Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1898-12-14
III MODERN BULLET
Deadly Missiles That Are Fired by
Modern Guns.
How a Regiment of older Would
BE Moved Down by n Nolley
from the Latest Cannon
and Rifles.

1t has peer said that the new army
rife is "humane-that il punctures
clean holes, and is less likely to inIiict
dangerous injury. According to the
best evidence, however, the fact is very
much the other way. The new-styie
bullet, very long and with a diameter
about the same as that of a lead pencil.
leaves the gun with a velocity OF half a
mile a second, with a pressure behind il
of 10000 pounds per square inch. -Four
miles from the muzzle of the weapon, it
is travelling at the rate of 400 yards a
second, and will penetrate the abdomen
of u man who happens to be in the way.
Owing to its velocity. and to its rotary
motion of 400 revolutions Il second, il
develops an explosive energy when it
strikes anything al a moderate range,
splintering bones into small pieces and
effectually destroying any organ like
the liver or kidney.
Owing TO these conditions, a man who
is hit in an arm bone or leg bone by a
bullet from a modern rifle must in near
ly every instance die or submit TO ampu-
tation. A hole through an important
blood vessel, beingpunched c~leanly out.
results in profuse and dangerous hem
orrhage right away. so that the victim
is likely to die before surgical aid can
arrive. Much valuable Information III
this line has been Obtained by firing eN-
perimentaily at ooIpses at various
ranges. ard observing the character of
the injury inflicted. 1t has beer found
in this manner, incidentally. that one OF
these bullets will pass through seven
men stood in line. The French have
lone a good deal of experimenting
with silhouette soldiers, cut ont from
boards and fired ~ from given distances.
From the resulting hits they have tried
10 reckon casualty percentages.
Under conditions troops
within firing distance o. Ga enemy will
nave to meet a veritable Lail of bullets.
\ modern rifle is able to deliver 10 shots
a minute. Herr Prinz. Il German mill
tary surseon, writing Of the recent
civil war in Chill. says: THE BaIma-
c~cCists. who were 40 COW arcs, declared
that their establishment, caused by the
terrible storm of rroiectiles, left them
unable 10 use thCir W weapons" In
n battle the rifles described viii he sup
plementCd hy Improved eating guns.
which fire 170n0 shots n minute, with a
muzzle velocity Of n quarter Of a mile a
second, and al effective range of IL
miles. Under such circumstances, obvi-
ously, it will not be possible for mill
tary commanders to risk their troops i'm
tho opvu. iu,'aaIUch rs to do sc would he
wholesale suicide.
To illustrate The destructivcness of
modern weapons on land, let il be sup
posed that a command is well posted
n concealed with Il siX-gun battery
of these small breech-loading cannon, a
couple of GatlingS. and 4 regiment of
700 infantry armed with H~rag-Jorgcn-
sen rifles. \ hostile force OF twice the
strength approaches to within a dis
lance of 5000 yards. The range being
carefully calculated, allowing for the
expansion of the cones OF fire from the
artillery, the six cannon will cover Il
line of 1,4I0 yards. At the word firing
begins, and in one minute Sc shrapnel
are hurled at the advancing foe. They
are burst 200 yards in front of the en-
envy, scattering 10,S00 messengers OF
death among them. In the same min
ute two Cuttings deliver 1000 shots. and
the 1000 rifles discharge $4,000 projec-
tiles. In 60 seconds the space occupied
by 1880 men has been swept by a ire
mendous storm of 26,SOO missiles. and
two-thirds of the oncoming soldiers are
laid low. One more minute, with an
other such discharge, and few survivors
are left to tell the tale of the DISASTER
Boston Transcript.