Imperial Valley press., 1919-02-10
Questions and Answers.

Can YOU recommend some acid that
will remove lead and rust spots from
inside of gun bbarrels, without in
jury to rifling? | prefer not to use
a wire brush. Also, can you give me
a recipe for putting blue finish on
a gun?
H. w A, Farmersburg, Ind.
Rust is best removed by first scrub
Ding with a brass wire bristle brush
and a satudate solution of hot water
and sal soda, followed by pumping
he same solution through the bar
rel with the cleaning rod and clear
ng patches and finally polishing with
dry patches. If lead remains in the
barrel after this cleaning, plug up
the breech and insert quicksilver in
the muzzle; hold the finger over the
muzzle and turn the barrel end to end
rolling it occasionally so the quick
silver will reach all surfaces. Any
cad left in the barrel will amalga-
mate with the quicksilver, unless the
ariel is in very bad condition. In
that case the barrel should be re-
turned to the factory, where it will
ne put in good condition unless too
badly pitted from rust. 1t will be best
TO also let the factory do the reblu-
ing. We know of no satisfactory
method for the amateur to do this
work, which is not simple opera
ion of applying coat or two of acid
but entails rusting operations as
well.
| notice you say in your reply to a
New Jersey correspondent that some
shooters Use for shooting foxes buck
shot as large as No. 90, but that No.
shot is large enough and of course
gives a better pattern. Down here
we use 3's and 2's for trukeys, but
We don't shoot foxes, preferring to
run them with hounds; but if we
shoot them | think we wouldn't use
anything larger than No. 2 shot for
them.
E. F., St. Louis, Mo.
No. 2 shot is no doubt the most
practical load, especially in thick
ly settled country. We believe the
larger sizes, such as 0 and 90, are
used where it is desired to obtain the
longest range possible and still use
buckshot. But this desire, unfortun-
ately for the shooter, all too often
dcfats itself, inasmuch as the "blue
whistlers" are so few-from each
shetland scatter so erraticallv. AS
we said before, No. / shot is large
enough, and this applies to even the
longest ranges.
| took up trap shooting a couple of
,ft tho icti cirn-
ed, and have made fair progress. Now
chat | have, apparently, actually be-
come a trap shooter, | want to settle
down to shooting with some regular
ity, instead of breaking eighty or
aighty-five one Saturday and drop
ping down to the sixties the next.
So | am paying attention to the de-
tails and trying to improve my posi-
ton. Do you mind giving me just
three pointers, say such as may have
helped you?
J. X. L., Cleveland, 0.
Sure-glad to. O Don't grasp
the gun too firmly with the left hand
or tense the left arm, as this inter-
fers with good pointing. (2) Don't
tense the body-get yourself into
about the same muscular "state of
mind" as if about to take off in a
standing high jump, but of course
not the same attitude. (3) Keep the
feet quite close together if this seems
natural for you, left foot a little ad-
vanced and a little the most of your
weight on it, body facing quite well
to the front instead of sideways to
the trap house, and butt of the gun
well in on the chest. For extra meas
ure, we would suggest shooting in
time; or in other words, shoot your
targets as nearly as possible all the
same distance from the trap house,
therefore allowing each the same
amount of time in flight.