The St. Johns herald., 1900-08-04
GUNS ARE NOW CHEAP
Changes in Sporting Weapons by
 Smokeless Powder.
Different Materials and Mechanism Now in Use-Cut Prices and Sec- 0nd-Hand Pieces Figure in
 the Reduction.

With every prospect of fine fowling
 and hunting season the sportsmen are looking around for the latest things il.
 guns. It looks as if perfection had been
 nearly reached so far as structural tea-
 lures are concerned, and the great prob
 lem is which are the best of certain fair
 ly new devices grafted on old standards.
 The only really new item is gun which has movable breech. The entire part
 containing the lock mechanism and the
 chamber for the cartridges may be
 taken out to be replaced by another similar piece. This is designed for rap i'd firing, where loaders are employed. and although it has gained a certain amount of favor in Europe it is not like ly to receive much notice from Ameri- can sportsmen.
 The magazine fowling piece proper is receiving more attention than for years past. Especially has this been the case with the reed bird and the rail hunters this fall. The single trigger gun has failed to take here, except as novelty, and the fowling piece with auxiliary chambers on each side of the barrel to hold two extra cartridges, did not ap- pear to sell at all. The truth is the American sportsman is satisfied with the performance of the average high grade American double-barreled gun.
 Possibly never before were guns so cheap as at present. It is said that tho cut price fever is responsible for this, and that the secondhand guns so eX- tensively advertised are second hand in the same way as the bicycles were when ride around Central park had roughened the tires little and so en- abled the dealer to sell them at second hand" prices without breaking his price agreement. Certain it is that many of the guns at reduced prices show little or no wear, and equally certain it is that the fairly large profits On these goods will permit smart dealer to make a good thing out of the second hand sales. The type of gun has changed also, owing to the use of smokeless powders. A few years ago when the everyday shooter knew noth- ing but black powder as a sporting ex- plosive, the lowest grade Belgian bar rels were good enough for guns made to sell at six dollars, and for ordinary amateur shooting filled the bill. About the worst that happened in case of an overcharge was that the barrel was bulged at the breech or muzzle, and a badly burst gun was the exception. Smokeless powder has all changed the situation. A comparison of gun of ten years ago and one of to-day will show material differences in the mech anism of the breech, the thickness of the breech, and the construction of the body and action. All these changes are designed to withstand the greater strain of the nitro of smokeless pow ders.
 The smokeless powders have also been extensively used in rifles, espe- cially those of small caliber. The ex- perience in actual game shooting with these arms has been about the same as in war. The bullet perforates without killing. In the Maine woods fine deer was we'll within shot of New York man, and it was noticed that the tip of one antler was split in peculiar fash ion so as to distinguish the animal. He fired and apparently hit the deer just l back of the flank. The bullet went | clean through the deer, and away went l the animal. Three weeks later, in an- other camp, the animal was shot by an- other man and identified by the split l point and the wound mark which had | healed. An old-fashioned bullet would | have stopped the deer within 3C0 yards. | Tn the same camp a deer was secured | without visible wound. It was shot | at, threw up its head and dropped. Just as the guide reached it, knife in hand, it rose, but it's throat was cut before it At first the impression was that the knife caused the muscles to re- act, but investigation showed that the bullet struck the base of the horn and was defected, the shock stunning the Y. Sun.