The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-07-13
Spanish Weapon Superior
to Springfield.
GREATER DANGER ZONE.
Rifle and Ammunition Weigh Less
Than Those OF Americans.
ITS WOUNDS ARE NOTsO SEVERE

"The hiss of the Mauser" is the
dreaded sound that lets our brave men
in Cuba know that somewhere in the
surrounding brush, or concealed in the
thick foliage OF the trees that "over-
look the plain" there is lurking
Spanish soldier, armed with a modern
magazine rifle of small calibre, which
is known TO the world as Mauser.
This rifle possesses many admirable
characteristics. So. too, does the new
American army gun, which is known
generally as the ag-Jorgensen, says
the New York Herald. But, while all
the Spanish troops in Cuba are armed
with the modern small calibre repeat
ing rifle, the greater number of our
soldiers. owing TO the haste In arming,
are compelled to use the old Springfield
rifle, an excellent weapon in it's day,
but not of much practical value at
long range shooting, when compared
with the Spanish gun.
The path through the air described
by proJectile is known as the trajec-
tory, and the danger zone is that por-
tion OF this curve where a man stand
ing 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.
SPEED OF THE BULLET.
+ The speed of the bullet, its initial
velocity, Is the number of feet per sec
ond at which II is travelling when IL
leaves the muzzle of the gun. This
fn 20. xft.11 ria te-
1860 feet a second; for the Spanish
Mauser 1t is 22S6 feet a second, and for
the krag-Jorgensen 1000 feet n second,
and, generally speaking, the faster the
bullet, the further 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
will be at $50 yards from the muzzle
for the Krag-Jorgensen approximately
IA feet, for the Mauser about 10 feet
and for the Springfield about so feet.
MAUSER MORE LIKELY TO HIT.
From this the great advantage of the
Mauser over the Springfield is at once
seen. A man five feet and seven inches
tall distant HOO yards from the firing
line will be under fire-that Is, he will
be liable to be hit so long as he is
within 40 yards Of the range of 100
yards of the Spanish bullet. On the
other hand, Spaniard distant 100
yar6S from an American Springfield
rifle will be within the direct line Of
fire for only % yards. And when the
distance apart of the opposing troops is
lessened TO within 800 yards, the flight
of the Mauser bullet becomes practical
ly straight line.
However. our troops, despite the ad-
vantage of the Spanish small arm,
should take courage, for every gun, be
it Mauser or Springfield, needs to be
accurately aimed TO send the bullet on
its deadly work. and thus far in our
war our enemies have shown that hit
ting the object aimed at is not their
forte.
Also ii appears from recent dis
patches that many more men are
wounded by the Mauser bullets than
are killed by them, and that the wounds
they make are not so bad as those made
by Springfield rifle bullets. Indeed,
among our wounded few amputations
have been found to be necessary.
OBSERVATIONS ON WOUNDS.
An American surgeon who has been
with the insurgents in Cuba reporting
on the effects of the Mauser bullet,
states that he saw man who had been
shot through the head fully restored
at the end of year. Another man
lived three hours after he had been
shot through the middle of the fore
head; 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 IL was impossible
to tell whether the mans heart had
been hit or not. The man was taken
to the hospital, whence in week he
was discharged. 'kEtf ftH
Still another man was shot through
the thigh bone. The doctor reports
having ripped open his trouser leg, and
after having applied plaster around
the outer and inner wounds the man 10
minutes later mounted his horse and
led a cavalry charge. An ordinary bull
let would have made amputation of
the leg necessary.