Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1888-06-29

Capt 8. A. Day Discourses on the
POSI- bilities OF the Modern Wenp-


on.
At the meeting Of the polytechnic
section of the American Institute
Thursday evening paper on the rifle
was read by Capt. S. A. Day. u. S. A..
expert in such matters for the Govern
ment The lecturer stated that gun
barrels were first longitudinally groov-
ell to prevent rotation OF the bullet.
the grooves being without twist !"
About two hundred years ago. at tri-
al OF skill in Workmanship, one gun.
with which good scores had been made,
was examined and found to have a
twist in its growing. 1t was regroov-
1 ed without twist and was found to be
! spoiled for straight shooting. 1t was
! then discovered that twist in the
groove Strengthened the shooting. but
was for long time errone ously sup
posed that this was because the ball
bored its way towards the mark. The
reason why rifle ball shoots straight
is ILLUSTRATED the lecturer explained.
by the ordinary spinning-top, which
You cannot balance on its peg unless
ii is spinning fast. When it Stacks up
so that gray ty eXerts its influence the
top rolls over on its side on The ground.
So with the rifle ball; so long as the
rotation keeps up it tends to go
straight; when this Stacks the ball rolls
on the air as the top does on the
ground. "Ihe only reason for rifle
bullet dev ating from its course said
Capt. Day, "is that some other force is
started up in the mass or encountered
in its passage. II tho resistance is
equal on all dies there will be no devil
alton. This can be true only in VERT
cal shooting.
'But," continued the lecturer, ''if
we impart to n spherical projectile a
motion from left to right in horizon
al pl ne, firing horizontally, by friction
on its leaving the barrel or otherwise
n its flight the right side will travel
forward constantly making and adding
to the resistance on that side. while the
reverse is the case on the opposite side,
and the projectile thereby deviates to
the right in proportion to the rapidity
of its rotation"
Capt Day then referred to what he
termed "the miraculous possibilities
of the rifle" ms exempllied in the shoot
ne of DR.. Carver and Buffalo Bill"
II have eXpla ned how rifle shoots
around a corner" said he; Il will now
show how DR.. Carver sees around q
corner. The trick. or feat; consists in
placing an ordinary postal card or let
ter over the muzzle of the rifle so as to
obscure the sights. the end of the bar
rel and the mark. and then aiming al
and II tt nc the mark just rs though the
| card were transparent glass or were
not there. 1t is done in this way: in
stead of shutting one eve and ranging
the mark and the muzzle sight with
the other both eyes are kept open.
The left eve sights past the edge of the
card and sees the mark, while the ght
eve ranges with the left, and the two.
establishing commun cation with each
other through the optic nerve and
ganglion. give compound vision.
which in effect amounts to the marks
man seeing through the card. 1t has
often been supposed that Carver and
Buffalo Bill shoot coins. balls, &c.
with shot instead of with rifle balls.
but have seen Cody thus shoot cons
W tn a rifle he had never seen before,
rs fast as thew could be tossed up"
The various makes of rifles were pass
ed in review. and when the lecturer
finished the paper was discussed By
Capt. Fosbery. OF the British Army,
Baron Slernberg. President Grimshaw
and others of the section. -Ne,o York
World.