The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-01-16
GATL|NG
PRACTICE
Lively FusiIIade From
Army Guns Yes
terday.

The echoes of old Diamond Head
were awakened yesterday morning and
kept busy all day by the roar and racket
of the gatling guns of the Seth and 9th
Companies of Coast Artillery on the
target range. At o'clock the COM
panies were marched to the range and
after considerable interchange of sig
nails between the butts and the firing
station the firing began. The guns
were stationed ia a little clearing about
500 yards from the road to the north of
Diamond Head, and the targets about
ESQ yards up the side Of the mountain,
making range of about $50 yards.
The 66th Company, under command
of Lieutenant Robinson, went to the
guns first, and each gunner fired 100
rounds. Sergeant Feerick made the
best score in the morning, getting "a
out of 100. The target was hit S15
times in LOO shots, making a total
score of S32 out of possible $500. This,
considering the range and the heavy
mists and rain, which obscured the tar
get from time to time, was considered
to be "a very good score.
These gatling guns consist of rotal-
ing systems of barrels mounted on
two-wheeled carriage. The barrels are
held in position by frame, which eX
tends along the sides and across the
muzzles, and on it are trunions upon
which the barrels revolve and which
hold them in the mounting. The sights
are attached TO the front and rear of
the barrel casing, the rear sight being
graduated for adjusting the gun TO the
elevation required. The cartridges used
in the guns are the standard 80 calibre
small arm ammunition. They
are fed into the gun through a hopper
provided with slots, which carry the
cartridges to the rotating carrier blocks
where each rests in a groove which
guides it while it is being pushed into
the chamber by the lock bolt. This
bolt works automatically in a similar
groove. In operating the gun, one man
turns the crank shaft, which rotates
the guns, together with the attached
parts. The cartridges are fed by sec
ond man through the hopper into the
carrier block, pushed into the barrels
by the lock bolts, and in succession are |
fired and the shells elected. Each bar
rel receives and fires a cartridge at |
every revolution of the system. There J
are two principal forms of gatling guns
in service-the ten-barrel and the five |
barrel gun. Those in use at Camp Nc
til % h. to-, hoy, ft-YN
calibre, model 1898.
The target used was the representa- |
ton of a man on horseback, and was /
pasted to a sliding frame and moving |
in and out from behind the butts. AT !
the long range the target appeared !
most diminutive. Markers were sta !
toned behind the butts, and at the /
of every hundred shots !
marked the score and repaired the
target
The 9th Company followed the Goth /
and continued in the attain
nent of uniform and satisfactory re-
suits, and they succeeded in making a
much better score than did the other
company. Sergeant Wilcox of the 9th
made the highest score OF
he day, succeeding in hitting the tar
get S4 times out of 100. Lieutenants
Newton and Jones directed the firing
If the 9th Company, often giving their
Individual attention to the aiming and
iring of the pieces. Fourteen hundred
'ounds were fired by the 9th Company.
All of the officers of the camp were
present, and, altogether, they say that
he practice with these guns was as
in every way as was Tues
lays practice with the mortars. The
prescribed season of artillery practice
or this year was brought to a close by
firing.
CLOTHES