The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1880-02-25
American Cartridges.

Russia was among the first to make
use of the American metallic cartridges
and she attempted in vain to initiate
them. After wasting ten millions OF
cartridges made of inferior material, she
| wisely concluded to buy here, as other
foreign nations have since done. Some
of the American cartridges sent te
Russia were subjected to the unparalleled
test of a five-weeks soaking in the
waters of New York harbor, the vessel
carrying them having sunk off Staten
| Island, on her way out. They were
| ished up as good as new, and, triumph
antly passing the ordeal of new test of
their firing quality, went on their way
again, and have, no doubt, long since
added their quota to the return of
casualties. For good cartridges, Ameri-
can copper is needed, a fact which the
Europeans are beginning to learn. Even
SO long ago as the days of the mound-
builders, it was discovered that our
Lake Superior region produced copper
ore of uncommon purity. Ore Of equal
purity is not, it would seem, to be found
elsewhere, and perhaps the process of
aunealing is not so well understood
abroad. At all events, the brass made
of the foreign copper, Astounding in the
sulphurets, lacks the necessary strength
and ductility, and for some reason the
metallic cartridges made abroad are
liable to deteriorate in quality. During
her war with Turkey, Russia purchased
large quantities of brass here, one Con-
nec5icut firm alone supplying two mil
lions of dollars worth of sheet brass.
Other governments have no doubt, been
10
have also been sent abroad in such
quantities that a million has become
the unit of calculation. Three forms
of cartridge are given in an illustra-
ton in Scri6neT, one showing the United
States government cartridge, another
the Peabody Martini cartridge, and the
largest, the Sharps or Remington special
loDg-range cartridge. The government
cartridge contains 20 grains of powder
and hardened bullet, composed of one
part of tin and sixteen parts lead,
weighing 405 grains. The Peabody
Martini has IS grains of powder, and
bullet of the same composition weighing
480 grains. The long-range bullet has
one part of tin to fourteen parts lead,
and weighs $50 grains, the charge of
powder being 100 grains. The advan-
tages of the heavier cartridges are well
shown in the experiences of the Turkish
war already referred to. Whatever
else they may lack, the Turks have GER
tainly shown superior intelligence in
the armament of their troops. The
English, who use the same gun, had,
on a smaller scale, an experience SINH
lar to that of the Turks. The rifles
used by the rife brigade in the cam
paign against the Afghans were sighted
for 1000 yards, and at 2,190 yards were
found effective. The rifles with which
our own army is provided are sighted to
1900 yards. Some of the sights
used by rifemen in long-range shooting
are also shown; the Vernier sight, and
a sight combining a spirit-leVel and
wind gauge. The ordinary Vernier will
register to the thousandth of an inch,
and Vcrniers have been made so as to reg
lister the twenty thousandth of an inch,
these finer sights being used to regulate
the ordinary sights. These very fine
sights are not adapted to military SER
vice, in which the rife is subjected to a
very different usage from that prevailing
al Creedmoor. where the long-range
rifeman is able to give his weapon all
the care that a musician would take of
his precious Stradivarius violin or his
Iourte bow.