The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1893-10-19
MODERN GUNNERY.

At the rate the science OK gunnery
is progressing nations will presently
fight each other with pin heads. An
order from the navy department dl-
reefs that the new magazine gun for
the navy shall throw prOjectile OF
.234 caliber Long after the close OF
our war our army and navy carried
weapon with bore Of 40. The guns
Of the European armies were about
the same caliber. 1t was France
which discovered that efficiency was
in inverse ratio to the caliber, and
armed her forces with piece OF $50
bore. England improved upon this
by adopting q caliber Of ,303, ana the
famous Mapser gun, invented IN Bel
GUM, went still further with callber
of 301. Then the United States still
further advanced to a caliber Of 800:
Italian gamers, working on the same
lines. devised a piece with caliber
one Of 275. Now we have cut under
them all with navy magazine gun
with bore OF .234.
The object Of reducing the callber
is to secure greater initial velocity
and greater range and penetration.
1t also enables the soldier to carry
more rounds Of ammunition on his
person. The weight of bullet of
$50 caliber is 162 grains as against
220 grains for bullet OF 80 callber,
so that one fourth more cartridges
can be carried pr man. The smaller
the bullet, within given limits, the
greater the range and the larger the
penetrating power. Per contra,
wound made by bullet of 1872 grains
will be less likely to be fatal than one
made by a bullet weighing 22O grain
And again, on the other side, bullet
impelled with increased Initial veloc'
ity Will be less Likely TO tear the
tissue and to SKATER the bones than
ballet which IS slower IN It's tralec-
tory.
Nothing short OF actual expert
ment will determine the point at
which the efficiency of projectile is
impaired by its smallness. Every
body remembers the story of the
backwoodsman, who, being shown a
toy pocket pistol, exclaimed, "Ef you
should shoot me with that ere wippon
and I should fad it out, I'd thrash
You within an inch of your life" In
| this case the frontier fighter reckoned
that the charge Of powder would be
in proportion to the projectile. But
| the $50 caliber gun carries a charge
of 176 grains of powder, which is
sufficient to drive the proJectlle with
vast momentum. Such bullet strlk
ing a vital organ like the head or the
heart would produce death as quickly
rs a MIME ball, but if it struck a
fieshy part it would pass through
without necessary fatal conse-
quences, and its rapid flight would
tear the wound and prevent death
from loss of blood.
The object of man being TO des'
troy hostile armies as rapidly "a pos
sible, the more destructive military
weapons are made the shorter will
wars become But to non ili5ary
observer it seems that this object is
more likely to be attained, at the
present stage Of the science, by be
slowing attention on accuracy IN
firing than by alterations in the size
of the projectiles. In battle 1t takes
a dozen or a score of shots to kill o,
wound man. Soldiers grow nerv
GUS when the ping OF the bullet
sounds round their ears. They dis
charge their piece withleep4t Gamer
orally shoot over the enemy'e
head, or strike the earth before
reaching him. Gunners who have
compared the enemy's list of killed
and wounded with the return of car
tridges fired are amazed at the dis
proportion of the two. Heavy artil
lery is becoming more and more a
matter of exact science. Modern big
guns are aimed by mathematical cal
culations-the eye cuts a secondary
figure in the business; but the small
arm is still brought to the shoulder
the soldiers eye runs along the sight
and the trigger is pulled when the
supporting arm is webbing under
the weight of the piece. Here il
would seem is the opening for pro