The American shotgun

Contents

PARI" 1

Chapter

I. Gener^vl Observations on Arms Past AND Present ....

Part II

I. Wing-Shooting Problems .

II. One Eve Aiming. Binocular Shooting. Gun Pointing .

III. Snap-Shooting. Deliberate Swing

Rapid Swing ...

IV. Primary Lessons

V. Some Shooting Psychology VI. Speed of Flight. Where to Hold Judging Distances VII. Hints on Shooting Different Game Birds ......

VIII. Field Etiquette ....

191 202

235 249

281 308

LIST OI' ILLL'STRATIOXS.

Cnjss-ljolt .....

Stevens Compressed Steel Darrcls Ithaca iJoltinj^ Mechanism .Side-plate Lock .....

Tumhler Safety .....

The Snap I-'ore-end ....

The I'arker I'^jector and the Ithaca Ejector 'I'he Hunter Single Tri^'^a-r The Infallihle Sinj^^le Trij.(,i(er Wealth of Ornainentation on The Sauer (iun Style of I'jij^^ravin^ of the Winchester Company The niamond Daly — Ccrman St\le of Engraving The r.aker I.Jrush ; Smith Knockabout; Stevens

I'ield (jrade .....

The I'ox "Sterlinj^worth"

The Parker Knockaljout .Smith I'"ield and Trap I'jector Haker l'araj.,'on Crade I'arker $ioo (jrade ....

The Stevens l-'icld and Trajj and the Baker E.xjjert The $750 Cjrade L. C. Smith The Ilif^hest Cjrade .Sauer ....

The $400 Cjrade Ithaca ....

The $500 JJiamond Daly ....

The $500 Ihjx

The Winchester, Remington an<l Stevens Repeat

inj:^ Shoti^uns .....

Cnnstock Measurinj^ .....

The Monte Carlo Coml). .... .Measurements of Stock for .Single Trigger

CAGE

2\

39 42 46 55

57 66

^>7 74

77 80

87 90 92

93 94 95 96 98

99 100

lOI

102 103

"5 120

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

The i6-Gauge Sauer 142

The i6-Gauge Marlin and the 20-Gauge Parker 147 An IdeaHzed Pattern of a Modified Choke . . 161 Method of Analyzing a Pattern . . . .163 Size of Circles in Which Various Degrees of Choke

Will Throw Their Patterns . . . - 165 Pattern Showing the Futility of Shooting Large

Shot in Small Gauges, Open Bored . -177 Binocular Shooting, or Gun Pointing . . 208

Gun Pointing — Both Eyes Open . . . .212 Targets With Rifle, Showing the Result of Gun

Pointing Without Sights . . . .219

Diagram Showing Rough Snap, Semi-snap, and

Rapid Swing . . . . . . .221

The Difference in Lead Between a Snap Shot and

a Swinging Shot ...... 229

Estimating a Bird's Distance by His Apparent Size

and the Plainness of his Markings . . 275 Estimating the Distance to Hold Ahead in

Lengths of the Bird ..... 278 Turning on Him. (From photograph) . . 284 Shooting High for a Rising Bird. (From photograph.) 289

Shooting an Incomer. (From photograph.) . 304

Right Way to Carry a Gun Afield. (From photo-

Proper Position in Waiting for a Shot. (From

photograph.) 321

Preface

A preface can be considered a word of apology, an explanation, or a bit of spice to smell good and tempt the jaded appetite into eating a concoction. No apology should be required for writing a book on shotguns at this time, and now if ever the sportsman's appetite ought to be keen for just such a work.

However cleverly written, an essay on guns soon becomes old and valueless. Changes and improvements in fire arms have taken place so rapidly that a treatise on such weapons dated twenty-five years ago might as well have been restricted to the muzzle-loader. Probably it will be the same in the future, though we of to-day are prone to think that little further improvement in double guns is possible.

