The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1885-10-29
PROFICIENCY IN RIFLE PRACTICE
Tho United States Army Gun Efficiency
of the IIece-!''Ve Forces.


that he can, after a little practice, hit
an OBJ eCt the 81 of the present mid
range target at 400, 500 and even 6I0
yards with degree of accuracy thst
will positively astonish him. Tho gans
are all right nowadays, ami will shoot
straight enough il they are he'd prop
erly and sighted correctly. 1t is, in niue
cases out of ten, the man behind the
gun who is responsible for the crooked
shooting OF the weapon. Most
warlke nations have ado tied repeating
rifles, or, as they should be more prop
erly called, magazine guns. Ours is the
exception, and ! suppose we can not,
therefore, be clasSed among the warlike
nations of the earth. Other cOuntT les
seem to give but little attention to the
individual, merely striving to get the
finest and most destructive ri les manu-
factured, only to place them il. the
hands of the stupidcst Of men. Now
with our own little army, although we
have no magazine gun regularly
adopted, yet 80 thoroughly drilled Is
the soldier in the harding of his piece
that it tecomos a most destructive
weapon in his hands, even though
single loader, and do not believe any
army OF the size in the world. howe er
armed, could stand up before US at any
reasonable range for any length of
time.
The United States army gun is the
Spring ld military ri e, caliber IS, and
has the ord nary front and rear plain
open sights. which ena'le it 10 stand
the toughest kind of usage on the front
Ter, and yet be always ready for in
stant service. 1t would be mistake to
put other than plain open sights on a
ser ,ice rifle, as the wear and tear of
a tive service would before long knock
any other kind to pieces, and soon rem
der good rifle Gs worthless for shoot
iag puHpos as &n Oh piece of gas pipe.
kcrhaps finer results could he gotten at
/ longer ranges with elegant peep and
globe 81 hts, such p, ale IN common use
at Crtedmore. Walnut hill and other
crack ranges. hut g :. '.hts for the re-
cruit aud soldier should be something
that be could not easily disarrange even
if he tried to 10 SO; aud tie Springfield
rifle is now LleSsed with Just such sight
ing attachments.
# civilians or any others interested
in tie subject could Re present at any
of the government rLs.e-rangeS trnd
there is a target range at every fort,
arsenal, and garrison in the country,
lie could thea see fer himself officers
an sol lieTS alike, almost an day dur
ing the target season, knocking out
/ bull 8 ewes at 500, hU', or 1000 yards,
and at oven greater distances, with de-
gree of accuracy positively astonishing.
The caliber anu ril!ing OF a gun have
great deal tO do with tie efficiency of
the piece. heretofore Tire inclination
has been towards large calibcrs. In
d-ed, some foreign governments us8 0.
calibers ROW, and We believe in one in
st nee Il 5:.-calib9r is the standard
adopted by one power. some of our
own state N lltia are at the present day
armed with ,0-calit er SpTinSficids and
kelningtOns. These bCrts are much too
large. and the trel ondous rccoil and
Shock from such g Giscaarse are apt to
make even the steadioSt Of markSmen
finch. From long pertinent it has
been found mistake to Use heavy cal
/ i ers. lorty-tye is the standard Of
/ the regular army, and the leading eX
perts claim that o;en Is is much too
large, and that better results are got
ten with small boros.
The ira ,ectory has also great deal
to do with the e,Icirncy of rifle. The
/ gun having the --LATEST ira ectOry will
/ not only shoot the closest, but will also
make better grouping OF shots Hence
/ it is that al gunners vie with each other
/ in producing weapon that Will send
bal! from the muzzie to the object fired
at in as straight line as possible. A
/ bull, fired from gun with low ira
jectory will Oftener reach the desired
| spot than one fred from a gun having
higher trajectory.
The ira ectory Is the path of the bull
let through the air A bullet fred from
! a rifle is acted upon by five different
| forces. I. The projectile force. ,.
The resistance of the air Z. The force
/ Of gravity 4. The resistance of the
sides of the grooves. 5. The friction
against the surface of the bore. \
! variation in the intensity of either of
1 these forces will effect a corresponding
/ change in the path described by the
bullet. Geography has also something
/ to do with the ira aiectory, as both alti-
/ tude and tho condition of the atmoS-
phere work a slight variation III ths
elevation.
The above forces, in whatever lati-
! tude, are seldom or never the same at
any two different times, so that two
/ bullets will rarely strike in the Same
Place, even though the piece be held
! perfectly. or pia ed III vice when fired
! The resistance of the air and gravity
are the main forces which affect bull
| let after it passes the maz lie. The
former decreases in proportion as the
speed of the pro ectile lessons, while the
latter acts always alike, no matter at
what rate the lead is flying. Therefore
q ball in flight does not, as is generally
supposed, describe a perfect arc in the
! air, but rather a curve somewhat
| sharper at its ending than in its begin
ming half.
The gun which has the correct length
of tore, the right number Of twists in
the growing, the proper charge OF
powder fer the Length OF the barrel, and
bullet Of a weight in proportion to the
amount of powder behind it, Is apt to
gi the test results. FCualze the five
forces as nearly as possible, and the gun
| approaches nearest perfection. A great
| deal of the poor shooting OF our modern
rifles can be traced directly back to de-
/ fective ammunition.
By defective ammunition | do not
mean poor powder and poor lead, hut
/ the mistake which is made in not having
su eient powder and no more, only
enough to drive bullet of certain
weight through the air true to the mark.
Many cartridges have too much powder
for the weight of the lead, while others
have not sud'cient. Tho present service
cartridge, which is composed of seventy
grains of quick powder and bullet
/ weighing 800 grains, comes nearer 70