The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-07-11

The Advantages or the Small Cniibro Ballet
Covered with Nickel Steel.

Covered with Nickel Steel.
WASHINGTON. July 10-The problem OF am
munition for the new magazine gun. which IL
now under manufacture at Springfield for the
army. has required much study.
The aim OF the War Depart ent is to get the
new weapon into the hands OF the troops as
| soon as possible. 1t will be long tmo OF
course, before the magazine rifles can be
turned out as RAPIDLY Mt the armory as the
| present single leaders have been. The latter
were supplied ut tho rate OF 5000 a month
| without extra working force. whereas the
magazine guns may hardly DO turned out one
| third ms fast Mt first. Still. the work, which Is
now under way. tho appropriation being avail
able July ]. will DO pushed vigorously. and the
weapons will be issued Ia one regiment at a
time. so that practice with them may begin
| promptly.
Accordingly it has boon necessary to settle
on the cartridges which shall be issued with
them. or course. the propelling force must DO
smokoless powder But in spite OF the numer-
Gus experiments that have been made with
American compounds OF this character during
the rast two years. 1t has not yet been decided
! to adopt any of them. Hence. until selection
is made. rccourae Will DO had to tho Belgian
Wetteren powder, which Ia the ono employed
in the cartridges used during the tests OF tho
magazine guns. That an American smok elcss
powder will eventually he secured 1t s fnIr to
presume since there arc so many varieties In
use in foreign countries.
As to the bullet. it will undoubtedly be ono
with a covering Of nickel STEEL the experience
OF European nations having established the
superiority OF such projectile In these COM
pound bullets. as they are sometimes called.
the core md the casing are we'll fused. The
ne11etratii0n OF such bullet extra'rdnary
tile. propelled at u high velocity, causes much
Leading Of the grooves OF the rife. whereas
softer metal inside. 1t might be thought that
they , would w"Hr down the riding. but this il
bullets clean and polish the bore 80 that ubrt-
ns;ea are mot con
lubricated bullet. covered with nickel steel,
jaekete and fabricated bullet.
nrojecte. which is Of 30 cnlhre. weighing 2OO
grains. is. with Smok clcss powder, about 2. 900
single loader. with its bullet weighing 800
grains. attained only about l;3r4, feet. Tho
Means at traector It hns beam TONNES ~
fact. that II q soldier fires from prone position
at target 300 Yards away, the bullet rises only
in the are Of light which is perhaps ne-tRird
Of the rise Of the heavy bullet. In other words
destruction wrought IN an enemy endeavoring
to charge over it would be vastly increased by
bullet, with smoi eiess powder. as Compared
with the present large cal hre projectle. even
without reference to the havoc due to the In
creased rapidty of fire with the magazine arm.
As to psnetratton. ii is. OF course. much
creator with tho new bullet. and 1t has further
been found that when u nickel-steel bullet Ia
fired into hard oak timber 1t retains its
shape perfectly as Is evident on cutting it out:
whereas bullet such as Is now used in the
Springfed singl, loader, or q small calibre
bullet with 2 man silver Jacket. will be
battered into an irregular flat mass But
sured for the nickel-stecl projectie ia so o.
vious. it Is regarded as less deadly than the
large bullet. II 1t strikes bone. as OF the leg
or arm. it Is more likely to pass through with
out shattering. On the other hand. the new
bullet would easily go through two men. one
behind the other The greater total ability OF
the new bullet to disable is beyond question.
and the increase Of the danger space would
also make its destruction greater. In the way
Of the experiences Of actual combat we have
the testimony OF Gen. Dodds in Dahomey. that
the troops that used the smokeless powder
cartridges. suffered loss than the. others. as
whereas those that used the old cartridges Of
black powder giving out smoke drew the en-
emy's fire.
Thus far the number Of nickel-steel bullets
ordered by the War Department can scarcely
be regarded rs anything more than for exper-
mental purposes with the new gun. But It Is
now substantially decided what sort of am mu-
milton is to be adopted and as soon as Amer
lean inventors can produce a satisfactory
smokeess powder. and some late tests at
Frankfort arsenal indicate that this will even
tually be done. the foreign product although
admitted to be good. will be dropped.