The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1898-04-22
THEY ARE DANGEROUS GUNS:
The New Hunting Rifles Menace
to Human Life.
They Throw q Bullet So Far There
Is No Telling What Damage
They May Ec-Narrow
Escapes.

1
range and the average distance at which
game is shot one is likely 10 strike con-
Trajectory opinions. prominent hunt
er. in speaking recently of the great eff
| fectiyeness Of the American rife, said
that in his experience elk, moose, bears
and white-tailed deer were mcst gen.
orally killed within a range of It's yards,
and that this was SO because they were
! apt to be discovered within this dis
taIce, not because CT any lack Of car
rying power in the rifle. When this
statement is coEtrasted with the pros
pectus of the latest rife, which has q
first sight of $50 yards. fat trajectory
and maximum range of 2.2C0 yards,
what is the average hunter to think?
Of one thing there is no room for
doubt, and that is that this year many
people are preparing to go to the woods
deer shooting, and will take with them
the new rife. ItswoIderful range and
penetration are due to the new smoke
less powder employed in conjunction
with bullet sheathed in copper SO as
to present harder surface to the rifiing
than lead. This projectile is forced
through a barrel from 20 to "a inches
long, the rifiing of which has about one
turn to every eight inches. The great
objection raised by experienced hunters
to such an arm as this is that with the
long range one never knows where the
bullet is likely to bring up once it has
left the gun. A few years ago hunter
fired at deer at a distance of 1873 yards
as measured after death. The animal
was standing at the foot of a slight
bluff of loamy sand in which not a
stone or rock was to be seen. The rifle
was fired and the deer fell. the bullet
having gone clear through the heart
and missing the ribs on. both sides.
Immediately after hail was heard
from point about 200 yards back of the
shooters. and an angry man was heard
asking where in thunder they were
shooting, as the bullet had just skinned
over his head. A close examination
showed Craze and leaf holes above the
heads of the other party Of hunters,
and it would seem that the bullet had
traversed two sides of triangle. from
the rifle to the quarry, and back from
the quarry to the other base corner of
the triangle. If such a thing is possible
with an ordinary rifle sighted to 100,
$50, 300 and 500 yards, what would be
the possible result with the copper
eheathed bullet, low trajectory and
2,200-yard range in a wooded district?
In still another case a well-known
hunting writer from they've now re-
siding in New York Glanced upon
moose feeding about 200 yards away,
and, with the idea Of taking the second
shot himself, tcld his companion, an
amateur, to try the first shot The bull
let was seen to strike the ground nearly
four feet in front of and about six feet
short OF the moose. When an examira-
ton was made it was found that there |
had been two moose feeding within a |
hundred yards Of each other. and that |
on the trail of the far ore was blood. |
Following the trail. the moose was !
eventually bagged, and it was found |
that the bullet had entered at the. |
lower side of the stomach and was |
lodged in the fat of the hump, showing |
clearly that the animal had been hit |
by the ricochetting missile. An exam
1nation of the spot where the turf few |
showed fat piece of rock an inch or |
so under the surface which the bullet |
had hit and glanced from. Many similar |
stories mi ght be related Of the vararies |
OF glancing bullets. and the possible |
dangers are making a number of hunt
ers very chary of going out with these |
new rifles, which, whatever advantages
they may have in other places, are not |
believed to be suitable for deer shoot
ing IN the eastern states. Apparently
English sportsmen are also entertain
ing similar fears, for prominent big
game shot recently advocated a re,
striction in the matter Of the rifling.
Both English and American hunters
appear to hold the idea that the wound |
inflicted by the metal-sheathed bullet
fired from the exceedingly long-range
rifle is not of the type best calculated
to stop the game, but that the bullet |
will rather pass completely through the
body without SCATTERING opposing
bones or tearing large hole in the
softer opposing substances, so that if
the animal be not hit in the brain OF
heart it may travel a long way eff before |
loss OF blood brings it down. The ex,
oerience of most hunters is in, favor of |
a 45-caliber bullet composed of one part
tin and 40 of lead, weighing $50
grains and propelled by from 90 to 100
grains of good black powder. This bull
.et will not have the same ricochetting
power as the other.-N. Y. Sun.