The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-11-17
THE BoER AND HIS RIFLE.
Differences Between Weapon Used
Now and That of Twenty Years

Differences Between Weapon Used
Now and That of Twenty Years
Ago.
From the New York Sun.
In the war of 1ST9-SO the Beers dis
played deadly accuracy with the rifle,
but their weapon then was very diff
ferent from the arm used at Dundee.
The rifle of twenty years ago was
built on the lines OF the British Mar
tint. 1t was a hammerless arm of
about nine pounds weight, with a 30
inch half-octagon barrel and a shot
gun butt stock. The calibre was As,
with bullet weighing from 405 to 4JO
grains. The powder charge was 90
grains in a brass drawn cartridge case.
The rife was sighted at 1000 yards.
Besides the usual stationary sight it
had a reversible front-that is, a sight
capable of being used as an ordinary
front sight. and by a single motion,
it was changed into q fine pinhead
sight covered with a ring to keep 1t
from being knocked off. On an occa-
sion where particularly fine shooting
was demanded this front globe was
further covered with q thimble- shaped
hood, shading 1t perfectly. The usual
standing rear or fixed sights We're on
the barrel, while on the guns grip
was a rundown peep that was regc-
lated by a sidescrew to an elevation
of 1000 yards. The peep and globo
were never used under 700 or 500 yards.
Il was very much interested in the
Boer riflemen and their weapons" said
Archibald Forbes, who was with Sir
In 4 Af,.ip
in 1S79-SO "They are marvellous rifle
shots. They shoot their antelope and
other game from the saddle, not appar-
emily caring to get nearer to their
quarry than 600 or 700 yards. Then
they understand the currents of air,
their effect upon the drift of bullet,
and can judge distance as accurately
as it could be measured by a skilled
engineer They can hit an officer as
far as they can discern the insignia
of rank. Sir George w. Colley, the
commander in South Africa, was killed
at a distance of 1,40o yards at Majuba
Hill. we lost terribly in officers at the
fight mentioned, and also at J4aings
Mex and Rorke's Drift, from the dead
ly rifles of the sharpshooting Boers."
1t is easy enough to see how the
| BCer become so expert with the rife
| History Of one hundred and more years
ago in the southwest and the west of
this country is repeating itself on the
| South African veldtS. Every old state
of the American Union, except Louis
lana, was won from it's red owners by
the pioneer and his deadly rifle. For
2i0 years the Hollander-who went to
| far-off South Africa and his descen-
| dants have fought wild beasts and wild
men for the country they wanted. The
| Boer region of South Africa, producing
| fine wheat and corn crops, is very fer
| tile. 1t has a native grass that live
| stock thrives on, with climate very
much like that of the country from
southwestern Kansas to New Mexico.
| But to obtain this country the Boer
had first to conquer it. This made him
| a sharpshooter. One hundred and fifty
years ago the Dutch farmer with his
| fiVe-foot- barrel roer, smooth bore
| gun, was a dead shot within the lmi-
tations of his weapon. Every Boer is
a hunter. He has to be. His farm is
| large, anywhere from $1,000 to 5000
acres. The country is sparsely settled.
The lion and other smaller cats and tn,
hyena were the natural enemies of his
focks and herds. They had to be kept
down by the roer and later by the
rifle. Kruger is himself said to have
| killed go lions, not to speak of pan
theirs and hyenas. Then the ever-pres-
ent danger of a native outbreak caused
the solitary farmer or Boer to see to
it that he had the best arms available
for defence and offence,
The Boer weapon that did such exc
cution the other day is the sporting
model of the Mannlicher, a German
arm, perhaps the most powerful weapon
of its calibre and weight in the world.
The military Mannlicher is used in the
armies of Austria, Holland, Greece,
Brazil, Chilli, Peru and Roumania. The
ideal Mannlicher is a sporting rife
known as the Haenel model. 1t is d
beautifully finished arm weighing about
eight pounds. and costing in South
Africa 200 German marks. The riffs
barrel is thirty inches long, the car