The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-08-02

gle loader. or it can be so used when
the magazine is empty.
Inc mob cartridgen designed for the
new musket is a decided military nov
city Should the army or militia be
called to suppress riots, the regula-
ton shell with it's elongated bullet, ca
paple or a range pffiye miles, would
De dangerous instrument. After pen
stIdtlng the bodies Of numerous COM
batants it. might gcourse through
crowds of bystanders and effect veri-
table massacre of inrfnocents. But the
mob cartilage is designed to be eff
IectlVe up to zoo yards only. Instead
OF carrying one elongated bullet it con-
talns two pieces of round shot of the
same diameter Goa inch).
Being six inches shorter than the
present army rifle and having bar
rel only twentyfour inches long, the
new gun Will serve all purposes OF the
cavalry carbine and will replace the
latter. 1t is very probable that all
American fighting men, sailors and
marines, as we'll as soldiers and mill
tlamen, will ultimately carry the same
rifle and the same cartridges. and, IN
any event, one will be ready during ex-
tensive operations to supply the other
with ammunition. the naval small arm
having the caliber of the new rifle.
Th1s is contamination devoutly
wished for during the past decade.
During the Civil war the Union infan-
try regiments alone were armed With
no less than twenty different rifles OF
various calibers and serious were the
delays due to failure of troops here
and there to receive ammunition fit
ting their peculiar arms.
With its forty-three inches Of length
over all (the Krag-Jorgensen meas
ures forty-nine) the new weapon VIII
be the handler one in the forests and
underground of our tropical posses
sions. 1t is the shortest army rifle IN
the world, the nearest approach to 1t
eight inches long.
We come to the front with our new
and superior weapon after the military
forces of all civilized powers have re-
armed their foot troops with maya
zine rifles of small caliber. Even
Abyssinia, Sarawak, Morocco and the
Balkan states have made the reform.
But in Mexico strange idea mas
taken possession of the military au-
thorities, who claim to have learned,
as a lesson of the Spanish American
war, that magazine rifles are exceed
ingly liable to get out of order and are
too complicated for military purposes.
Hence an order for232 1000 small caliber
Remington single shooters was lately
given by our sister republic, anu lie
rest of the world still stands agape.
Since our Mexican war the Ameri-
can soldier has been equipped first
with the improved flintlock" musket,
which gave way to the percussion cap
muzzIe loaded. Then came the single
breechloader, the Krag-Jorgensen
small caliber magazine rife, and, final
ly, this new "63 Springfield"
The next step will be the adoption
of an automatic rapid-fire magazine
rife, according to military prophets.
Today the great powers of Europe
are considering the advisability of its
adoption. An automatic pistol has al
ready been ordered by several powers.
One of the automatic rifles now under
consideration is the "Mausef co." The
energy Of recoil is utilized for it's oper-
alton.
When cartridge is fired the breech
moves back and carries the barrel with
it. This movement cocks the hammer
and tightens a spring. The soldier
simply pulls the trigger and the
weapon continues to fire until all of
the cartridges in its magazine are used
DIP. Perhaps the most remarkable of
all automatic rifles is the -Cei-Rigetti,