Clever magazine articles on sporting arms appear from time to time, but in book form nothing of note on shotguns has issued from an American press in the last generation. Such works as we have on the subject are from English authorities, and, unfortunately, are merely more or less carefully disguised advertisements of some particular make of English arm. Reading one of these volumes, the

II 12 Preface

conclusion would be unavoidable that there is really only one country that can build a shotgun worth owning, England, and but one weapon there that is quite worth while, the particular arm to which the book is devoted. Other British guns are known to the author apparently, but are so generally inferior to the author's favorite that simply mentioning their names would be a waste of valuable space. All this despite the fact that the books purport to treat of British guns in general.

The author is a strong believer in American guns. He holds that we can not only build a better gun for the money than any country, but as good a weapon as can be purchased anywhere, for any amount of money.

He hopes to show in the pages that follow a spirit of fairness and justice toward all our gunbuilders, without fear or partiality or prejudice. Where he has v^entured to criticise it has been in the interest of the reader as tenciing to future improvements. Neither has he considered it necessary to proclaim that America alone makes fine guns. What he is willing to affirm is that in model and mechanics our shotguns are superior and that the system of manufacture developeci here permits our factories to put more value into a gun than is possible elsewhere, except in such grade of arms as to make the cost of no consideration.

The information and ideas contained in the succeeding chapters are mostly the results of a per-

PREFACE 13

sonal study of fire arms. Perhaps it is not a graceful thing to say, but the author can acknowledge himself little indebted to any gunbuilder for inside or technical information. Such facts as in the nature of things would be known only to the builders have generally been withheld under the plea that they are trade secrets.

For Instance, no manufacturer would give the inside diameter of the bore of one of his barrels at all points, under the apparent belief that this would betray his system of boring. This is rather absurd on the face of it since any gunsmith could take the measurements at will. Perhaps one of the builders puts the matter fairly from their standpoint when he states that, "there are a good many things which the general public is fully as well off without knowing." Notwithstanding this, the writer, not believing in the ignorance is bliss foolishness, has given all the conclusions at which he could arrive by a close study of the subject.

Care has been taken in this book not to give special mention to any make of arm, but all our prominent gunbullders will be found well represented in the illustrations. Many of the latter are from photographs taken expressly for this book, and never before appearing In print.

In the wing shooting department of the book the writer has found himself obliged to blaze a path of his own. With such text books as might have been available he was unable to agree for the most part.

14 PREFACE

The system of wing shooting here set forth is his own, and if it tells anything will add to the sum of what has been said before because it is different.

Thirty years of active life afield have given him convictions that for himself personally, to put it in a Rooseveltian way, outweighed the conclusions of others at such points as we failed to agree. If the writer is to acknowledge himself indebted to any source for theories and shooting principles, it is not to books, but to the many expert shots who have tramped cover and field with him in the course of many long shooting days. If the book is anything it is practical, and where theories have been advanced they have been proved in practice or cast aside.

In writing on this subject the author discovered fresh fields and coverts untouched. Since the days of Frank Forester, Lewis, and Thos. Alexander little has been written of the art of wing shooting that merits long life or much consideration. Pigeon and trap work have been well handled, and others have confined themselves to wild-fowling, but nothing has been written of a general nature on the principles and science of wing shooting.

Chas. Askins.

Chapter I General Observations On Arms Past And Present

IT has been the custom of writers when treating of shotguns to begin at the beginning, tracing the evolution of the weapon down from the crossbow to the invention of gunpowder, through the successive stages of firelock, wheel-lock, arquebus, flintlock, percussion lock, the French Lefeucheux breech loader, with locking lever under the fore-end, the English under grip with lever under the guard, the top lever hammer gun with a bolt through lugs under the barrels, the extension rib gun that was finally bolted through this extension, and finally to the most modern hammerless.

A treatise on oldtime and obsolete weapons is all interesting enough to the student of gun development, but everybody cannot be a specialist on this subject, many having other business in life. Of course where a man has an expert knowledge on any subject there is a temptation to display it, but the author means to show a consideration for his readers that will not keep them cracking away at the ancient arquebus before getting at the kernel of the modern breechloader.

