Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/436

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��Popular Science MontJiIi/

���Waiting for the Boy to Release the Bird

���upper end of the butt l)lalc. The gun seller knows. This same restriction as to "drop" holds with any other gun w-e select.

The double gun is a most reliable gun used lor trap-shoot- ing, and so is the special single barrel, hiimmerless. A wise plan is to borrow from thekindhearted trap-shooters guns "~>1 - of both the pump,

^^==^ or repeating, and the double type, and with them to sight at various objects to give us an idea as to which of the two types seems to suit us, indi- vidually, better.

Selecting a Gun

If our choice is the double, then it should have, if possible, thirty-two-inch barrel and be of the stock dimensions laid out, and the stock for a person of normal build should not fall below fourteen and one-half to the front trigger, measuring from the edge of the butt-plate in the center of the stock. The gun also should have automatic ejectors — little hammers in the fore-end, which, when the gun is openeil, kick the fired shell out of the gun without the aid of the fingers.

We want the l)utt-i)lale filteil with some one of the rul)ber jxiils made to take up recoil. The most commonly used is the sort that is glued firmly on as part of the stock. But before we do this we must make sure that the gun shoots as a trap-shooling gun should, and second, see that the gun (its us. The best plan is to instal on the gun tcmijorarily

��one ol the cheap lacc-up or slip-on rubber recoil-pads, costing about one dollar. This will make the stock longer, and usually we can use it longer than it is i)iit out ; because in trap-shooting, being allowed to have the gun to our shoulder, we can use a stock longer than we could in the game field, and the extra fraction of an inch adds to the steadiness of swing. If, however, there is too much of a good thing, shown liy the greater control over the gun in shooting a few shots with the pad taken t)ff, then we can decide that a shorter stock is correct, and so have the perma- nent rubber pad glued on, at the cost of about five dollars.

With the appointed gun and three sorts of trap loads, obtained from the obliging dealer, we obtain a dozen sheets of wrai)ping paper, not less than forty inches scjuare, some thumb tacks, a tape of twent>"-fi\e feet or longer and seek in the country an old board fence or an old abandoned barn or board sign on which we can tack our paper. The trap loads should contain not more than three drams of smokeless powder, and one and one-quarter ounce of No. 7j^ or 8 chilled shot. Three different makes of shell or three different brands of powder should be represented in the loads we take out.

Testing Your Gun and Your Powder

First we cut open and count the pellets in one of the shells. The easiest way is to pour them into a box, shake them init)

���The Operator at the Trap Mechanism Below the Ground. Several Piles of Clay Birds Are Shown

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