The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-21
THE UNITED STATES RIFLE.
Gen. Otis Was on the Board which
Tested the New Gun.


Within the last few years there have
been some interesting changes in the
small arms of the United States troops,
many features of which of course are more
or less familiar to the reading public.
The most notable feature in this line
was the Introduction of what was known
as the Krag-Jorgensen rifle with 80 cal
ibre bullet, of steel casing filled with lead
This rifle has now been placed in the hands
of all the regular troops.
Gen. Elwell S. Otis, commander of the
department of Colorado, and president of
the Garter court martial, was a member
OF the second board which tested this
weapon, suggested improvements in some
details, and made report upon it. The
hrst board adopted the gun, and the second
board appointed to make tests of it with
a view to Improvements, consisted of mem
bers of the old board, with three new mem
bers, Gen. Otis, Col. Bates and Mai
Moore.
The gun adopted is now known as the
United States rife and it has supplanted
the old Springfield rifle in the hands of the
troops. 1t is essentially the Krag-Jorgen-
sen gun with improvements in several
miner details, suggested by various exper-
and was tried by some of the foremost
shots in the army, as well as in the vol
unteer forces of several states, it was not
looked upon with much favor because it
was not believed that it was accurate That
is believed to have been due to the fact
that the sighting had not been perfected,
as well as the fact that the sharpshooters
were not entirely familiar with the new
weapon. This is all changed now Gen.
Otis saws that AFTER ayOeri11naOfs apd ,oroo-
ttce the best shots in the army have been
able to do even better work with it than
they did with the Springfield rifle. It took
years to make the sighting of the Spring
field rifle perfect, and it is not unnatural
that some time should have been required
with a new gun, whose physical opera
tons in many respects differ from those of
the old rifle. The new gun takes smokeless
POWDER stronger powder than the old
style, which gives the bullet a muzzle We
locity of 1000 feet a second and some ex-
traordinarily accurate shooting can be
done with it at a distance of 1000 yards.
The United States rifle is now being
made in large quantities by the general
government and in the course of time they
Will no doubt be placed in the hands OF
the volunteer militia. They may be used
either as machine guns or as single shot
guns, the magazine holding five cartridges
being detachable. 1t is said to be a fact
that on the sixteenth shot, when firing
rapidly the Springfield rifle or the single
shotgun will catch up with the magazine
gun in firing, on account of the fact or
the time required in reloading the maya.
zine.
The question of the effect of the new
bullet with steel casing is one which Is
still disputed, Gen. Otis says, and the
government is still experimenting upon it.
Striking man at close range, its effect
upon the gases in the stomach. for in
stance, would be something similar to a
small explosion, while at long range il
bores clean round hole. The effect of
the small caliber bullet is to give it more
velocity and fiatter trajectory, the lat-
ter element, it is believed, making the fir
ing more accurate. Other nations have
their armies equipped with guns some,
what on this line, using the smaller cali
Der bullet, and the snokeless powder.