The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-06-26
GUNS WITH GREATEST KNOWN
RANGE AND POWER.
Five Hundred New Springfield to Be
sen Type with fixed Bayonets.

The troops of the United States are to
be supplied with new gun, which for
range and power exceeds any known
weapon i'm military use today.
The new gun may be said to be a
developed KragJ orgensen, since it
possesses all the good points Of that
arm, coupled with ideas which expert
ence in the field has dictated.
Five hundred of the new weapons, it
Is announced. will shortly be issued,
and from this number the ordnance au-
thortes hope to be fully enlightened
on any defects which may develop in
active service. Under existing arrange
ments the navy uses the same infan-
try arm as the army, hence the change
is likely to affect the former, as well
as the latter service.
The present weapon the Krag-JOr-
gensen, has been greatly improved since
it's first introduction into the United
States service. Its range and accuracy
have been wonderfully increased, the
former through improved ammunition
and the latter by the introduction of
sight attachments for drift and wind
age with the net result that the gen.
eral ballistc properties of the piece
compare favOrably with the best of
foreign arms.
The new rifle, it is understood, will be
called the Springfield, and will be fur
Their known by the year of it's model.
From the fact that is Is a developed
Krag, it is necessarily a better wea
pom than the type now in service. 1t
weighs less is simpler in construction,
and it's range is said to be effective at
45O0 yards.
1t will be recalled that whom the army
of Santiago was at Montauk Point a
board of ordnance officers questioned
the officers of the returned troops re-
Ia
opinion was very generally expressed
that a clip attachment was desirable to
admit of greater rapidity in loading. a
device of this order has been incOTpOr-
ated in the new design, and by prOvid-
ing a central magazine-feed does away
with the side-bOX arrangement on the
Krag.
The velocities for the Krag-Jorgensen
| during the war with Spain were 2O0O
| feet per second. The Spanish Mausers
| yielded 22OO feet per second. Expert
ments made with the Krags demonstra-
! ted that 2200 feet per second could be
! secured withut materially increasing
| the pressure in the barrel and accord
! ingly cartridge giving an initial velo-
! city of 2200 fOot-seconds was ordered.
Experience taught that the ordinary
nickel-steel packet of the Krag bullets
! could not be depended on at velQcities
! of 22OO feet per second, and that the
| tendency was to strip. In consequence,
! cupro-nickel was substituted, and I'M
/ der velocities as high even as $500 feet
! per second at the muzzle, cupro- nickel
! is found to answer admirably.
For the new gun the muZZle velocities
! will, it is said, be maintained at $500
/ fOOt-secOnds. 1t was at first proposed
| to employ $500 foot-seconds. but the re-
| sulting preSsures in the gun barrel
We're deemed inadvisable. At 1890 foot
NsecOnds at the mu2zle the correspond
| ing pressure does not exceed $1,000
| pounds to the square inch
! In appearance the new weapon is very
! handsome and is a marked improve
! ment in this respect over the Krag. The
! bayonet and ramrod have been united
| in an ingenious fashion, thus doing
away with the necessity for a bayonet
! scabbard. In this particular our au-
| thOries seem to have taken up the Rus
| sian idea, since for many years the
| practice in the Russian army has been
| to always keep the bayOnet fixed.