The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-01-13

suit of the exceptionally strong rifing
and the omissions Of the wind guage of
the rear sight. 1t is claimed that the
WIND guage would never be used in the
excitement of battle, and this new gun
IS pre-emlnently a battle weapon. Ow-
ing to its very low trajectory, the whole
space between the firing point and the
object aimed at, may be considered the
Zcne of fire.
In considering the Krag-Jorgensen rife
the board of officers convened by the war
department unanimously arrived at the
conclusion that an arm showing itself to
be an efhcient single-lOader. a rapid mag
azlne ARM holding meanwhile that mag
aZIne in reserve with q. cutoff, plainly
indicating to the officers which class of
IRE is being delivered, was the most suit
able for our military service" As all
men have more or less individuality. it
would probably have been a. difficult task
for the board to have attempted to r.
duce to writing the reasons for this con-
cluSiOn: but if they had done so il might
have aided in settling the much-disputed
question as to whether the new arm
! should be a. repeater or a cutoff gun.
Some officers favor the repeater while
others argue for the cutoff gun, and
there is much that can be said in favor
of either system; but whether THE rifle
should be simply a repeater or whether
ft should have a magazine with a cut
off is a question that can only be decid-
ed after long and constant use of tine
weapon by the soldier in the field. The
principal feature i'm favor of the cutoff
gun seems to be that, by having the SOL
dier make d separate and distinct motion
in order to bring the magazine into play,
the officer is thereby enabled to tell at
all times whether or not the magazine
is being used. This theory, 50 plausible
and 50 essential to the control of the
fire lacks but a single requisite to &C
cepstaRpe, and that is truth.
/ In running a. company in line, as Skin
! ntshers, ait target practice, with the men
ait one pace interval, it is a we'll eStab-
Nshed fact that the officer commanding
cannot tell whether all the men fire ex-
actly two shots or not. Even if he give
his whole attention to the firing. the
most THAT one officer can do is to watch
five or six men on either side of his inn
mediate front. Some men of the COM
pany may fire from three to four rounds
in the thirty seconds allowed, and very
few officers can detect them. If this be
true at target practice, where there is
no danger, and when the officer com
nlanding the firing line has all his wits
about him, with nothing to distract his
attention, and with all his powers of OBJ
serVation fixed upon the line of men be
fore him, he strains his eyes TO catch
the culprlt who dareS to fire more than
the regulation number of rounds, but
cannot do it; if this be true, 1T cannot
the battlefield, SURROUNDED bv death and
destruction Watching the enemy, and di-
recting his men, whether the magazine
of each rifle is turned off or not.
The bolt system Of breeeh closure
seems to possess many admirable fea-
lures over the swinging block. The rCta-
ting action of the bolt for both 1oading
and extracting is superior to the lever
action of the swinging b1'eech block OF
the Springfield rife. Those who nave
fired reloaded ammunition from tht
Springfield have doubtless observed tint
want of extracting power when the car
fridge mas for some reason stuck in Tx
chamber, and the li7ibilfy OF bTe2 lzing. Hnt
extractor and more especl2Hiy III tneF'
IS any grit or dirt uDon the cartr11 Is
when 1T is placed in the chamber of til'
rife, beca use the discharge OF the car
fridge forces the Shell against the side:
of the chamber. and the particles or gri
partially sinking into the metal tends *
act as a binding cement.
Some people think that masazint
rifle without cutoff necessjtetes tha
The ammunition be packed in clips, blu
tlhis is unnecessary and no doubt IN
-Jorsenson without cutoff wouI
be very satisfactory. The machine coul
always be kept full of cartridges, for a
soon as the soldier Tired one round n
could replace it with another and in thi
: for an emergency without any extra mo
t ton Ordinarily the fire of adyancin
troops will be slow: that Is. net NOR
q than one or two rounds Per minute
; but whenever the enemy exposes larg
7 groups or other close formations. even q
? long ranges. the rapid fire eff the mas
aZine rifle would he brought to bear VI
} on them so as to compel these groups I
: display or seek shelter behind som
friendly crest. IN these cases probaibl
not more than four or five rounds will 3
fired and then the soldiers firing vii
: have plenty of time to refill the maya
: zine.
, The value OF a magazine rife. how
: ever. does not depend entirely upon IN
) rapidlty with which it may be loade
: and fired, for, after a certain limit M
4 been reached what is gained in rapld'5t
e is lost in accuracy of fire by the soldis
t not having sufficient time to aim at an
s definite object. The number of men pt
t out of action is the real fa6tOr that d
: stroys both discipline and strength, an