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ETHICAL CONCERNS

Extreme as Tedmon’s feelings may seem to contemporary readers, he was by no means alone in holding such views: “I have for years joined with Col. Whelen and others in condemning the .22 RF for shooting game; that is, anything larger than rats...English sparrows and the like.” In the August 1, 1922, issue of Arms and the Man, sightmaker “Trim Nat” (Tom Martin) enlarged upon this point: “Why will some men insist that the .22 LR hollow-point is amply large enough for such game [woodchucks]? It is not, and it is only trade selfishness and cruelty to advocate its use. The main effort is to sell the .22 LR as being just the thing for woodchuck hunting.”

But who would be so irresponsible as to make such a claim? A U. S. Cartridge Co. advertisement of the period confirms that these rimfire critics were not setting up straw men to knock down. Arms and the Man, in the March 1, 1920 issue, published a claim by Ozark Ripley, a very well known sporting writer into the 1950s, of clean kills with .22s on geese, turkey, deer, and a timber wolf. Plenty more of the same foolishness can be found by anyone who cares to review the literature of this period. Clearly, hyperbolic advertising, aided and abetted by the fatuous braggadocio of accomplices in the sporting press, promoted the abuses that inflamed Tedmon and others who took seriously their ethical responsibilities as hunters.