Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1904-10-06
UNCLE SANS NEW RIFLE.
1t Is Believed to Be Superior to Any
Now in Use.

New York Sun:-It is hoped to is
sue the new magazine rifle to the army
IN about three months. This weapon
is believed to be superior to any in
use in foreign armies at this time
Forty thousand of the rifles have
already been completed. None will
be issued to the troops of the regular
establishment, however, until 100 1000
the number required to supply the
maximum strength of the army on a
war footing-have been completed.
At the present rate of progress this
will probably be about Dec. l.
The old rifle, which has been in use
since just before the Spanish war. will
be returned to the arsenals and later
reissued to the various militia organ,
izations now armed with the ancient
Springfield rifle.
It is interesting to note that the
Spanish war, if it did nothing else,
awoke the army authorities to the nee
essity of keeping abreast of the times
in ordinance construction. The Unit
ed States magazine rifle, which was
introduced just before the war began,
was considered good weapon, but a
great advance has been made in the
last few years in the construction or
small arms.
The most noticeable difference be,
tween the old and the new arm is the
fact that the barrel of the latter is en-.
tirely covered with wood. This inno-
| walton was the result of suggestions
made to the ordnance officers by en-
listed men. In the campaigns in Cuba
and In the Philippines it was found
that after period of rapid discharges
the rifle barrels became so hot that il
was sometimes necessary to cease fir.
Ing Tor time to permit them to cool
In many cases men in the heat of bat.
tie had the skin burned from their
hands by the hot barrels. The wood
covered barrel is the result of these
| experiences, the steel being entirely
| covered to within two inches of the
muzzle of the gun.
In almost every other particular.
from stock to forward sight, there ia
an important difference between the
OLD and the new guns. The bore of
the new rifle is smaller, the calibre
Delng about 80 inch, while the initial
velocity and penetrating power are
both greater. The new gun is also
! several inches shorter than the old
arm-about the length, in fact, of the
old Springfield carbine with which the
United States cavalry were armed af
ter the civil war.
The u. S. Magazine Rife, Model or
! 1903, as the new arm is technically
known, will, it is believed, prove popu.
lar with the enlisted force The mag
azine has a capacity of five cartridges
and can be filed with ease and quick
ness. Fully assembled, the rifle
weighs a trifle more than eight
pounds.
Some idea of its efficiency can be
gained when it is known that twenty
three aimed shots have been fired in
one minute with the rifle used as
single loader, and twenty five shots in
the same time, using magazine fire.
Firing from the hip without aim, TWEEN
ty seve nshots have been fired in one
minute, using the rifle as a single
loader, and thirty-five shots in one
minute from the magazine
With an ordinary charge the powder
pressure in the rifle chamber is about
$4,000 pounds to the square inch, and
the maximum effective fighting range
4,7S1 yards.
The exceptional penetrating powers
OF the rifle were illustrated in a test
held some time ago. With full serv-
Ice charCe,e the rifle, fired at a dis
lance of fifty feet, drove its steel mis-
sile 54.5 inches into white pine butts
and penetrated a steel plate nearly
one-half inch thick.
The bullet which will be used in the
arm has core of lead and tin compo-
hilton in a jacket of cupro-nickle and
when fired with a service charge has
a muzzle velocity of 2,30O feet a sec
ond.
1t is hoped by the ordnance experts
that the new gun will prove to be not
only abreast of small arms construc-
ton, but somewhat in advance. so
that it will be unnecessary to make
another change in the weapons of the
United States army for a good many
years to come.