The times., 1898-07-12
THE MAUSER RIFLE.
The Gun Used by the Spaniard su-
perior to Our Arms.

perlOr To our Arms
The Spanish soldiers OF Cuba are armed
with a modern magazine rife of small
caliber, which is known TO the world as
a Mauser.
The rifle possesses many admirable
characteristics So. too. does the new
American rife. which is known generally
as the Krag-Jorgensen. But while ali the
Spanish troops in Cuba are armed with
the modern small caliber repeating rife.
the greater number of our soldiers. be-
cause OF the haste in arming, are com
PEELED 10 use the old Springfield rife an
excellent weapon in its day. but not Of
much practical value at long range shoot
ing. when compared with the Spanish
gun.
The path through the air described by
a projectiIe is known as the trajectory,
and the danger zone is that portion OF this
curve where man standing erect would
be hit Evidently the faster the speed OF
the bullet the nearer TO a straight line will
the trajectory approach. and consequently
the greater will be the danger zone.
The speed OF bullet. its initial velocity.
is the number OF feet per second at
which it is travelling when it leaves the
muzzle of the gun. This rate for our
Springfield rifles is about 1859 feet a sec
ond; for the Spanish Mauser il is . 2s5
/ feet a second. and for the Krag-Jorgen-
sen 1000 feet a second and generally
/ speaking, the faster the bullet. the fur
[ ther il will travel in a straight line. To
| illustrate this. in a 300-yard trajectory
the greatest height of the bullet above the
/ plane of fire viii be al 150 yards from the
muzzle, for the KTag-JOTgensen approx
imately Il feet. for the Mauser about ID
feet and for the Springfield about 81 feet
/ Further details OF the three guns, whose
/ trajectories are illustrated. are appended:
Vt Of
OF Gun. Inches Of Gun rridge.
5 Army Army -kFsgJ9.fSH'n s6tf5gsgiS $50 % 90
/ Spain ----.-.- Mauser .275 - .S1J
The following table may prove inter-
/ esting. since il gives the service data ap-
/ proXimately OF the three types of rifles
| used in the engagements before Santiago:
Springfield l. :. Army Spain
Caliber .,-....------ -45 80 .s76
seconds -. 1870 1870 to s1D 2.soO
| $50 yards trajectory
above line Of sight,
Depth of danger zone
| at 1,lO0 yards,
height OF target 81.
I yards ...........--.. - SS 40
Weight OF 200 ear
tridges, pounds.
amount usually
ried per mann. 20 H.5 lis
From the above the great advantages Of
the Mauser over the Springfield is at
once seen. A man five feet and seven
inches tall. distant 100 yards from the
firing line will be under fire-that is. he
will be liable TO be hit so long as he is
within forty yards of the range Of l. 100
yards of the Spanish bullet On the
other hand. Spaniard distant 1I01 yards
from an American Springfield rifle. will
be within the direct line of fire for only
twenty-five yards. And when the dis
| tance apart of the opposing troops IS
lessened to within 800 yards the flight
of the Mauser bullet becomes practically
a straight line.
However. our troops. despite the advan-
tage of the Spanish small arm. should
take courage. for every gun, be it Mau-
ser or Springfield needs % be accurately
aimed to send the bullet on its deadly
work. and thus far in our war our enc
mics have shown that hitting the object
aimed at is not their forte.
Also il appears from recent dispatches
that many more men are wounded by
the Mauser bullets than are killed by
|
are not so bad as those made by the
Springfield rife bullets Indeed among
our wounded. few amputation have been
found to be necessary
| An American surgeon who has been
with the insurgents in Cuba. reporting on
the effects of the Mauser bullets states
that he saw a man who had been shot
through the head fully restored at the
end of a year. Another man lived three
hours after he had been shot through
the middle of the forehead; had this been
an ordinary bullet he probably would not
: have lived as many seconds.
In another case a bullet entered about
one-eighth of an inch above the heart,
and for three hours 1t was Impossible to
. tell whether the mans heart had been hit
or not The man was taken to the hos
pital. whence in week he was discharg-
ed.
Still another man was shot through the
: thigh bone The doctor reports having
ripped open his trouser leg. and after
: having applied a plaster around the out
: | er and inner wounds. the man ten min-
utes later mounted his horse and led a
| cavalry charge. An ordinary bullet would
: | have made amputation of the leg neces-
. sary.
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: | Summer drink. Order a case from tn
t Arlington Bottling Co, 9th and n Sts
l ~