The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-11-03

Deadly Gun Used by the Boer Sharp
shooter In the Transvaal War.

The s~harpshooter is very much in ev-
idence in the Anglo-Boer war now
being waged in the Transvaal. In the
war of 1880, against the same people,
the Beers displayed the same deadly
accuracy with the rifle that they did
at Dundee. The ear of 1880 was
a very different arm from the one used
last week. The rifle of twenty years
ago was built on the lines of the Brit
ish Martini. 1t was a hammeriess arm
of about nine pounds weight, with a 30
inch half ctagon barrel, and a shotgun
butt stock. The caliber was .45, with a
bullet weighing from 405 to $50 grains.
The powder charge was 80 grains, in a
brass drawn cartridge case. This arm
was sighted up to 1000 yards.
II was very much interested In the
Boer rifemen and their eapon said
Archibald Forbes, the first or living
war correspondents, who was with pr
Evelyn Woods column in South A1rlca
in 1880. "They are marvellous rlle
shots. They shoot their antelope and
other game from the saddle, not appar
emily caring to get nearer to their
quarry than 600 or 100 yards. Then
thew understand the currents Of air.
their effect Upon the drift or a bullet,
and can Judge distance as accurately
as il could be measured by a skilled en-
gineer. They can hit an officer as FAR
as they can discern his insignia or rank.
Sir George Colley, the commander In
south Africa, was killed at a distance
of 1.4OO yards at Majuba Hill. We lost
terribly in officers at the fight men
toned, and also at Laings Neck and
Rorkes Drift, from the deadly rifles OF
the sharp-shooting Beers"
The Boer weapon that did such execu-
ton the other day is the sporting model
of the Mannlicher, a German arm, per-
L~~n Tho Y1ncf nnuyDrfII1 yVp4n0n OF ltG
caliber and weight in the world. The
military Mannlicher is used in armies
of Austria, Holland, Greece, Brazil,
Chilli, Peru and Roumania. The ideal
Mannlicher is the sporting rifle known
as the Haenel model. 1t is a beautl-
fully finished arm, weighing ABOUT elgnt
pounds, and costing in South Africa 200
German marks. The rifle is thirty
inches in barrel, the carbine twenty
four. 1t has a pistol grip, sling straps,
and hair triggers. It's callDef is ~.
This rifle has an extreme range or 4,oO0
yards, and a killing range of 1000. AT
that distance. the bullet will go through
two inches of solid ash, and nearly
three of pine, quite enough force to kill
if the bullet struck a vital part. AT
twenty yards it will shoot through fifty
inches of pine. The bullet for war is
full-mantled, with a fine outer skin of
copper or nickel. That for game shoot
ing is only half mantled, leaving the
lead point exposed so that it opens
back, or mushrooms, when it strikes.
Fol- deer, elk, and bears there can be no
better arm. Though the bullet makes
but a small orifice where it enters, the
expansion causes it to tear a hole as
large as a mans finger when it makes
it's exit. Travelling at the rate of 1000
feet per second, the force of this bullets
blow is tremendous.
Much debate was had at the peace
because England and the United States
insisted on using the dum-dum bullet
in war. 1t is a self-pOinted missile,
but by no means so deadly or destruc-
tive as is this Observation-Disclosures bull
let the Beers are using. If it strikes at
close range-Or 1000 yards or under
and does not latten, the Mannlicher
bullet bOres a hole right through a bone
without communion or Splintering.
But when it upsets the shock is terrible.
The bullet literally smashes the flesh
and bone into fragments. 1t is charged
that the Beers are using the sOft-pOint-
ed bullet in their deadly Haenel-Mann-
1icher, against all conventions. 1t is
doubtful whether the BOer has ever
heard of the convention of The Hague,
or that he would heed it's covenants if
he had. He adheres to the old-fash-
toned notion hat the business of war
is to kill or disable your enemy. If he
believes the ~SOft-pointed bullet will do
his enemy more harm than the hard,
why that is the one he will use, no mat
ter if all the peace conventions in
C~hristendom pronounced against it
Washington Post.