The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1907-07-05
THE new BULLET
IS MORE DANGEROUS
The Hague Conference May Discuss
Question.
new BALL HAS MUCH SHARPER PUNT
''Spitz" Bullet, Recently Adopted by
the United States Army, Declared,
However, by Ordnance officers to Be
More Humane in the Wound Inflicted,
but Surer in Death-dealing Qualities.

Washington Especially. = The re-
port from The Hague Conference
that disposition exists in certain
quarters to raise the question of pro-
hibiting the rifle bullet adopted by
Germany, Great Britain, France and
America has served to perplex the
experts of the army and navy ord
nance bureaus here. Even the med1-
cal officers in both services are at
loss to conjecture what reasonable
ground of objection can be found
against the use of the new cupro-
nickel, sharp-pointed 1906 model
bullet.
1t was reported from The Hague
that this bullet was more dangerous
than the "dum-dum' bullet. but the
experts here are a unit in declaring
that the new bullet is, if anything,
more humane than the old bullet, SO
far as concerns the nature of the
wound inflicted by it. But, accord
ing to the ordnance officers, in one
way at least the new bullet is apt
to be more dangerous than the old,
and that is in killing or wounding
more soldiers. 1t was designed ex-
pressly for that purpose, too
This is not because the bullet de-
forms upon striking an object, but
from the reason that owing to it's
higher velocity, the bullet has a re-
markably fiat trajectory. The con-
sequence is, that, travelling in an
almost horizontal plane, the new
bullet would be certain to strike an
object within the 1000 yards range,
which the old bullet would pass clean
over. Thus, the list of fatalities
would probably be largely increased,
5ut as no nation has heretofore
made any objection on that score
when the absolute necessity of war
was demonstrated, it cannot now be
regarded as q valid objection.
The new bullet is known in Europe
as the "Spitz" bullet; was originally
designed by the French and soon
adopted by the Germans. Our own
ordnance department last year made
an exhaustive set of experiments to
test its worth and decided in its
favor. None are in use in our mill
tary service at present because it is
not deemed we'll to issue them until
a sufficient supply is on hand for
the entire Army. The manufacture
is going on as rapidly as the cart
ridge makers of the country can
meet the demands of the War De-
partment and it is estimated that
within six months, the new she'll will
be ready for issue.
The physical properties of the new
ball as compared with the old are
marked by lightness and extreme
sharpness. 1t weighs $50 grains,
whereas the present standard bullet
weighs 220 grains. 1t is projected
by SIS grains of nitroglycerin pow
der, while the old ball used only AZ
gains, so this combination is increas-
ed powder charge and decreased
weight of projectile results in an in
crease of the velocity of the ball
from 1900 feet per second for the
old ball to 2,S00 feet for the new.
To the eye the most marked differ
euce is the keen point of the new
ball. The present standard bullet
had a rounded or "snub" nose; the
new ball begins to taper toward the
point the moment it leaves the cart
ridge shell and is as sharp as
needle by comparison with the other.