Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1888-07-06

capt 6. A. Day Discourses on the
Possibilities OF the Modern Weap-

ossibilities OF the Modern Weap-
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 longtudnally groov-
ed 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
twist in its growing. 1t was regroov-
cd without twist and was found to be
spoiled for straight shooting 1t was
then discovered that a twist in the
groove Strengthened the shooting. but
was for long time CHROME ously sup
posed that this was because the ball
bored its way towards the mark. The
reason why a rifle ball shoots straight
is ILLUSTRATED. the lecturer explained,
by the ordinary spinning-top, which
you cannot balance on its peg unless
it 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 rs the
rotation keeps up it tends to 60
straight; when this Stacks the ball rolls
on the air as the top does on the
ground. The only reason for a rifle
bullet deviating from its course" said
Capt. Day, .is that some other force is
started up in the mass or encountered
in its passage. If the resistance j.
equal on all sides there will be no devil
alton. This can be true only in verti-
cal shooting.
"But," continued the lecturer, III
we impart to a spherical projectile q
motion from left to right in a horizon
a. I'll ne, firing horizontally, by friction
ON its leaving the barrel or otherwise
II 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 rapidly
of its rotation"
Capt Day then referred to what he
termed 1.-THE miraculous possibilities
Of the rifle" as exemplifed in the shoot
ne of Dr. Carver and Buffalo Bill"
Il have explained how q rifle shoots
around corner" said he; Il will now
show how DR.. Carver sees around
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 at
and hitting the mark just rs though the
card were transparent glass or were
not there. II is done in this way: in
stead Of shutting one eye and ranging
The mark and the muzzle sight with
the other both eyes are kept open.
The left eye sights past the edge of the
card and sees the mark, lille the chit
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 car II has
often been supposed that c uver and
Buffalo Bill shoot coins. balls, &c.
with shot instead Of with rifle balls,
but have seen Cody thus sh Dot co ms
tn rifle he had never seen before,
rs fast as they could be tossed NJ"
The various makes OF rifles wer pass
ed IN review, and when the lecturer
finished the paper was discussed by
Capt. Fosbery, of the British A, my.
Baron Sternberg, President Grimsh aw
and others of the section. -Ne,o 70 rL
World