The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-04-09
THE KRAG-JoRGENsEN RIFLES.
Soldiers In Regular Army View Them
with Distrust.

In event of war being declared against
Spain Indianapolis, according to the military
authorities representing the regular army
now stationed in this city, will figure some
what in the way of providing arms for the
host which will be raised to break the pride
of the Dons.
The arsenal, which is ordinarily a sleepy
enough looking institution, is we'll stocked
with arms and ordnance. To be sure the
material is not of the latest pattern, but the
soldiers unite in vouching for it's effective
ness. To reporter yesterday one of the
post officers said it would be found, IL
spite of the extraordinary efforts OF the
government to turn out large numbers o..
the new Krag-Jorgensen rifles at the
Springfield, Mass, armory, that the army
will not have nearly enough rifles. 1t is ex-
pected that several thousand of the old
Springfield rifles will be needed and used to
arm the new army raised. There are no
Krag-Jorgensen rifles at the arsenal here
except three or four in the way of samples
used for drill work.
The rifle while pronounced on favorably
by the military authorities of Europe as the
most effective arm now known, is not
viewed with favor by the American army to
any extent. Almost to man the practical
with open foreboding.
Practically speaking" said one of the
soldiers at the arsenal yesterday. Its only
advantage is it's killing range but that is
unimportant in the infantry branch of the
service or any other branch for that mat
ter, except the artillery and ordnance de-
partmentS."
Only few of the men among the regulars
to-day are able to sight with anything like
a
jority are lucky to be effective at half that
distance. Thus it will be seen, as the SOL
battle stands a mile away from the enemy S
line of battle is safe so far as rifle bullets
from any gun IS concerned" Disposing of
its carrying quality as unimportant the new
rifle has a. serious disadvantage to over
come and that is its complicated construc-
ton. In time of peace and target practice
1t may be all right as a weapon, but in
the reality of war when less regard is paid
to the height of mans polish on his shoes.
than to the number of cartridges he has
in his belt the new rifle is not TO be trusted
so much, said the soldier who was talking.
On slight provocation it is liable to get out
of order and be rendered useless except as
a club because of necessarily inadequate
facilities for repairing the gun. Experience
has shown the parts to be somewhat fragile
and therefore not to be depended on in an
emergency. With the Springfield rifle it is
much different, This rifle will kill at any
range which SharpShooter can accurately
sight. 1t could be thrown into Il river one
day and dragged out week from that time
with the probability that 1t would be. SerV-
iceable. Tt is almost impossible to get 1t
out of order. All the best records of marks
manship in the army were made with the
Springfield rifle and the army unites in con-
fidence in it as a Stanch, Well-made, relia-
BILE weapon. 1t can also use any cartridge,
smokeless powder, or in fact any ammuni-
ton that any other rifle will take. Said
the soldier. continuing:
white it is the purpose of the War De-
partment TO arm the whole service with the
new weapon, reports from all sections of the
country where army posts are located show
that the men who have to handle the new
weapons are not by any means satisfied
with them and regard them as only fit for
target practice. If the regulars, accustomed
to the handling of arms and drilled in the
use of this particular one ind it an unsafe
thing to risk "a mans life on in action what
will it become in the hands of raw green
troops, who hardly understand the manual
of arms Confusion with its complicated
mechanism will inevitably result in broken
and useless guns and this condition in ac-
tion may logically be apprehended as liable
to create panic and loss of life and bat
tie"