The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1882-08-27
MACHINE GUNS.
Final Experiments which Have Been
Made In England.


Capt. Codrington and the gunnery staff of
Her Maiesty's ship Excellent were recently occupied
with final experiments connected with machine guns
aud more especially with view Of testing the efficacy
OF several naval carriages and mounngs proposed for
machine guns. The trials were held on board the
Excellent and also upon Whale Island. In Portsmouth
iiarbor A new mounting was tried for the Nor
uenfelt 2-ponnder gun Of ~ inch Calibfe as the
mounting previously adopted had been found Hight
to secure the desired accuracy. The new mounting
ascertaIned to he eminently satisfactory as will
be seen from the results of the irng. Ten shells fred
for accuracy with deliberate aim between each shot
gave, at 300 yards range, mean deviation from the
ten shots hit the bull seye while the favorable
OF tho other three hits was only three Inches below
the bulls-cye. The gun was then fired for n minute
FOR accuracy, combined with rapidity. Witha COM
paratiyely slow aim twelve shots only were dis.
charged during the time, hut of these four were
burs-eyes and eight inners, the mean deviation be-
Ing Inches. The next trial to fire at 800 yards
range Tor couple OF minutes against two targets,
100 feet apart, and at different levels changing the
aim from target to the other between each shot
Twenty four rounds were fired In the two minutes.
one missed tho target IN consequence OF Its being
fired before the gun laid OF lie ~ hits bulls
eyes inners and magplcs scored the
right target, and bull s.eyes nners, and mag
cutters. The new mounting was thus proved TO do
perfect Justice 10 tue gun which at previous ofcia
trials as from time to tilhe reported In the Times
has given great satisfaction, with Its high Initial
velocity OF $40 feet per second II has penetrated
~ Inch steel plate or ~ Inches of iron at 300
yards, and 1t has fired many rs 20 shots In one
minute without deliberate aiming. The weight of
the gun is three eight and II has been tried
Win solid steel projectiles, as well as chilled and
common shells.
new system OF bulwark carriages was aTterward
tested at the request OF Mr. NOrenfelt, who had set
down three separate naval bulwark carriages suitable
Tor rifle cnllbro machine guns. These consisted OF
carriage for the heavier guns, such as tho Gardner
weighing respectfully - hundred weight and nun
dred -wolght carriage for medium weight macbiue
guns, such as the Gardner 2barreed aud the SOrlcn
felt 5-barrcled guns each Weighing about hundred
weight; and bulwark carriage for eight machine
guns, such rs the Gardner barrelcd and the Norlcn-
felt 3-barreed, each OF which weighs half hundred
weight, These buwark mountinEs were made tho
same lines MS the carriage used by the Navy for tho
Nordenielt Inch gun with screw motion, by means
OF band wheels for eevating as well as traversing,
The 10 barrel NOrienfclt gun on tho heavier mount.
Ing when firing At 800 yards, 10 rounds from bar
mean deviation Of az inches. OF 100 rounds fired
RAPIDLY SO hit within quadrangle by feet.
The hve-Oarre Nordenfelt gun. fixed on the medium
weight mounting gave at 900 yards So Inches
mean deviation for 10 shots fired without adjustment
of aim and Of 80 fired rapidly - shots fell within
manner On the light mounting the three barrel Nor
denfelt gave mean deviation OF inches out OF 10
shots, while 2s prOIeces out OF 80 fired hit within
quadrangle OF by feet, of tho hits being bulls
eyes.
The three representative mountugs were next tested
for strength and stability The lO-barTol NOTdenfot
gun Aired 3 600 rounds In minutes seconds; the D.
barrel fred l. 600 rounds IN minute II seconds, aud
the 3-barre gun fired 800 rounds In IA minutes.
After this very test the carriages found to
have lost none Of their sicadiness and Tgdty whio
inc guns, ms wen AS their carriages, worked ut the
end without more oxertion than at the beginning,
The guns had neither been cleaned after the accuracy
trials nor cleaned or oiled during the rapid firing
The 10 barrel gun had one mlsnre out Of o. 900, and
the other guns had five msfres out OF l. 800 rounds
The feeding and extraction Of all the guns worked
without u hitch on lamb OF any kind, aud the same
man fred the whole Of the T. 800 rounds without DIM
Guilty. The whole Of the guns used the old SER
vice dating cartridges used Mt ShOebnryness
In 1881 before the cartridge rims were thlckencd to
suit this Gardner guns.
In order to test tho convenience Of the new carriages
for following moving objects tho guns were fred ut
alternate targets, 100 feet apart changing target bO-
tween each discharge, the gun being In each instance
laid 49, of the targets and 100 below the level Of the
targets The time Of laying the guns tho first tar
got was counted within the haf-mlnute allowed for
each gun. The lO-harrel gun on the heavier mount
rel II volloys, aud the S'barrel " yollcys In the
half-minute.
The 6-baTrel gun fred from n special masthead
mounting provided, In addition To the three mount
lngs previously used. one hundred rounds were fired
In 10 seconds, without deliberate aiming at 400
yards, 80 shots hitting target ~ by O feet. ono
hundred rounds were fired In ~ seconds, with dellb.
crate aiming between each yolley, when 81 shots hit
tho target, The l-barrol gun, Weighing 10 pounds
was fired from light portable deck carriage with tho
gun only feet above the deck. The first 80 rounds
were hred In II y seconds and the second 30 rounds
In 10 secOnds-eual 10 rapldly OF FIRE OF 1850 rounds
Gatlng CATHOLICISM all fired without any hitch
thus showing that Mr. NOrdenfelt has entirely over
come the disadvantages In feeding aud extracting nj
he cartridges which were remarked upon by the COM
mlee OF machine guns In 1850 and 1851 at ShOebury-
ness.