Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-10-18

w come to the front in this
war;" said an officer who
specializes in musketry, craftsmanship,
minor ordnance, interior and exterior
ballistics, and all that. And with that
introduction to the subject, he con-
tinued: Il was waiting for that charge
to be made. I knew it would come l
lid not know from which side of this
colossal conflict it would come first,
but 1 knew it would arrive. 1t was a
little late, but it got here. The dunn
dunn bullet was sure to be heard from.
1t seems impossible to hold first
class war or even a side-line war with
out using dumdum bullets, yet it has
been many years since d iumdum bull
let has been fired.
1.-The original dumdum bullet, on
striking man or other obstacle,
mushroomed, spread or nattened more
than the common variety of military
anthony and tin in such proportions
that it was quite hard. Now, any bull
let which for one of various reasons
deforms on leaving the rifle, in its
flight, or on striking man is called
dumdum. A modern bullet which
for any reason performs in some way
after the fashion of the original dunn
dunn is denounced as a dumdum, but
it is not.
*
Let us consider this question little
further. Before the invention and in
PRODUCTION in the mid-eighties of the
small-caliber, steel-jacketed and sharp
pointed bullet driven at terrible veloc-
ity by one of the nitric acid explosives.
bullets were nodded of lead of varying
nf
large caliber, 60, 5s. so and
peter and sulphur at speed
averaging for the various guns
of around fifteen foot-seconds at the
muzzle. The range of these bullets wa:
relatively short, their velocity was
relatively low and their trajectory or
path of flight was SO curved that their
point-blank range or danger zone was
small and their angle of fall was so
great after passing the point-blank
space that If you did not guess the
range to your man pretty closely you
probably would not hit him.
But when one of these old-style.
heavy, big and slow-traveling bullets
did hit man he went out of action
and he did not get well soon enough to
return to the firing line for participa-
was wounded. But in fighting savage:
or fanatics these bullets were not as
effective in stopping their onrush as
some military men could wish.
'Dumdum is a military village and
extensive cantonment in Hindustan, in
the province of Bengal. about four
miles east-northeast of Calcutta. The
village is famous as being the scene
Of the first open, manifestation of the
Sepoys against the cartridges creased
with animal fat. which led to the
bloody mutiny against British author
ity in 1857. 1t is also famous. or per-
haps infamous, according to ones
point of view as the birthplace of the
cartridge and the bullet which wa:
called the dumdun, or often simply
the dumpum. The last time ! had oc-
casion to look up any facts about the
village of Dumdum. I remember read
thing more than 1000. The bullet
which the British made there was
blunter than the bullet in common
military use at that period, and the Or
nosed when compared with the exceed =
ingly sharp-nosed bullet in universal
military use today The original dunn
dun bullet was made of softer COM
and its wounds were more severe. It's
shock-action and blood-letting capac-
ity were greater than its contemporary
bullets, and 1t performed its function
of stopping fanatics.
with the old-fashioned. big and slow
lead bullets, wounds as 1 have already
said, were usually grave Head, breast
and abdominal wounds were fatal in a
large percentage of cases. To be struck
in the shoulder. arm, thigh. leg or foot
commonly meant amputation. with all
the danger of death from shock or
| blood poisoning. If the bullet struck
a bone, it shattered it. When new ri
f1es, powder and bullets came into be-
ing, the gravity of wounds diminished.
The smooth, hard, sharp, fast-tiying
bullet at long ranges made a neat,
clean perforation, either through It's
sue or bone. 1t did not smash. Ampu-
tations have become rare. Death from
loss of blood is not so common. Death
from shock, which has been described
as a general disturbance of the nerv-
Gus system, due to a suddenly shatter-
ed bone, a cavity entered or other
grave wounds. is rare. Blood poison
| has become uncommon. Recovery is
generally rapid. Military men say that
| it is too rapid. At long or middle
ranges it generally requires a shot in a
| vital spot to kill a man with the pres
| ent bullet.
X X
But, at close ranges. say 100, 200 or
| 800 yards, this sharp, understanding
bullet often produces what is termed
explosive effect The bullet itself does
not of course. explode, but it displaces
so suddenly the tissue at the point of
entrance that this tissue suddenly dis
places surrounding tissue, and because
of this wounds made at short range by
bullet of very high velocity are some
times alleged as having been made
| with explosive bullets, or mushrooming
| bullets or dumdum bullets Some
| times the dumdum charge arises be-
| :ause of the appearance Of these close
ange wounds.
"As have said, there is now no such
| thing in use as dumdum bullets, but
| bullets can be deformed and can be
made to mushroom on striking a body,
| md, of course, certain persons will say
| hat they are dumdums In this era