Omaha daily bee., 1896-11-21
GREAT sELF-FIRING GUN.
II Can Discharge Four Hundred Rifle
balls a. Minute.


Balls Minute.
The Navy department at Washington has
lust ordered fifty of the most remarkable
guns in the world. Each of them is able
to discharge 400 rife bullets a minute, and
continues at that rate until the marksman
wants to stop. More than that, it fires itself
only requiring to be aimed. 1t is the Colt
automatic gun.
This wonderful gun weighs only forty
pounds says the New York Journal. 1t is
a magazine rife, with one barrel, the cali
Der of which is the same as that of the
improved rifle newly adopted by the navy,
a little less than quarter or an inch. This
means that the bullet, which Is of lead,
with steel jacket, is much less in diameter
than an ordinary lead pencil. The bullet
is about an inch long, almost cylindrical In
shape, tapering somewhat and rounded at
the front end. The gun discharges seven
of these projectiles each second, and they
leave the muZzle of the weapon with We
locity of nearly half a mile a second.
The rapidity of discharge is so tremen-
dous that there seems to be continuous
stream of bullets flying from the muzzle
of the gun. So great Is their velocity,
however, that there is actually an in
terval of 300 feet between each two Car
tridges are fed to the weapon automatically
by the feed belts, which are coiled in boxes
and readily attachable to the breech. The
boxes hold from 100 to 500 cartridges. All
the marksman has to do IS to pull the
trigger once and the gun goes on firing
of its own accord as long as the cartridges
are supplied. In short, the instrument Is
a repeating rifle with an ineXhaustible
magazine and rapidity of fire that Is
almost inconceivable. 1t uses the same
bullet as the new navy rife, and they are
discharged with the same velocity Dut
the discharge is automatic. the firing mec-
The weapon may be carried comfortably
in a "boot" at the side of a troopers
horse Ordinarily, on land, 1t Is designed
to be mounted for action upon light
trlpod. 1t is provided with a pivot, set
into a socket on the tripod or into socket
ON the rail of a vessel. All the ships OF
the navy will soon be provided with these
guns. One OF these weapons at distance
OF a mile might NOW down an entire regl-
ment within two minutes, so that hardly
a man would be left unwounded. The Colt
gun Is sighted ordinarily for 1000 yards,
which is a little over a mile, but II Is as
effective at twice that distance. However
II Is not practicable 10 nre at lhulNiuuais
beyond 1000 yards.
The marksman uses both hands In aim
ing the gun whether 1t is set on tripod
or on the rail of vessel, IL responds so
readily to adjustment that he Is able to
write his name with bullets upon good
sized target and to do 1t with considerable
rapdity II the weapon Is mounted on
tripod, he seats himself on a saddle that
looks like a bicycle saddle, attached to the
leg OF the tripod, which projects toward
the rear. The saddle is so adjusted that
his eye Is brought directly in line with the
sight OF the weapon. Pulling the trigger
once. he simply holds 1t back as long as
he desires the gun to keep on firing. varying
the aim just us a person directing a gar
den hose would do.
The United States army is also going to
have guns OF the Colt type. Tho War
department has ordered a trial OF them.
Guns OF this pattern are comparatively
cheap. They can be made In quantities
for selling price of about $500. The
cost only $25 per 1,O0O-2h cents
an