New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-07-14
TUESDAY,,
july IA, 1885,.

Boyle and Egan. all Of the 18th Regiment with
Private William Crane Of the 18th Regiment.
the expert of the Board. CoITie is one OF the best
marksmen that ever shot ON the Creedmoor
ranges; Dolan spends much OF his time there IN
shooting and studying traJectories. windage ana
the thousand and one details that go to make
up hrst-class riheman- He was one OF the
men who won glory for the United states year
ago in the International rifle contests Boyle
was the ex-champion rifle shot OF the Regular
Army. while Egan is also an ex-soldier ana ex-
pert rifeman. Strange to say. these -FOUR pe'ohs
to the 18th Regiment
Mr. Blake and Dr. Mclean, both gun inventors
were also present at the last trials. so that the
gathering only lacked Messrs. Savage and Betne!
Burton to have a company OF experts on hano
that II would he hard to equal.
RIGOROUS TESTS.
The tests were severe from start finish. The
endurance tests were extremely rigorous ous
not unnecessarily So When 1t Is remembered that
the explosion of a smokeless powder cartridge
develops something like 10000 pounds PRESSURE
some estimate may be made Of the strain when
400 shots were fired without cleaning. the Only
pauses being those for examination at the enc
Of each fifty rounds. Excessive cartridges con.
tanning forty grains Of nitro-powder were USED,
as we'll az with defective primers, which
allowed the gas to blow back into the mechan-
ISM but without any serious result. except In
the Burton and Putnam guns.
While the Board did its duty thoroughly
and conscientously It brought out two facts
that are decidedly unpleasant The first Is. the
experts say. that the much-vaunted krag-Jor-
gensen gun is an inferior arm The board asked
the United States authorities at Governors ISL
and to send over one as test. and Sergeant
Ferguson of the Regular Army, was detailed to
show the weapon. All the other eApcrs SHOT
prone. but Ferguson assumed the recumbent To-
eft Ia
crossed knees. the left hand grasping the butt
beside his right ear and the sling wrapped
around his right leg to take up the "ecpi. AT the
] 1000 yards distance the gun made poor show
ing: Ferguson experienced the same difficulty
in getting on the target that the others dl'i. but
when they got on they held the target, While he
was utterly unable to do $50. The Commission
was panied and disappointed by the Jesuit and
excused him from any further trials
The Lee gun, which will be issued to the navy
in October did not prove wonderful success.
1t is owned by the Winchester Company. fact
that led to a good deal of misrepresentation. a.
the United States Government rarely adopts
anything without buying all rights 10 the pat
ent in question. In this case 1t al pears to have
been different. Mr. Lee the inventor. IL an
American who Is said to live much In England.
He sold his invention to the Winchester peo-
pie, who contracted to supply 1000 OF these
arms to the United States for the naval service.
The gun shown before the State board was
not introduced at the earlier tests both II and
the Winchester No. being evidently after
Thoughts forced by the high class OF guns placed
in competition with the Winchester No. l. The
Lee gun in the State contest is q regular 3O-cali
bre United States army gun, while those being
manufactured for the navy are much smale:
in the bore. being only 26-calibre. II Is
straight pu-bolt gun, operated by crank, OF
lever on the right side and behind the trigger
guard. The bolt in position forms an OBJ
fuse angle with the axis Of the barrel and has
q clumsy appearance. In the sand test II took
in large quantities. more so than any other gun
shown. and the Commission was far from BEING
impressed with the new weapon selected to arm
the gallant tars.
TT isn't in IT," the sententious verdict
of one member Of the Commission.
THE ARMY AND NAVY RIFLES.
II Is generally believed that the verdict Of the
State Commission, no matter how carefully It
may be worded. will contain some reflection on
the Army board that adopted the Krag-Jorgen-
sen rifle and the Navy board that selected the
Lee rifle for the sailors Experts think that II Is
a mistake to use one gun for the Army and an
other, Of different calibre. for the Navy. Tho
Of the Lee gun cannot be used In the
Army rifle and vice versa To serve out oar
tridges wrongly would mean utter disaster In tho
present day, when only metallic shells. filled
with high explosives, used
The Tribune long ago showed the Importance
the evil. Speaking of this, Colonel Shaw chair
man Of the Commission. said to Tribune re-
porter:
II am in favor of annual interstate rife con-
tests to determine the best class of arms Tho
time will come when they will be needed Let
each State select it's own choice of a weapon;