Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1896-10-28
SELF. SHOOTING GUN.
Weapon with Which the Army A..
Navy Ia to Be EouinDea ~

Weapon with Which the Army
Navy Is to Be Equipped.
The navy department at Washington
has just ordered fifty OF the most 70
rIarkable guns in the world. Each =,
them is able to discharge 400 rifle hrl
let's a minute, and continues at tho.
tate until the marksmen wants to sion
More than that, it fires itself. only 70
auiring to be aimed. 1t is the Coli an
tomato gun.
This wonderful gun weighs ONLY
| forty pounds. 1t is a magazine rife
with one barrel, the caliber of which IL
lie same as that of the improved riao
newly adopted by the navy, little less
than quarter of an inch. This means
that the bullet, which is of lead win
a steel jacket, is much less in Diameter
than an ordinary lead pencil. The bul.
let is about an inch long, almost cylin.
arical in shape, tapering somewhat and
rounded at the front end. The gun dis
charges seven of these projectiles each
second, and they leave the muzzle of
the weapon with a velocity of nearly
half a mile a second.
The rapidity of discharge is so trA-
mendous that there seems to be a con.
tinuous stream of bullets flying from
the muzZle of the gun. SO great is
their velocity, however, that there is
actually an interval of 300 feet between
each two. Cartridges are fed to the
weapon automatically by 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 it's own accord as long as the cart
ridges are supplied. In short, the in.
strument is repeating rifle with an in
eXhaustible magazine and a rapidity Of
fire that is almost inconceivable If
uses the same bullets as the new navy
Title, and they are discharged with the
same velocity, but the discharge is an.
tomato, the firing mechanism being
operated by powder gas.
The weapon may be carried comfort.
ably in boot at the side of troon.
cr's horse. Ordinarily. on land. it is
designed to be mounted for action IN
On light tripod. 1t is provided with
pivot, set into a socket on the tripod
or into similar 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 a distance of a
mile might NOW down an entire regi-
nnent within two minutes, so that hard
ly man would be left unwounded.
The Colt gun is sighted ordinarily for
1000 yards, which is little over a
mile, but it is as effective at twice that
distance. However, it is not practic-
able to fire at individuals beyond 1000
yards.
The marksman uses both hands in
aiming the gun, whether it is set on
tripod or on the rail of vessel. 1t re.
spends so readily to adjustment that
he Is able to write his name with bul.
lets upon a good-siZed target, and to
do it with considerable rapidity. If the
weapon is mounted on tripod, he
seats himself on a saddle that looks
like bicycle saddle, attached to the
leg Of the tripod, which projects TO-
ward the rear. The saddle is 50 ad-
justed that his eye is brought directly
in line with the sight of the weapon
Pulling the trigger once, he simply
holds it back as long as he desires the
gun to keep on firing, varying the aim
just as a person directing a garden
hose would do.
The United States army is also going
TO have guns of the Colt type. The war
department has ordered a trial of them.
Guns of this pattern are comparative
~ cheap. They can be made in quanti-
ties for selling price of about $780,
The cartridges cost only $25 per 1000
-2h cents each.-New York Journal.