We can safely ignore the muzzle-loader to-day, though not so many years since it was considered a weapon good enough for any man. Indeed, the hammer breechloader scarcely deserves a mention, for their use is steadily becoming restricted to the very cheapest output, and It is hardly conceivable that anyone would purchase a hammer gun from choice though he might continue to carry some old favorite which had become endeared through years of successful use.

We might note, in passing, that every improvement of the gun from its very invention to the present day has been steadily fought by the conservative. Military authorities very positively decided that the clumsy firelock was inferior as a weapon of war to the long bow. Experienced sportsmen of their day were outspoken in the belief that the percussion lock was not so well adapted to heavy loads as the flintlock, besides it entailed extra expense and trouble in the way of procuring and handling caps. The veteran gunner would have none of the breechloader when it first appeared, declaring it inferior to the muzzle-loader both in pattern and penetration, in addition to quickly becoming shaky and generally worthless.

ARMS PAST AND PRESENT 19

Then the hammerless had a long and hot fight for a foothold. It was pronounced a most dangerous invention of the devil, this arm that must be carried around at full cock with even the owner unable to perceive whether the hammers were up or down.

By and by, when extension ribs came, the conservative gunmakers took a hand, declaring that the arm was strong enough and handsomer without the useless, ugly extension. To this day a few of the old English gunsmiths persist in refusing to build a gun with the rib extending into the breech. Moreover, when these ribs were at last bolted through, or wedge-bolted from the rear, this entailed further contention, and one of our most popular manufacturers still absolutely refuses to bolt through the rib of his gun, though, in the nature of things, he will have to yield finally to the demands of his patrons.

The latest and strongest models of American guns have omitted the bolts through the lugs under the barrels, and It Is the belief of the writer that all gunmakers will In the end discard them as so much useless machinery. A multiplicity of bolts that can only accomplish the work of one are not to be defended upon mechanical grounds, yet one man will be slow to see what another observes at a glance.

Even choke boring had its enemies who maintained that such a system of boring caused stringing of the shot, that the missiles crossed and would not fly straight, that this style of boring tore up the

(i) Single lug bolt; (2) double fastening, lug bolt, and dollshead extension rib; (3) triple bolted, two lug bolts and rib bolt; (4) quadruple fastening, two lug bolts and dollshead extension rib with rear wedge bite.

game at short range and would not pattern closer at the long ranges than a cylinder. They asked how a gun could be supposed to show an Increased

ARMS PAST AND PRESENT 21

(5) Quintuple fastening, double bolts in lugs, extension rib with shoulder bearing, and through cross bolt, Purdey sideclips ; (6) rotary cross bolt.

velocity when the charge was jammed and checked in its passage through the muzzle.

Self-ejection has not yet won the position it should occupy, many clinging to the extractor because it is simple and good enough. Yet it need not be doubted that all double guns with any pretense to quality will at last be made self-ejecting and the arm without this improvement will only be out of date the earlier.

Strangely enough as shotguns have gone on steadily and even rapidly improving with the march of time, they have nevertheless become more reasonable in price, grade for grade. The Old Joe Manton muzzle-loader cost up into the hundreds of dollars for a strong, plain gun. A better weapon could be purchased to-day for a ten-dollar bill, and at the price of the ancient weapon the modern breechloader would be incomparably superior, especially in fit, balance, and artistic appearance. The youth of to-day fails to appreciate his good fortune in being able to purchase a sterling arm at a trifling cost.

I can well remember the first breech-loader that I bought myself. I put all the money into it that I had and it was supposed to contain all the improvements that heart could desire. The hammers, when down, stood above the frame like mules' ears, but the dealer dwelt upon the fact that they were pretty well below the line of sight when the piece was cocked. The arm had a very well finished stock and was line engraved, but it shot to pieces in two years and was thereafter constantly on a visit to the gunsmith to be tightened up. When the hammerless appeared, I laid it aside without regret, though I never had a better shooting gun or one that I could handle more effectively.

