The Dickinson press., 1913-07-19
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have shells gagged for size of pocket.
heads gagged for diameter. shells care
fully inspected inside and out for flaws,
dents and buckied necks. primer peck
cts examined for shape and condition,
shells gagged for length. shells gauged
in chamber gauge for body diameter,
necked shells gagged for profile and dis
lance from head. shells examined for
depth Of primer seating, condition of
anvil and exploded primer and shells
finally gone over for general defects
that may have escaped other inspec-
lions.
Weighing Bullets.
In the same. spirit workers with dell
cate scales. like those you see In q
druggists prescription department, are
weighing the bullets carefully, one by
one, hour after hour, day after day.
giving all their thought and attention
to this n thing, while other employ
ees explode about 100000 primers q
year in testing their sensitiveness.
The loaded shells and cartridges go
through a series Of gauges and tests
seemingly unnecessary after all that
have preceded the loading. For exam
pie, it does look a little wasteful to
see men take shells at random from
the various loading machines and
packing tables in order to cut them up
and examine the contents. When we
learn that a half million perfectly
good shells are thus destroyed each
year it impresses us as painstaking
run mad, but it helps to explain why
there are no misfres in your u M G
box.
Testing For All the World.
And then at last come the shooting
tests. Five hundred Thousand rim fire
cartridges, 100000 center fire car
tridges and 10000 loaded shells must
still be sacrificed on the various shoot
ing ranges each year in order to study
velocity, intensity Of sound, penetra-
ton. pressure and shot pattern; also
the m~ushrooming qualities Of soft
point bullets and the rgidity Of those
with metal cases. Each Of these points
In what is known as the "ballistic"
work has special experts and ap-
paratus. There is no guesswork any
where.
How Shot 10 Made.
How many Of our readers have ever
seen a shot tower? The great building
at Bridgeport, Of solid masonry, metal
and concrete, is a sight worth miles Of
travel. Two large iron cylinders de-
scend in the center, coming down
through the ceiling from above. We
are invited to look through an open
| port in one Of these.
Raining Shot.
We see nothing but the whitened
| opposite well. against which a light
burns
1t appears absolutely empty, though
within 1t is raining such a swift show
er Of invisible metal that If we were
to stretch q hands into the apparent,
~, vacant space they would be torn
from our arms.
A large water tank below is churned
into foam with the impact Of the fall
ing shot, and as we look downward we
make out finally the haze Of motion.
It is so interesting that we take the
elevator and rise ten stories to the
source Of the shower.
Here high in the air are the large
caldrons where many pigs Of lead, with
the proper alloy, r melted into q
sort Of metallic soup. This is fed into
small compartments containing sleeves
or screens, through the meshes Of
which the shining drops appear and
then plunge swiftly downward.
Cascades Of Shot.
But this only begins the process
Taken from the water tanks and hoist.
ed up again. the shot pellets in a sec.
ond Journey down through complicated
devices r sorted, tumbled, polished
graded, coated with graphite and final.
~ stored.
The building is almost bare Of work
men; everything is mechanical.
One pretty sight is that Of cascades
Of shot pouring out of spouts and roll.
AA6 SmOOIA1y uV"A 6A0SS AuS14ASS1 lAS1
above tier. Here perfect shot, moving
more swiftly than the occasional i'm.
perfect ones, shoot over low partitions
which check the latter and drop them
into separate bins.
Some Secrets Of Arms Manufacture.
From the ammunition plant let us
travel to the great factory at lion that
was once q forge shop. AS in the car
fridge factory, we find here similar Wis
tas Of swiftly whirring shafts, belt
and pulleys, long rows OF resoundine
machinery and armies Of operators.
/. Making Barrels.
One Of the most important features
! 4, Of course, the making Of barrels