The morning call., 1894-06-01
BIG GUN FIRING.
Heavy Practice at the
Preside.
for Long-Range COMPETE
tions This Morning.

There will be a deal OF heavy cannOnading
and general standing from under out at the
Preside to-day. This is the date set for the
opening OF this years season OF heavy artillery
practice, and during whole month Uncle Sans
biggest kind OF cannon Will be In evidence TO
the extent OF broken windows and shattered
nerves and things. For the past several
months the young men of Colonel Graham's
fortress batteries have been delvng with un-
common eagerness into the mysteries Of heavy
ordnance and range-fndng aud calculations
on trajectory. For several hours every morn
ing red-striped officers have been making thrse
things lucid, and every non-cOmmissiOned sold
Ter In the garrison has had his say in such mat
tiers to his daily squad. With all Of this in
struction 10 theory and with what the men
remember of practice In former years, some
unusually fine target hitting should result. Con
siderable interest always attaches to The prac-
lice OF The Preside batteries because OF the
excellent records they have already made and
the foremost place they occupy among the
heavy-Run marksmen of the army.
The firing to-day and during the month Will
be done with the eight-lnch rifles, eight aud ten
inch mortars and the 15-inch smooth bore
guns. In pursuance of orders recently issued
from the headquarters of the Department OF
California all of the batteries Of the Fifth Uni
ted states Artillery Will participate in the prac-
tlce. The men Will shoot by battery and all
scores Will be gistered TO the credit OF the or
ganization by whose members they may be
the exclusive use of the range on each day. In
the early part of the programme the shooting
Will be done with the eight-nch muZZle-ioadlng
converted rifles, later with the morIaTs, and
then with the big 15-inch smooth bores.
The targets which will b. used are OF tri-
angular shape and are anchored out Ia the
channel at distances of 100 and POO yards
from the firing stations. The target is large
thTee.cOrnered sail. with a black circle show.
ing in tile cent +. 1t is stretched on two up
rights and rests on couple Of logs. AS might
be fancied, The destructive capacity of a we'll
aimed pTojecte Invariably makes away with
sail and logs and everything else about Oc-
cUrrences OF this kind, however, are happily
infrequent. for this thing of firing 100 yards
with great gun and hitting a small target Is
not exactly child's play.
None OF the shells 10 be used will contain
bursting charges, the weight OF the explosive
being supplemented by a liberal packing of
sand IN the cartridge. All of the batteries Will
be required 10 prepare their own ammunition,
take their own observations al the firing point
and generally conduct in detail their own part
lowed three shells with thlrty-ive pounds OF
heXaConal powder for the eight-inch rifles al
the 2700yard range. With the eight inch
mOrtarS hfteen shells are allowed with sufficient
mortar powder for the 1000-yaTd range, and
like am cunt for the target at 1900 yards The
1O-inch mortarS are announced TO bclch forth
the same quantities OF ammunition at both
ranges Ten shells with 100 pounds of man.
moth powder al 100 yards and six shells with
the same amount of powder at the 2700-yard
range Will help along the belching OF the great
15-inch smooth bore pieces. On the whole
there Will be deal of caDnonading.