Smyrna times., 1889-10-09
RIFLES OF THE FUTURE.
EUROPEAN COUNTRIES ALL ENGAGED
IN REDUCING THE CALDER.

The Advantages of a smaller Sized Bull
let-Germany's BIauser and the French
LebeI-Austria's New Repeater-Other
Well Known Systems.
Two features in infantry rifles are now
absorbing attention in all parts of the
world, the caliber and the repeating
apparatus. France, Germany, Austria,
England, Holland and Italy are all en-
gagged in reducing the caliber, and here in
our own country Gen. Benet says, in re-
cent report, that ''the question OF re-
duced caliber for smaA arms is now under
consideration by the department"-a
statement which speaks volumes. With
a smaller caliber are Joined a steel cased
bullet and a compressed powder, or
else far more powerful powder, which
gives greater range and penetration,
while many additional cartridges of the
the smaller size can obviously be carried
by the soldier This last advantage is the
more important, since the tendency to
fire too rapidly is increased by the repeat
ing arms.
Germany, in order to supply her army
with magazine guns ahead of France,
kept her factories at Erfurth, Spandau
and Dantzic working day and night; and
now that she has completed the arming OF
her troops at large cost, she is to begin all
over again with a new small bore rifle,
because the French have small bore.
The present German repeating arm, which
may do for the reserve and militia, IS the
| Mauser of sixteen years ago, refurnished
| with q magazine of eight cartridges,
| pushed by a spring into the barrel Col
| ArbuthnOt, superintendent of the Enfield
osrf ha
| has seen. 1t is certainly both heavy and
| i'll balanced, although it has the advan-
! tage that q simple movement turns it
to q single loader, and it requires no new
manual of drill But it is doomed before
j it has been really used, because a better
! gun is found in France The caliber of
| the new German rifle is to be eight milli-
meters, which is only .315 inch, while
that of the Mauser is eleven millimeters,
Or .439 inch.
THE LEBEL RIFLE.
The Lebel rifle, adopted by France, is
of only 1907 inch caliber, and carries
eight cartridges in a magazine under the
barrel It's sharp pointed steel bullet,
about the size of a pea, driven at Won
derful velocity by new smokeless pow
der, has great range and accuracy. The
soldier can carry nearly twice as many Of
it's small cartridges as of the old style.
The trajectory is almost fiat for ranges
customary, with consequent gain in
precision; the recoil is scarcely perceptt-
Bile, and even the noise of the report is
trihing. The French Pralon rifle is an
other remarkable small bore, Of .315
caliber.
Italy has small caliber rifle under con
sideratiOn in the invention of Capt Freddi.
1t is of 1925 inch bore, and elects the empty
cartridge, opens the chamber and cocks
the piece The Pieri is of about the same
bore, but of n greater muzzle velocity
this gun and the Lebel and the Heblei
being the most remarkable of the recent
inventions in that respect. The Heblel
is very light, and is of only 1886 incl
caliber.
The Schulhof repeater, the invention o
an Austrian, has been tried with mucl
thOrOughness in England. 1t takes tel
cartridges, introduced from a cardboard
, box, and can also be used as a singh
loader 1t would cost less than the Eng
} lish Martini-Henry. But England, out o
} | the large number of magazine guns opel
to her, is trying by preference the i'm
Z ! proved Lee and the Lee-BurtOn. Tn
Lee, so favOrably known in the Unitet
: States, has a detachable magazine, ant
this is preferred by some experts; but tn
British apparently decide in favor of hav
D ing the hopper fixed, lest the movable on
s should be dropped in the heat of action
r They follow the movement for smal
h calibers by fixing ON a 81 bore, whateve
q the selection of the magazine rifle system
;. The large charge of compressed pOwde
and long bullet will secure high velocity
5 flat trajectory and accuracy of shooting
o Great Britain has had an experience sOm'
o thing like Germany's, since she had jus
introduced the new Enfeld-Martini a
- caliber as an improvement on her Martin
Henry, which has a As bore, like OF
Springfield. Over 100000 have been con
pleted, with new sword bayOnets, but Il
small caliber will supersede them.
y AIrsTRIAls REPF ATER