on
under the inspiration of extreme
competition. A gun for brush shooting
must now necessarily be hammerless TO be
up with the times, and the newest fashion
of hammerless guns has self-ejecting
mechanism for throwing out the shells as
they are fired. These ejector shotguns
have so far been manufactured exclusively
in England. They are made only in the
fine grades, ranging In price from $3.50 TO
S425, and superbly finished. Now several
of the American houses are at work on
ejector guns. The year will probably not
close without seeing one or more on the
market.
Speaking of shell electors reminds me Of
feature in the firearms market that is
just now broadcast and general. That is
the prevalence of cheap revolyers of a
pattern that until recently has been
among the most popular and expensive in
the market. The patent having lapsed,
all the manufacturers of cheap revolvers
are turning them out by the bushel, and
they include the ejecting apparatus. Few
of the recent patterns of hammerless guns
are for sale without the safety
lock catch. The familiar style of
English side safety is superseded in all
American manufacture by the top safety,
which sets automatically when the gun is
broken. Among the novelties is a repeat
ing shotgun, of which there are two de.
signs in the market this year. One comes
from England and is very expensive, but
the other, an American weapon, can be
bought for $25. or in its most expensive
pattern for $50. The American make are
of ten or twelve gauge, single-barrelled,
and weighing eight pounds. There is still
chance for great improvement in these
guns, as they do not fulfill in practice the
promises they make when exhibited in
the store. With new and fawless cart
ridges their mechanism works well, but
with shells damaged or scratched in the
hunters pocket they prove their impracti-
bility in the field.
Then there is a seven-shot duck gun.
shooting simultaneously seven 22-caliber
cartridges, which are carried in a metallic
disk so as TO be inserted and extracted by
one movement. The ordinary single-bar-
relied shotgun is almost obsolete, and the
combination rifle and shotgun has an in
creasing struggle to find customer.
The market was never so flooded with
very cheap guns. They come principally
from Belgium, though England furnishes
many patterns, the cheapest coming from
birmingham, where also the most expen-
slVe OF foreign high grades are manufact-
ured. The lowest price American made
hammerless shotguns this season cost
from $25 to $50
For quail and other upland SHOOTING
the craze for little guns is a noticeable ono
Miniature hammerless guns are Of twelve
bore, with twenty-seven-inch barrels. and
weigh trltle over five pounds They are
found almost as effective as an eight
pound gun, and recommend themselves nv
being very much pleasanter to handle
The use of wood powder tends to make
them very effective with light loads, and
the sale of these miniatures is in excess of
twelve bores weighing over seven and a
half pounds. The ladies' guns of a still
hghter weight are in twenty-three gauoe
and because they are very small they are
not also very cheap, but are found excIu-
sivelysn the higher grades of mannfactTnua
For duck and large game the shotgun j.
very much the favorite. The guns CONF
In heavy weights, from nine pounds 70
twenty-five, and from ten bore TO forr
bore. All are double-barreled and ham.
meriess, and ranging in price from So -