American gunbuilders have developed more rapidly than other armorers in the matter of constructing strong, serviceable arms at a moderate cost. This is partly due to universal progress in gunbuilding, partly to replacing the old, costly damascus and twist combinations of iron and steel with plain compressed steel, but it is more the result of ingeniously devised machinery which takes the place of laborious

ARMS PAST AND PRESENT 23

hand processes. Then, too, our builders have so systematized their work that every artisan is not a gunsmith, per se, but is an expert at some recognized and defined division of the work. One man is an adept at putting barrels together; another has a national reputation as a barrel borer; while a third man may have put in a lifetime in finishing locks and bolts. Possibly one mechanic may never have touched tool to gun except in finishing gun stocks; and indeed the selection of wood in the rough from which these stocks are made is a trade of itself. And so it goes through every department of the work from breech to muzzle.

The result of a general use of machinery and a specialization in mechanics is that guns can be turned out at a small percentage of what they once cost, the arm at the same time being a stronger and better weapon, which would be true even without late inventions that bring the piece to the present date.

Another thing that has contributed to the reduction in cost of arms to-day, as well as to their simplicity and sterling merit, is that the patents on different inventions have run out, thus permitting the manufacturer to select what he considers best and most available, a locking bolt here, a cocking hook there, a coil mainspring the invention of one man, and an ejector mechanism that has proved itself by strenuous service. In this way better arms are built than could ever have resulted from the mechanical genius of any one man. The world is growing smaller and man is finding it more and more difficult to keep secrets either of trade or war. Meantime we who are reaping the benefit have no fault to find.

Chapter II Construction Of Shotguns

IN treating briefly of shotgun construction I shall make no pretense of posing as an expert in their manufacture. There are many things connected with the building of guns about which our manufacturers tall<^ with reluctance, such as the prices paid for raw material, wages given to workmen, actual cost of turning out a gun of a certain grade, amount of hand work placed on any particular arm, and other things. All this would be of little value to the amateur if known and might possibly embarrass the factory owners. My only endeavor here will be to give the novice an idea of how guns are constructed sufl'iciently clear to permit him to judge with fair accuracy his own arm or any that falls under his observation.

Barrels being a prime factor in gun building, we may as well begin with them.

Barrels

(Damascus, Twist, Laminated, Compressed Steel.)

Up to a decade or so ago shotgun barrels were made of a combination of iron and steel strips, welded together and then twisted around a mandrel of such size as roughly to give the diameter of the bore. After being twisted into a spiral tube this was hammered or welded into a homogeneous mass. These tubes were known as twist, laminated, or damascus, depending upon the manner of using the steel and iron. The damascus barrels were further subdivided into two-stripe, three-stripe, and fourstripe damascus, the numerals having reference to the number of strips of iron and steel that were welded together before being twisted.

It is an old story that in the original, handforged barrels horseshoe nails were used, and it was popularly believed that they made the strongest and toughest barrels. Perhaps such material really entered into the construction of gun barrels, but it is not worth while to attempt either to prove or disprove the tale now.

Damascus barrels were in high favor twenty years ago. They were very tough and elastic, capable of expanding under pressure without disrupting. The only fault to be found with them is that they are soft, denting easily, when struck, against another barrel or any hard object. Frequently gunners injured one another's damascus tubes by jostling as they walked side by side.

As compared with modern fluid steel barrels those of damascus were also more liable to be injured by the gases of nitro powder, and generally they were hard to keep free from pits and rust. It is doubt-

CONSTRUCTION OF SHOTGUNS 27

ful, too, if they would take as high a degree of poHsh as those of our present plain steel. It is the belief of the writer that except for the regard of the conservative for what was known to be good, no damascus or twist barrels would now be in use.

