The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-04-25
deafness of Modem Rifles.

deafness of Modem Rifles.
| The weapons with which the next war
Will be fought are as much an improve
ment over the weapons with which Ma
| poleon's legions were armed as Napol-
cons weapons We're an improvement over
| the muskets of the men who fought at
| Minden. Indeed, if Napoleon were alive
| today it is certain that there would be
| little opportunity for the exercise of his
remarkable tactical genius. The battle
| field Of old was small and one man could
easily overlook 1t. The battlefields Of the
future will cover miles upon miles of ter
ritory. and the general commanding will
direct the movements of his many corps
| from some house family within hearing
| distance of the big guns, The field Of
Waterloo IS singuiarly disappointing in
| respect of size to one who views it with
preconceived modern notions, but no such
| complaint will be entered against the next
scene OF deaths struggle between the
armies of civilized nations. More men will
be engaged and their guns will shoot
farther. That makes the difference.
As in the development of modern pow
ders. so in the development of the modern
rifle, the Germans have led 1t was Pro-
fessor HELLER of Berlin who first showed
the 45-caliber was about one-third too
large. and that a cylinder reduced 10
caliber OF 30, with a very rapid twist.
would give the best results This reduc-
ton has lessened the weight OF the bullet
by one-half and increased its velocity by
so per cent The velocity has been further
increased by the change of powders. The
soldier is now able to carry with him
double the old supply of ammunition. The
substitution Of the material called cor
dite" for the compressed powder which
now obtains in the British service has fur
Their increased his offensiveness, until he
is by far the most dangerous animal that
walks.
Practically ali of the small arms with
which the troops of the nations are fur
nished are magazine guns. Their adoption
was delayed by the doctrinaires who de-
clared that soldier with a magazine gun
in the stress of battle and excited to frenzy
by conflict would waste more ammunition
than he was worth. The same argument
was advanced against the adoption of the
breech-loader many years ago. 1t was
proved fallacious in the latter case The
belief among military men is that IL will
be proved fallacious against the magazine
arm. Officers in future will trust to dis
cipline to keep the fire down TO proper
limit There seems to be little difference
in the value of the various modern mill
tary rifles. Each has some minor point
of advantage. Each has some minor de-
feet. The improved arm of the Germans,
the Mannlicher of the Austrians, the Lee
-
French, the Mauser of the Spanish and the
Krag-Jorgenson and Lee of the U.ited
States have about the same zone of fire,
are practically Of the same caliber and
are universally deadly, The difference
beween the nickel-plated bullet, the steel
hardened bullet and the German-siIver
bullet by which the soldiers of Wilhelm
swear, is largely one of Imagination They
will all kill at tremendous ranges Per-
haps the best general results are given by
the nickeled projectile, whose penetrative
powers are simply phenomenal.
In the long peace that has brooded over
the world the limit of improvement in
military small arms would appear to have
been reached 1t remains now to try them
on living human bodies instead of upon
IA
scientific parlance, I'VE have reached an
equation in the proportions of mass in
the rife and the projectile, in caliber,
rifling and twist in the sectional density
of the bullet and in the power of the ex-
plosives. Beyond this any possible i'm
provement would be ineffective for the
reason that to exceed the present li1"its
would be to exceed the muscular nd
visual power of men"
The modern arm, when rihed on the Met
ford plan, has seven grooves on the in
terror of the barrel which go three times
around the barrel in its length Of thirty
inches. The rifiing is made thus severe in
order to steady the missile in its long flight.
The weapon is sighted up to 1850 yards
and its point-blank range is a minimum
of 300 yards In action the sights will
not be altered up to 1000 yards The
English compressed powder gives muz-
ze velocity of 1000 feet per second. From
cordite muzzle velocity Of $3.50 feet per
second is obtained. At ]. 900 yards the mean
deviation of the bullet from the Springfield
rife Is 21.4 inches. The deviation of the
high-powder small-caliber bullet Is less
than II inches. From the modern arm
forty shots minute may be fired If the
soldier has a spare magazine ready for
adjustment. If a man stands near him
with more than one magazine a speed of
sixty shots minute can be made This,
OF course, is firing without aiming. The
Mauser rifle. to which United States troops
Will be opposed in the war with Spain. is
UNNECESSARILY superior to the old SPRING
field. superior, in fact to any gun we have
save the Lee and the Krag-Jorgenson. Its
rapidly, long range. accuracy and low
trajectory have more than doubled the
danger spaces up to a mile, and it is ex-
ceedingly disagreeable even beyond that
distance. The general penetration of the
nickel-jacketed bullet may be stated al
e-l0 of an inch of steel. 5lz inches OF oak
and inches of beech. SingularIy enough.
1t has been demonstrated that the best
defense against IL Is lose sand, and at
lacking parties of the future will throw
up miniature embankments in front of
each squad. This can be done readily and
rapidly with the bayonet. The Iead-penciI
bullet penetrates some fifteen inches into
sand and is then battered out of all sem
blance to its original self. Much has been
said of its inability to produce sufficient
shock, and there Is no doubt that its
paralyzing capacity is much less than
that of the 45-caliber missile. but IL may
be said that any man struck with II will
be put out Of the fight. and in military
formula man hors de combat is q man
dead.
The effect Of modern magazine small
arms in combats between large forces Is.
of course, problematical. Military writ
ers. however. are pretty well agreed that