New-York tribune., 1900-03-04

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/ resistance of the air. and unless there
number Of men within say. ten yards Of the
place OF burct 1t IS most probable that
A man standing upright and fairly in the cone
/ OF fragments, but twenty yards from the place
/ of burst, would escape seven times out of eight
/ or If eight men standing at this distance
from the place of burst only one would be hit
/ II the shell be large and the ground stony this
might be somewhat modified. for the gases from
the shell viii pick up a certain number Of stones.
and thus increase the number Of splinters, which
/ are always more numerous from a large than a
small shell; but even then a common shell is not
/ very much to be feared in the open.
THE USES OF sHRAPNEL
When common shell bursts among walls or
buildings or in confined space it is seen at its
/ best The fragments and gases from the she'll
glance OFF the walls and strike those who would
I otherwise have escaped: men are blown down
who would have been untouched IN the open, and
the moral effect is generally much greater But
even under the most favorable conditions com
mon shell leaves much TO p desired and it has
/ therefore been almost entirely superseded in the
field by shrapne
The common shell fails because of the small
number Of hits that be obtained with a sin
gle shell The shrapne is designed to carry Il
large number Of bullets. which remain III the
shell until it has almost reached the object
The bullets then blown out by the bursting
! charge. and act like voIley from Il number of
muskets or pistols so that hundred hits may
! be made by single shell
Externally the shrapnel is very like the com
mon shell. but the bursting charge is very small
and lies in the bottom Of the shell. The body Of
the shell is filled with bullets numbering some
two hundred in the ordinary field gun shrapnel
They rest on a diaphragm which separates them
from the bursting charge. In the older patterns
of shrapnei these bullets We're not very diSsim-
/ liar to those of the old Brown RcsS. which weigh
fourteen to the pound. But the anxiety TO OBJ
tain more hits has resulted in the reduction the
size Of the bullets, which now run thirty-tive 10
/ the pOund-thdt is to say, they weigh somewhat
. ls J,,''.. ,,i @ ' ~ IN },I1t 7 lI,,,ro5
years ago The head of the shell is somewhat
/ loosely rIVeted on, that it is readily blown OF
/ by the small bursting charge. At the apex Of
/ the head is the combined time and percussion
fuse which communicates by tube passing
through the bullets TO the bursting charge in tho
base. The fuse is the most important part Of the
/ shrapnel and indeed, without gpod IuSes II II
impossible TO obtain any satisfactory results
with modern field artillery. And not only must
the fuses be good, but they must be properly set
The best fuses will give only poor results when
manipulated by unpraCtlsed hands.
. In shrapnel practice certain mum er ~ ROUNDS
are deliberately wasted opening fire in order
10 insure the efficiency Of the remainder. The
initial rounds are fired with the safety pin lock
ing the time arrangement ot the fuse, SO that
the shell does not burst till II strikes the ErJunL
when IL is exploded by the percussion part or the
fuse. There is some effect but not anything
like that obtained by burst in the ar The
point Of Craze Of the shells IS however. most care
fully observed the object being 10 ascertain
whether 1t is short of IT beyond IN" target II
I short the elevation Of the gun is then increased
II over 1T IS decreased lnC TINS - c.nt,.It-e ul
1T is certain that the shells are striking cISt ~
. the object. This finding thu range as il IS
called. sounds easy enough. bur really IS most
difficult and there are various systems IN vogue
/ for carrying 30 out
/ Nth AL it's killing power Ter favorable
I conditions. the shraDnel shell has not 4 hiEh
moral effect Th" CouparatlVetN feeble burst
nearly hundred yards away lS not startling,
and though th, swish ~ The suruf of bullets
may not be- pleasant. IL is not nearly as 'lSc"n-
certlnG L. the roaring rush ot the comparatively
harmless common she'll. whose explosion as also
far more terrifying Although fnr -Ardph'i
bullet has less ENERGY Wheu striking NJ. say,
5000 yards range -han even "A pistol bullet It
inHictS a very nasty wound. distinctly NOR"
. serious than that inflicted hy any modern 'lUr-
even Including IN this term the Martini This IS
; ba.aus. tho tuiIct is spherical. and though the
, seconds this is quite enough 10 cause fatal in
| Iurtes by piercing the body, even though the
| energy u The blow be relatively small
MAGAZINE RIFLES
/ The sphere ~ action " the field gun. with ia
! shrapue! shells extends fr m that range whore
( the power ~ tho rifle bullet ls the Vaur 20
the point whcr" The shrapnel itself does little
harm. What these ranges arr naturally dee
pents on tn. power ~ thr rl7- that propeIs the
bullet and On the .nlrl, ,tvristigs ut the gun 'r
ink the shrauneL. All tne maEaz:ue rifles s. n
which the infantry are now armed are SIMMER
/ IN throw sUg u light and extremely long bullet
with = very high velocity. which reaches in
/ SOM" Instances 100 f--t--e.1uds. The rs-.-
fridge. N.th charge ana bullet complete. only
. weighs about hulf what the Martini pr Su-. r.
cartridge weighed. soldier can, thrrrl rr,
carry double As many rounds for the same
! produce 4u equal effect This encourages long
. runl- firing. Moreover. the high velocity great
Is improves The shooting lr long ranges
Thr result IS that at l1ot -4rls the magazine
rifle produces effect ahlcH The earlier r.tlaS
0f say thirty years ago only produced n aa-i