Compressed Steel

The plain rolled or drawn steel barrels are known to be harder than any heretofore used, thus being less liable to accidental injury. They will sustain a higher internal or chamber pressure than damascus, and are therefore better adapted to nitro powders with the occasional high pressure that may be developed by handloaded or experimental charges. Such tubes will take a higher polish, and can be kept free of pits with half the labor occasioned by the old combinations of steel and iron. The process of manufacture is simpler, and good barrels can be turned out at a much reduced cost. The choke of a steel barrel can never be shot out and will retain its pattern for all time.

Our manufacturers have various technical names to describe their different grades of steel barrels.' The Krupp and Whitworth tubes, made In Germany and England respectively, have perhaps the greatest repute. Other grades of steel such as armor, nitro, high-pressure, titanic, homo-tensile, vulcan, mean nothing to the outsider more than that they are known to be placed upon certain grades of weapons by reliable manufacturers. Probably there is quite a difference in the pressure that the cheaper and the higher grades of compressed steel will sustain, but In Its finished state the ordinary observ^er cannot detect any difference in the appearance of the grades as he could with the damascus and thus must rely solely upon the manufacturer's word and reputation for the quality of his gun barrels.

While I should have absolute confidence in the safety of any barrel placed upon an arm by a reputable manufacturer, yet it is to be regretted that builders regard as "trade secrets" the different pressures that various grades of steel will bear. It might be well for a man to know just how close he was coming to the danger line In shooting heavy loads.

Some gunmakers advertise their barrels as being able to withstand a pressure of one hundred thousand pounds to the square Inch, but it is difficult to understand just what this means. If the barrel would bear an inside pressure of a hundred thousand pounds, it would. Indeed, be a corker. The ordinary shotgun charge only develops a pressure of from four to six thousand pounds, and the barrel Is "proved" In the rough with a pressure of from four to five tons.

In this country we have no government proof house such as all European countries possess, and hence must rely upon the tubes being privately proved by the different manufacturers.

CONSTRUCTION OF SHOTGUNS 29

Strangely enough, while we turn out more shotguns than all the remaining world put together, we are not and never have been a barrel-making nation. Just why this should be true I am unable to state, but the majority of our tubes are imported from Europe in a rough form and are then put together, filed, shaped, and bored in this country. It appears only a question of a short time now when America will forge her own barrels. The Stevens people are now making all the tubes used in their factory, and the Winchester and Remington factories those adapted to their repeating shotguns.

The fluid or plain steel barrels are manufactured from a solid bar. This is first drilled through and then rolled or drawn into length or shape; after which it is rough bored into a size some thousandths of an inch smaller inside diameter than it will be when finished. It is then subjected to its first proof test which is expected to develop a pressure some three times as high as the tube will be called upon to bear with standard loads. This first test is cut upon the barrel in the shape of a "proof mark," and it is then in shape to be exported. Should the barrel be finished in Europe, it will be given a final government proof in its finished condition, this proof developing double the bursting strain of normal charges.

In this country, having no government proofhouse, we must rely, first, upon the foreign proofmarks, and, second, upon the reliability of our build-

Stevens compressed steel barrel?. Barix one piece lug forged in ers. The foreign proof mark is practically worthless, for the reason that the barrel is afterwards filed down and shaped, and if this is unskilfully done a barrel that had ample strength in the rough might be so weakened as to become absolutely dangerous. Within the past few years I have seen a barrel burst that was as thin at the point where it disrupted as the paper upon which this is written. It follows that our only reliance is upon the integrity of our manufacturers, and ordinary precaution would require that we purchase an arm only from men who have a reputation to jeopardize.

CONSTRUCTION OF SHOTGUNS 3 1

It is greatly to our manufacturers' credit that their output has always been of such quality that there has been little demand for a government proofhouse. Doubtless, though, should we ever become a large exporting nation, which seems probable, such an institution will have to come.

Finishing Barrels

The rough tube as it comes from the maker has little resemblance to a finished shotgun barrel. A large amount of skilled labor and the services of a number of special artisans are required before the tube is ready to burn nitro powder and drive shot. The barrels must first be filed down and dressed into the shape that gives them that elegant taper from breech to muzzle, and while cutting away, reducing weight and shaping them the greatest care is taken to do the work scientifically, leaving a thickness of metal where the greatest strain is to come, the w^hole work being accomplished by a man whose sole duty or trade is to do that very thing.

