The Washington herald., 1907-01-15

manufactured by or for the government
SEE 43S rifles designed To fire the
ammunition mentioned above as sold 20
private parties have been manufactured
and mostly sold to dealers and to indi-
viduals by the Winchester Repeating
Arms Company, and two such rifles have
been manufactured by the NJ. Hartley
Company, one Of which is still in its pos
session. It is not believed, however. that
any of these rifles would ordinarily fire
the government ammunition, because Of
their light blow by the firing pin, which
IS the reason for the difference Of primer
and anvil mentioned above"
Statement of Capt. Rice.
Capt John H. Rice, of the Ordnance
Bureau. an authority on small arms, in
his sworn statement, says that the new
Springfield rife has been in use by the
troops about eight months. taking the
place Of the Krag adopted a little time
before the Spanish war. Asked to de-
scribe the bores Of the two rifles Capt.
Rice said: "The Dores are practically
Identical as regards rifling, each having
four lands, .06 inch wide, the depth OF
groove or height Of land is O04. The Krag
rifle barrel is longer than that of the new
Springfield rife and the chamber is diff
ferent in size, being smaller in the Krag,
so that the cartridge for the model OF
l9O3 commonly known as the new Spring
field, will not enter the chamber Of the
Krag rifle by about one inch. 1t is, there
fore. impossible TO use the model Of 1913
ammunition in the Krag rife on this ac-
count. as well as because the krag rife is
constructed TO use a flanged cartridge
case, while the model OF 1893 rife uses
a cannelured case, which is commonly
termed groOved.'
He describes the markings which ap-
pear on the bullets used in each rife as
Identical The bullet is marked said
Capt Rice, with four grooves of slight
depth corresponding to the lands OF the
Tihiug and making a slight spiral from
the base toward the point Of the bullet.
Now. I want to show you,' said AS
sistant Attorney General Purdy, these
shells. four clips. and these six ball car
tridges which have been Identified. as
having been picked up In the streets OF
The city of Brownsville by different per
sons on the morning Of the 18th oi
August, 1906, and ask you If YOU know
what kind OF ammunition they areE
me- tllDE. answered AGDA- lAlftf a 2
for the model Of 1898 ammunition manu-
featured either for OF by the government
for use in its model 1895 rifle. and after
considerable investigation Of the subject
I feel sure that they cannot be used with
any other arm 90 be found in this cOuu-
try The cartridge cases are for model OF
1893 government ammunition, part Of them
were manufactured at the FrankfOrd
Arsenal and gun factory. which produces
material only for the use Of troops. and
the remainder were manufactured by the
Union Metallic Cartridge Company. evi-
dentIy in accordance with q contract win
the United States government and foI
delivery % the government. The cases
are identified as for the 1893 rifle by their
shape and size, as well as the fact that
they are cannelurcd. Their place Of man
usacture is indicated by marking on the
base Of the shell. Those from the Union
Metallic Cartridge Company may be dis
tnguished from any similar cases manu-
factured By them for commercial use py
the date being stamped In, which Is not
the case with their commercial material
Judge Purdy showed Capt. Rice bullets
taken from the diuing-rOom door of the
house OF Mr. Yturria, IN Brownsville
from a wooden well covered IN Hturria S
yard and bits of shells frcm the house
OF AIr. GaTza, and he identified them as
being ammunition used only in the l90-
Springfield or The krag of 1885.