The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-09-03

days all guns were cylinder bored. and
some of those old guns were good shooters
Charles Lever wrote:
1--WE seen her, too, upon my word,
At sixty yards bring down her bird,
Oh. she charmed all the Forty-Third
Did lovely Mary Draper"
Mary's little shotgun was undoubtedly
a cylinder-bored one, and what was good
enough to bring down a partridge or
pheasant at sixty yards will be fairly
equal to the woodcock, quail, snipe, chick
en- and ruffed grouse. The ideal gun for
barrels; for snipe, chicken and
ruffed grouse a modified choke in
the left-hand barrel cylinder bore in the
right-hand barrel; for ducks full choke in
both barrels. But let the beginners gun be
cylinder bore in both barrels.
The next thing to do is to get the swing
of your gun. Never close either eye IN
field shooting. You must get so that you
can swing the muzzle of your gun toward
or in front of moving object with such
a degree of accuracy that you will put a
number of shot into the object when you
pun the trigger although you did not take
deliberate aim you would with a rife.
This instructive aiming depends partly on
a natural aptitude for judging distances
and speed of fight, and a great deal on
practice. On side shots or cross shots and
on the left and right quartering shots you
don't hold on the bird, but ahead of him.
When your shot reaches 10 the line of his
flight he will be in a different spot from
where he was when you pulled the trigger
Puzzle: Find the spot. In other words,
your task is to shoot at the atmosphere
calculating the distance so accurately that
the center of your charge will occupy the
same particular space that the bird occu-
pies as the shot reaches his line of flight
When the wind is blowing hard, a decided
allowance must be made for the drifting
of the shot, and in all shots the resistance
Of the air and the force of gravity enters
into the calculation.
Many times you will shoot behind the
birds or under them if they are straight
always" or "tailers." A low-fying swift
taller is hard bird to kill for almost
any one. Often you are compelled to hold
above and ahead of a bird to get him. The
gun should be kept swinging as the trigger
is pulled. All this applies to quail shoot
ing in comparatively open country, to snipe
shooting, prairie chicken and plover. But
in woodcock and ruffed-grouse shooting.
or when hunting quail in the brush. snap-
shooting is required, and that is half in
stinct and half practice. 1t requires lone
practice in most people, but there arc
some persons who seem to be born with
the faculty. You don't aim and you don't
calculate. You just shoot, but if you are
a good snapshot you generally get your
bird. good snapshot Is often a first
rate man in the open where deliberate
shooting can be practiced, but the good
deliberate shot is not necessarily a good
snapshot
Books have been written about shooting
with the shotgun by men, who have only
attained moderate proficiency as field
shots. And very interesting tables have
been prepared showing the relative speed
of the different game birds, the velocity
of shot, the resistance of the air and
many other interesting and curious things
about the art. Some of these books will
be found useful and instructive. but as
you cannot impart stroke" to a billiard
player by lectures, nor dizziness of wrist
10 a "fy-caster'' by diagrams so Won can
not learn to shoot shotgun by studying
books. The best way in the world is TO
go out with some good shot and have him
illustrate by experiment what you wish
to get the hang of. A day in the fed
where game is plentiful is worth six
months of theorizing.
A twelve-gauge gun OF from seven to
seven and a half pounds In weight 10 a
good enough gun for ali-around shooting
The American manufacturers turn out as
good guns as the best, although some of
a SUPERIORITY
for their guns. The best gun Is the one
each enthusiastic field shot owns, and this
can be readily proved. His dog is also
the best dog There Is absolutely no an
peal from this.
Wing shooting has been helped to quite
an extent by the introduction of the vari /
Gus smokeless powders. Formerly in the /
brush or in the open on misty DAYS the |
black powder, when the gun was dis
hung in the air and obscured |
the shooters view. Now the smokeless
powders leave the air clear. and the |
sportsman can get in his second barrel |
simultaneously. 1t aids him in marking |
down the dead birds, also, there being no |
smoke to hinder the view The smokeless !
powder seems to burn quicker, too. and |
this obviates the necessity for holding so |
far ahead In thick cover the use of this
powder will be found to be of vast adj |
vantage. Some sportsmen of the old |
school cling to the black powder, but only
a few OF them do.
In regard to the superiority of the ham,
mer or hammerless guns, / am one Of
those hopeless cranks who prefer the ham,
mer gun. Experience with two hammer