The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-11-03
NUMBERING GUNS.
SMALL STEEL CANNON OF TIRE
MENDOUS POWER.
Six-Poundcrs Fired Twenty Times a
Minute and Penetrating Five
Iron Plates-Guns Throwing
1000 Projcctiles a Minute.

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that deals with the construction OF the
steel guns that are to be used to arm the
new war ships that Secretary Whitney is
goingto build. incidentally the modern
machine gun, or quick:tiring gun, is
mentioned as ".nurderiug gun" al
though the article is chiefly de. oted to
the method of constructing big brcech-
leaders. A naval officer who talked
about these numbering guns" said:
"Onc has only to stop and think mo-
ment to appreciate the tremendous ad-
vance made in the construction of guns
during the present century. Livery ono
is familiar W tn the fact that q v,ry largo
number of the privatecrs that did their
country such great service in the last war
with England were armed with six-poun-
dcrs- s-cannon that threw a ball of cast
iron weighing six pounds. Th;se guns
were mounted in'broadside, much as the
nine inch guns on the big wooden frlg-
ates that form the greater part OF our
navy now are mounted, and 1t required
about five men to serve them well. They
were fired perhaps once in five minutes.
Although the principal weapon of the
little war ships OF scveuty-f'e years ago,
the six-poundcr is now one OF the little
guns to be used rs the tlint-lock mus
kets were used IN those days, to re-
pel attacks from small boats and pick men
of of exposed parts of an encmy's
ship. This latter service gives them the
name of numbering guns. The SIX
FOUNDER Of 1872 was usually Il brass piece,
and the charge of powder was 50 small
that the balls failed often to penetrate
the thick plank of an encmys ship. 1t
is fact, that. until within forty years,
thick timber in the top sides OF ship
was sufficient protection even against
the cannon balls of larger degree. But
now the quickIiring six-poundcr has be-
come an awful weapon of destruction.
Its barrel is made of steel. Instead of
being fred by touching flaming match
to the priming in the vent of the gun,
as its ancient namcsakc was, it is fired
and loaded as well by the motion of a
lever. In place of the little loose bag
OF powdcr and the round iron ball that
loaded the ancient enc, mctalc car
fridge that is mad up Of powder fulml-
nate and long steel bolt IS used. The
cartridges are placed in a magazine con-
nectcd with the gun, and the motion OF
the lever throws out the empty shell
after the discharge, inserts fresh car
fridge, and fires it. The speed attained
at recent trial of the Nordcnfclt six
FOUNDER at hartford, England, was six
rounds in fourteen seconds. 1t could be
easily and accurately fired twenty times
III minute.
"But the speed attained, important as
it is, is not the only advantage of these
six -pounder Quick-iirlng guns. At the
hartford trial mentioned the gun was
tested to show its power. live iron
pl:tes, each an inch thick, were used
over an appropriate backing of wood to
form target, yet the steel bolts which
this GIN threw with such marvellous
rapidity passed clear through the five
inches of iron plates, the gun being fired
at distance Of sixty yards from the
target. That is the. sort Of weapon
that the thin racing shells called torpedo
boats have got to face. The little
Steamer may fly at speed OF twenty
FIVE miles an hour, but unless she can
get unobserved within a very short dis
tance of the big man of-war she seeks to
destroy the Captains of the top on the
masts, which are ere ted in all ships,
will get the rlnge Of her with the light
ming six Founders, and before she can
travel three times her length will drive
such shower Of steel bolts clear through
hull, b)iler and everything about her
tina! not y soul nor fragment will be
left above water 10 tell whence she cam:
or mark where she went down. Not even
the best of torpedo boats, except
through the accident of fog or in the
smoke of battle between larger ships Gin
hore to reach an enemy to do him hart
"Quick-tiring guns that throw pro, &c
tiles the 81 of rife all arc made in
great variety. The singlc-b barrel Nordcn-
felt of this calibrc weights but fifteen
pounds, and can be fired $50 times n
minute. The next larger size has three
barrels. 1t weighs sixty pounds and can
throw 400 projcctlles minute. This is
just row very popular weapon in the
French, Gcrmun, and Italian armies,
both on account of its effectiveness and
the lightncss in weight. 1t is mounted
on light carriage for field service. On
ship board, however. the five barrel gun
is the smallest size used. arger one :,
havin ten barrc.s. weighing % pounds.
have BEN devised for use in forts as we'll
as on ships, and even twclve-barrel guns
that weigh $50 pounds are becoming
common. The ten-barrcl gun throws
1000 pro. .cctilcs minute, and the other
one Lao Their effective range is a lit.
tie over / 900 yards. One & like this
is warranted to KEEP the open ports of an
encmy's ship clear when within range.
a curious test was made with one of
the ten-Iarrel guns not long ago in India.
Two companies Of wooden soldiers were
set up on the ri &c range. A company of
fifty men, armed with the best modern
rifles, fired at cae of the companies of
wooden targets at dstan c of 1908
yards, while tcn-ba-rcl machine
gun peppered the other company
during the same interval of time.
1t required six men to feed,
aim, and fire the machine gun. An ex-
animation of the targets showed that the
machine gun did as much work as fifty
trained men. But in time of actual bat
tie the trained men. owing to the excite
ment and fatigue incident to the contest,
could fire with the. accuracy nor
speed attained in practice drill at a
mark, while the machines. having neither
nerves nor muscles, would spout death
with unvarying accuracy and speed. 1t
is no longer possible to work Il cannon
on an unprotected de:k. except when