Payette enterprise. (Payette, Canyon Co., Idaho) 1909-1935, 1913-11-06
SPEED OF A SHOT
Finding the Velocity of a Missile
a Simple Matter.
MEASURED BY A PAPER DRUM.
The WhirIins Cylinder Registers tho
ProiectiIe's Flight With Minute 40.
curacy at Any Desired Distance
Wing Shots and Shot Charges.

wing onots ana onot Cnar9es.
Persons at all interested in gun firing
Of any kind, whether Of the revolver
or rifle or Of heavy ordnance OF any
kind, occasionally come upon the term
'muzzle velocity" and Yelocities of the
missile at stated distances.
How can anybody tell how fast O
bullet is travelling when it leaves the
muzzle of a weaponT' is likely com
ment on the part of the layman.
As a matter of fact this approximate
velocity of the missile may be one of
the easiest of determinations to make.
In the first place, a drumlike cylinder
Is made of fixed diameter and Of suf-
ficiently stiff paper to allow of its re-
volying rapidly on spindle. Using a
cylinder of small circumference, it Is
necessary that the speed approach
1000 revolutions q minute. These rev.
olutions are produced by electric pow
er, and the count is made by an exact
mechanical register
The gun is placed securely at the II
quired distance from the drum and +,
sighted directly at the center of the
cylinder, which is spinning at SO
many rods, even miles, a minute, as
its circumference determines. With
the drums speed adjusted an electric
current discharges the weapon. the
bullet striking the center of the drum
as measured from top TO bottom.
The reader understand y that with the
drum stationary the bully would pass
directly through it on the line of its
diameter, coming out on the other side
with scarcely a shade of impeachment
With the drums periphery whirling at
the rate of 1900 revolutions a minute
and its diameter only fraction more
.han a foot this would mean a rate of
the fragment of a second necessary for
the bullet to enter one side of the pa
per drum, cross 1t and out at the other
side the opposite side of the drum
would show considerable deviation
from an exact diameter of line of pas
sage.
1t Is this space of detection shown
inside the further rim of the drum that
IS used for the computation of velocity
of the missile. The speed of the cylin-
der may be computed to the ten thou
sandth part of a second if necessary
and the lineal distance run in that time
be charted in perpendicular lines on
the inner side of the paper. at what
ever line the bullet penetrates outward
1t registers its time In crossing tho
diameter of the cylinder. If it has re
quired the ten-thousandth part of a
second for the bullet to fly one foot its
muzzle velocity to the mile may be
computed by any schoolboy. BY the
same process, too, the bullets velocity
at 100 yards or 500 yards may be de
termined.
Years ago before wing shooting had
become an art the farmer with his
loading shotgun and charge OF
black powder would shoot directly at
wild goose or duck in full flight. He
evolved a theory of his own as to the
bird, holding that the heavy
breast feathers turned" the shot He
waited until the bird had passed him
when, firing directly at it, he could
bring down his quarry.
But 1t was not because the bird was
not vulnerable, coming breast on.
The fact was that it efw over his
charge of shot. Before he could pull
the trigger and the hammer fell on
the percussion cap and the compare
lively slow black powder could be ig-
nited and exploded, sending the shot
twenty-five or thirty yards, the bird
had flown yards perhaps beyond its
position when the fowler first touched
the trigger. But firing directly at the
bird after 1t had passed the shot
charge had a strong tendency to drop
as it flew, and the bird flying on n
level line "got in the way" of the
charge.
Today the modern nitro powders are
quicker than was the old
black gunpowder, yet It has been an
problem to determine just
how fast and in what line charge OF /
shot win travel In this determina- /
ton the revolving drum device has !
shown several important facts which |
have been taken in connection with I
the speed of individual game birds I
and the effects of windage on a Slot
charge
That most important fact as to the
light of shot from a modern shotgun /
S that at forty yards the shot are
strung out" for approximately fifteen /
,eet. While the leading pellets in the |
string Lave greatest velocity and kill
ne power, at this distance even the
railing pellets are of sufficient force /
o kill.
All this has led to the modern prsc-
ice of the fowler TO reckon With the !
speed of his shot, the speed of the |
bird the influence of the wind in |
the charge, and out OF i
.hese established facts to lead the
bird sufficiently to kill it rather than
naim and cripple it.-Marvin Holton
II Chicago Tribune.