Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1897-12-09
NEW IDEAS IN SHOTGUNS
AMERICAN FOWLINC PIECES NOW
IN THE FRONT RANK.

piece has taken rapid strides to the
front and has overcome the early pre-
judice of the Englishmen who objected
to it on the ground chiefly that it was
a cheap gun compared with the $3.50
or $500 weapon which every man of
means in England twenty years ago
considered the only gun worth hand
ling Since then American mark
have demonstrated what they. could do
with American guns in several coun-
tries in Europe and have proved that
American guns are worthy of the high
est commendation. .7'yesss
In Europe the chief topic in regard
to guns this season is still the single
trigger idea Although guns made on
this model have been shown here,
they do not appear to have won favor,
possibly because of the more severely
practical element III the makeup of
the American sportsman, who shoots
almost without exception in the open,
with naturally reared and naturally
hunted game. The game in the sur
roundings of the English coverts,
grouse moors and strictly preserved
country is easier to bring down, and
consequently the sportsman over there
is apt to give more attention to such
things as freaks and fancies in guns.
The principal American improvements
made recently have been in the direc-
ton of greater regularity of pattern
penetration was always a strong point
in American guns-and some very fine
results have been obtained. At trial
of gun the other day, fifty shots be-
ing fired and the gun being wiped out
after every ten shots, the variation be-
tween the highest and the lowest re-
suit in thirty-inch circle was not
more than eight per cent. For many
years it has been regarded as almost a
certainty that in ten or twelve shots
with any gun there will be at least one
weak pattern, and the recorded pat
tern of a gun is always averaged on
that account. So the showing in the
trial referred to may he said to have
approached the phe nomenal
There is also an increase in the de-
mand for lightweight guns, and these
run not so much to lighter weight
for given bore as to smaller bore.
One of the principal firms in this
country is now making line which
includes.S 8, 10, -, IA, 16, 20 and "a
gauge breech-loading guns The
greatest increase in this demand
comes from Texas, the Houston field
shots using the lightweight guns al
most exclusively. A 16-gauge re-
Gently turned out on special order
weighs pounds ounces, is of
Damascus steel blued to resemble
fluid steel, and has 30-inch barrels and
a IA linch stock, the drop at the butt
being L. inches. This appears to
point to straighter type of gun than
was used twenty years ago, when few
but Americans could shoot offhand
with an American gun. To cater to
the demand for light guns there has
been introduced stocks of spun alum
mum. They are hollow, open at one
side, and are very neat and wonder
fully strong, but the slight difference
in weightswill scarcely affect the de-
mand for the old stock of finely sea-
soned, closely inspected wood. Cheap
stocks are generally made of Ameri
can grown walnut, but fine stocks are
seasoned for from ten to twenty years
in most cases, and are of English wal
nut, worth probably So in the rough;
German walnut, worth approximately
81, and BRAZIL an walnut, worth $15.
A handmade stock of the last wood is
frequently worth $25. Mahogany is
too brittle, and rosewood too heavy.
1t is possible to-day to buy really
good gun of the finest twist, hammer
less, if desired, for from $35 to $27 so.
A curious idea is the square -muzzled
shotgun, the outcome of a number of
experiments by DR.. A. S. Kennedy Of
Auburn, Me-, who sought to secure
improvement in pattern and penetra-
ton. He took an ordinary repeating
shotgun, had it made square at the
muzzle, and then improved the shape,
grading the four sides of the barrel in
ward and downward on a bevel. He
claims that the result of his expert
ments is that the shot is practically
shovelled into compact bunch as it
leaves the barrel, and SO leaves the
gun without the tearing pressure made
by round choke.
A novel invention has been turned
out by Alessandro Scuri of Liege, the
great gunmaking city of Belgium. 1t
is two-barrelled fowling piece or rifle
which can be fired, each barrel separ-
ately in the ordinary way, or the two
barrels at once, at two objects not
more than forty yards apart. The gun
is provided with scale which shows
the distance of the objects aimed at
and the necessary difference of direc-
ton of the muzzles of the two barrels.
A pull at a ring on the under side OF
the gun operates two rods, which slide
the barrels apart to the extent ntrequired,
aim is taken, and the objects ought to
fall. This is the greatest freak gun
Liege has introduced since Herr
Pieper, the great gunmaker, produced
gun designed to be fixed like a