Then another expert puts the barrels together, and upon his skill depends the accurate shooting of the barrels, that is their shooting to center. I can well remember the dismay of a young friend of mine who discovered after a year's use of the weapon that one barrel shot six inches lower than the other at twenty-fiv^e yards. Of course he no longer had any confidence in that gun, nor had he any difliculty in accounting for every miss made during all of the year.

Gun Boring and Polishing

Some of our shotgun borers have international reputations, and certainly they have made greater advances in their profession than have the artisans engaged in any other branch of gun building. It is said that the most skilled of these men can regularly cut a barrel to a thousandth of an inch at any point from breech to muzzle, guaranteeing a pattern within a very few pellets of that demandeci. Not every shotgun barrel is cut alike, indeed every gun-borer has a system of his own that will differ at least in minor particulars from those of all others, but results are practically similar. It is true that nearly all the above work is accomplished by machinery, but it is machinery that requires very intelligent supervision.

When the barrels are bored the polishing process begins, and upon the manner In v/hlch this Is accomplished depends the Interior beauty of the tube and to some extent its future usefulness and life. A highly polished bore is perhaps the best of all guarantees against pitting and rusting. Moreover, this polish is strictly necessary in order to guard against the piece leading at every discharge. I have seen barrels that would begin to lead with the first shot and steadily increase the deposits until from a sev-

CONSTRUCTION OF SHOTGUNS 33

enty per cent, tube the pattern was reduced to one of fifty per cent. Of course faulty ammunition might have something to do with this, but it remains that some barrels lead much more than others with the same ammunition.

Leading a gun seems to be a necessary evil, not to be entirely obviated by the most conscientious work. Possibly one system of boring may show better results in this respect than another, though I have never yet seen a barrel that would not show traces of lead if shot rapidly enough to heat. It is a very disagreeable fault, rendering the piece hard to clean and causing pits where the tube is neglected, as well as reducing the pattern as mentioned. In fact, I have yet to see a gun that would maintain its seventy per cent, pattern throughout a day's shooting.

Perhaps the cone has as much to do with the leading of a barrel as any other feature of the bore. The cone is the place where the barrel narrows from the shell chamber to its true bore. Should this be of faulty shape it may cause the charge to upset as it enters the barrel, leaving a deposit of lead at the breech. When the shot have jammed and leaded in entering the barrel they are in good condition to make further deposits; as a consequence the piece that leads in front of the shell chamber will nearly always do so in the choke as well.

Barrel Fitting

Our barrels are now fitted to their action, and here the work can by no means be slighted without betraying its slovenly character even to the novice. Barrels perfectly fitted to the frame are suflficient evidence that no part of the work of the entire arm has been neglected. Where steel and iron come together the fitting should be as fine as the edge of the sharpest tool, so close that eye can scarcely observe the joint. An expert judges the arm from the way it is fitted as accurately as a naturalist can pronounce upon the character of an animal from its teeth and jaw. If the tyro can observe any evidence of imperfect fitting then it is a cheap gun, no matter by whom made or at what price.

Cost of Barrels — Rough and Finished

Barrels cost in the rough as imported from two to twenty-five dollars a pair. When finished and adjusted to the frame they range in price from ten to two hundred and fifty dollars. Usually our builders charge one-half the price of the arm for an extra pair of barrels of a grade similar to that of the gun. Many of the manufacturers refuse to cross their grades by placing cheap barrels upon a high grade arm or vice versa.

Chapter III The Frame

THE frame of a gun is that part to which the barrels are jointed at one end and the stock attached to the other. The frame, together with the mechanism which it contains, is mechanically the most important feature of a double hammerless shotgun. The life of a shotgun, its strength and continued soundness, are directly dependent upon the bolting mechanism, while the locks must be of such temper and quality as to fire thousands and thousands of shots without weakening.