Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-12
1t goes the more curved Will he NV nlgnt'
until at last 1t drops to the grounu'
Degree of the Resistance,

OSkTeS OF the ucSAStohSS'
1t is evident that the greater weight
bullet has in proportion to its stcuonai
area, the less will be the degree OF me re-
sistance opposed to 1t by the an other
things being equal. An athlete colio not
throw cork as far as boy couio pr'ce
of lead of the same size and shape mere
fore the heaviest available material--le..u-
is used in the manufacture of the fliic bui-
lets. For the same reason, the moderh
long bullet maintains it's velocity much bet
ter than the old round bullet used IN the
musket and early Misunderstanding flne
But when bullet is made longer than us
diameter some means must be taken to IN
sure its flying in the direcGen OF Its long
axis-point on. This is the object or the
spiral grooves that are cut on the inside OF
a rifle barrel for 1t is found that II the bull
let be caused to rotate with sufficient rapid
ity on it's long axis, it will not turn side
ways during its flight The degree or TINS
twist in the rifiing is called Its pitch; Inc
longer the bullet in proportion to It's dame
ter. the quicker the pitch of the rife must
be: If the bullet is too long for given
pitch of rifiing to handle, this Will pc SHOWN
by the bullet going through the target III
sideways or tipping postion-in the par
lance of the rifieman it "keyholes" 1t Is
necessary for the bullet to be kept point on
from consideration of accuracy, as well as
to maintain its velocity.
Quicker Twist of Rifing.
When we increase the proportionate
length of our bullet and use quicker
twist of rif1ng, 1t becomes necessary to
harden the bullet by the addition of tin or
anthony, so that 1t will hold on to the ri
fling and not be blown straight through the
barrel without following the grooves
stripping, rif1emen call it. But when we
reach a certain point in lengthening the
bullet and increasing the pitch Of the RI
n c
good results. Therefore, in the modern
high-power rifle the bullet is made up of
core Of lead, with a jacket of very tough
metal generally an alloy OF copper and
nickel; and the tough jacket holds on to the
rifiing SO well that we are enabled to fire
charges Of highly explosive compounds be-
hind the bullet, giving nearly double the
velocity that 1t was possible to obtain with
the old black powder rifle. The modern
high-power rife is, therefore, one which
fires a jacketed bullet very long in proper
ton to its diameter, by means OF a charge
Of smokeless powder several times as
strong as black powder with nearly double
the velocity obtained with lead bullets and
black powder, and as a result of the long
bullet and high and well sustained velocity
the curve described by the bullet Is much
nearer a straight line-'its trajectory is
fatter'-its penetration greater, and it's
range longer.
There is another deviation laterally from
the straight line shown by rifle bullet and
more pronounced in rifles having quick
twist; this is called drift 1t is a lateral
movement due to the spin of the bullet on
Its long axis. AS the bullet is constantly
falling in it's fight. the under surface meets
with more air resistance than the upper,
and the bullet therefore tends to roll later
ally on this denser air; SO that a rifle hav-
ing a right-hand direction to its pitch of
rifiing will cause a bullet to drift to the
right, while one with left-hand twist will
drift to the left. Correction of this drift
fn ha IN ia
rifles, but on the military sight of our ma
tional arm-the Krag-the correction is
made automatically when the elevation is
changed.