Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-08-11

WAsuixarox, Aug. lo.--Secresary Her
bets appointment Of . board 70 couvens At
Newport for determining the most suitAhle
eaihre for = navy ride does nos necsseaSi-
" imply . rejection Of the krasJorgsnsen
magazine gun which the army has adop-
ted.
On the contrary. unless there are deer
sive objections TO - doing, 4 10 considsred
desirable that the two eefvicee should have
the same smali arm. In . report Of The
naval bureau Of ordnance ON the
sabject, i, WAS pointed out that The
navy had not taken steps 10 secure
magazine rife Of its own ~ Il ves
deemed best to await the resuls Of the in
vessiga,ions then carried on by the army.
II il 10 evident that - the two services may
b. called upon TO cooperate, BY having the
came arms and ammunition either can lend
needed supplies to the other. The case 10
different from that of heavy ordnance. IN
which there are exigencies prescribed BY
sea service that do not exist in port. In
land Notifications there may be made NO
difficulty. for example, - to the length Of
the gun. whereas ON shipboard the sise Of
the turret or barhet,e may limit the length.
On ships. again. only certain
weight Of battery can Dc Al
lowed for given displacc-
men,, and We find the army is-inch gun.
for example, heavier than the navy gun OF
the same calibre. There are, indeed, dis
tinct gun factories, one for the army at
watervieit and the other for the navy At
Washington. But In smAil arms uniformity
has its advantages without drawbacks.
On the othe. hand. IL the two services do
not agree a. to what the best arm 10, uni
formi,y may be oyer-ridden. Thus. the
French navy for years used the kropats-
chek, a magazine rifle, while the French
army did not adopt it. The military author
tiles continued their search for suitable
repeating rife for the troOps, although
the Kropa,schek had been employed In
actual service during the Tunis opera
tions of 1883 and in the AMMAN cam.
psign of the following year. II hAppens In
our own case that an American rife 10 de-
sired by the navy, IL one can be found that
Is equal to the krag gun. Hence, hope
hxs been revived among American Inventors
by the action of the navy department, for
the reason that the appointment of a board
on magssin rifles will practically allow
them one more trial
The naval board consists Of Commander
Converse, Prof. Alger. and Ensign lheheu-
bach of the navy, and Capt. Reid OF the
marine corps. The fret question before II,
m WAS the case with the army ordnance
authorities, will be the determination OF
the proper calibre. The cahbre selected
by the army, long before the tests
of the different orders, was 80. This was
going nearly, but not quite, down TO the
minimum under the new systems. Thus
'he beisnah fane hss ~, ,s.,' s ,.' a,.,,;sn
The nefman oil ue 'e.' 81, $500, 90, Ia.
ana tne pshsn Or w ~ .Uh.aa - eos
useu 10 oS".e''"s " -. ..,..n. RS
~hiie Tue neh"I y, 49,
caiiofe o, on, , .,.
The cahofe OF tue mr.
to he about fign'' anu ,he ~ ..,',., aeJ
UNIFORM amin"hiuon Noa'" .pp' ,r..
10 warrant It's aaoPuon III u'e
real question IL a. 10 Tue mAks", ~.
to be selected. In he iePors nAoe ~ Wv
army board on the ~ anetsW "'us,
lean guns tried SPr'"sue" '
year, every one was pronounce" "se
cidedly imperfect. Inc fesn" ""
not suggest comparison between "a.
cellent American inventions ana tue N,ak
gun, which was considered sun oe.'e'' o"'
the former were evidently Regarded ~ IN
adequate, independently OF 'he iaus''
Against every one OF the ~ was written tns
verdict, "unsuited to the military service.
IL We look Al tne ae'a'', oi .ne iep
each case. we hnd many anu in'Po's", w
jections specified. 1hus the pr'ecno'oeA
in the Spencer-Lee 10 SAID 10 De insu"'ca"t
~ supported. and the method OF oPetauo"
awkward and difficult. In the Lee mo"e''
(2s93), the direct motion OF the oot ae-
clared to be "a serious defee'' Ahu ."e
method of locking defecnve ana IN
secure. Another grave defect 10 saM
to be that il is necessary ~hen using
the gun as single loader WIN mssA~ne
empty. to insert the cartridges WIN '''
fingers well into the chamber. Inc u"
chanism Is also pronounced 10 Dc oo"p"
Gated. difficult TO dismount ana as'eno.s'
and of insufficient strength ID some pa'u
In the Savage gun serious de'e,' M
to be that the Dol. Is moved py 'ons ',e'
lying below the sock anu oeh,n' ."s
ceiver, while excessive io,ee ~ '.Yueu W
operate the meehnnism' vi uie 'ou'
upon the Dufa system u sa'a u"s ~ ~
conform TO some OF VI. ~ , ..,.saa,.
tons, ana yer no ie"e. ,""p ,,,,,,on 90
:" .he -, s - 40, he ,ecap;,ul,ted. the
these, which need no. oe .spau. re.Ap ~;,,on,
guns were arfAnseu lo' 49, nsw .a,y;cs
fngea means ~ne'e asnr a.. hc.5. are
ea<tr'daes OF our army
snnsed; ...o,,;n, IN the rc-
ahe bahe system, -. .,.n1.,,
port, Violates nu ;n ,ha ,wn ,uns sub.
eohdhaons' ,n 49,, .,,,;as. n.ck.,
mttea- fof eas"Pn, P,,;a, Wv, na,,;nn ~ I'M
besides oe'ns mn @ sam.;a.,ed a Jsfcct. h
maem's' % Nn,e" y ...,d ,o cs,,v
sa'd 70 ee puiky A"a ,sa p,..ol,.Iiv
Ihe 'hfee guns nas .ns % snss1 ,ecsivs,
more maA'@3'ne am W. ~. y, n. ...vL
| and bolt nechahis" A'e s. ~ v,,,,.
| ward to sosh ana ope ps's.,.. oo,.,,uc.
,a5 1,og The affections TO thu
| .y. .,e,n arc then n n.Jtc1 by the report IN De