The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-05-23
The Final Tests for the Selection Of
All Effective Repeating
Rifle.
Many Styles Have Been Tried by
the Army Examining
Board.
Vhile All Have Their Good Points. They
Each Have Also Many Counter
balancing Disad v~antakes.

WASHINGTON, May 92.-ls our army 10
exchange it's single-loader for a magazine
euu2 The answer to this question
cannot long be delayed, since dur
ing the coming weeks the board having the
subject under consideration will conduct
its final experiments.
This board, consisting OF four cavalry
and infantry and two ordnance officers, be-
can it's sessions nearly a year and \ half
400. It procured for trial not a few famous
foreign mseszie small arms, including the
Lse-Soeed Mark l of England. the Mann
licher of Australia. the Krsg.Jorgensen OF
denmark, the Mauser Of Belgium. the lin
f,ntrv rifle Of Germany, the kropats-
chek of Portugal, the. Marata of Japan,
and tho Schmidt of Switzerland
American inventors, however, were slow in
coming forward, apparently waiting
TO perfect their devices OF to ace what they
had to compets with. 10 assist them the
ordnance department issued to them At
cost price 80 calibre barrels. such as 1t Ead
manufactured for its " use At spring
field. and also smokeless powder cartridges
made at tho Frankfort arsenal with the
Belgian Wettsren powder. which 1t ha'
inported for the purpose of these expert
ments.
The conclusions arrived at from last
wars tests of the board we're embodied IN
the report OF Gen. Flaglsr that they have
not demonstrated so much excellence IN
th, macazius arms which have been
sdontsd by the foreign nations as WAS OK
pected, and have not shown such perfection
In M one Of them as could warrant
its adoption for our service. 1t Is not ca
that this country can produce a potter
arm. and until it can, or certainly until IT
has been demonstrated that 1t cannon. IL
would be wire to defer q chsnSe from VIC
excellsut slnyle-loader now III service 70
u maCszine system." If this conclusion
seems rather u~npromising, consolation may
n. derived from another passage ID the
same report declaring that as American IN
yentors have produced the best small arms
in the world under the old conaiVlohs, so
,hey will receive every facility from the de-
nnrtment for adapting themselves to the
new conditions.
In fact. among the new guns now to be
tested are two offered by the Lee Arms
company, which they have been specially
preparing for this purpose; " others oy
Dnrst. a native OF California; one by
Can't. A. u. Russell, of the ordnance de-
partmsnt, and one by Wilson, OF Spring
feld. There are also, it is said. two new
German and two new Norwegian guns tor
trial. the latter offered by Capt. hraR, the
inventor of the krag-Jorgensen. ,
What has been settled thus far ls that
the calibre, whether for a slnele-loader or
a repsuter, must come down to 30, which Is
n reduction Of one-third from the familiar
As. II. in addition, a satisfactory maga-
zine system should be offered. with a suit
able smokeless powder, our troops WILL get
4 magazine gun. OF course all must hope
that the outcome OF these Investigations
will be such an arm. :.
With regard to powders, the question IL
still as open as with regard to the guns.
Experiments have been made with the
Maxim. the Nobel, the Du Point, the Walls
rode, the French s N. the Wettsren, and so
on. but it appears that the right one yet
remains to be hit upon. The American
powder of Dr.. Schupphaus of Brooklyn and
Houghton of North Adams, is spoken OF as
promising.
It seems strange, in view of the fact that
20 MANY foreign nations have actually
armed their troops with magazine guns nc
better than those that have already been
tried BY the army board. and in some cases
with those very weapons. that they should
all be pronounced unsatisfactory for us
They are of various patterns, with different
styles of magazines, caIry Ing four or I've,
and in some cases eight or ten, cartridges
inexpensive. But with all their good points
the present board has found counterbalanc
ing disadvantages.
Perhaps in the new batch OF magazine
arms now to be tried will be found ous
that can be- fully commended, or that car
be improved 30 as to command acceptance :,
At all events, the end of the p resent search
approaches. since after the last day of thil
present month no more guns can be Offered
FOR trial.