Bisbee daily review., 1915-04-11
This Question Is Propounded On Account of the Suppos- ed Scarcity of Copper In Germany and Austria
IF HER COPPER LASTS
 SHE IS SAFE FOR TIME
Something of the Uses of Cop per In the Manufacture of Cartridges and Munitions of War Told In Article

How long will five billion cartrid- ges last in a war of the size of the present ouee How much copper has Germany on hand from which Co make new cartridges for the infantry rifles and machine guns. new am uuition cases for field guns and drvu bands for the shells ot al sizes Great Britain has declared copper contra band of war and is tryiI Co stop it's going to any port whence it might reach Germany. Other thing might end the war more speedily. but when the supply of copper quits, then the war quits likewise. The Germans were reported to have had nearly five billion rifle cartridges on hand when the war broke out They prob ably have four million men under arms, possibly more They have thousands of machine guns each of which eats up cartridges as fast as a whole infantry battalion Twelve hundred and fifty rounds per soldier. excluding the machine guns, and the O00,O0OOOO cartridges re gone Without doubt the Germans are re- duced already to picking up the fired cases when it is feasible Co do SO. Trench fighting is particularly well adapted Go this purpose, while from a machine gun the eiected cases are thrown SO uniformly that basket would catch practically an Of them
 The German cartridge cases are not well adapted to being reloaded The American government rcloads the fired rifle cartridges, and the require ments specify that each ease must stand 20 such reloadmgs without splitting or giving way at any spot Hundreds Of thousands of fired cart ridges are reloaded by ihe United States army each year and the eco- nomy thereof is great because while the complete loaded cartridges cost 2 l-2 cents. the ease itself costs near ly l 1-2 cents, saving of 60 per cent through reloadine
 Both the German authorities and Sir Charles Ross. the designer of the Canadian army rifle, have expert mented with the manufacture of steel cartridge cases. Ross produced them, but they were too costly to be com mercially practicable
 The start of the brass cartridge ease is fiat of copper-zinc alloy. lt goes through a battery Of draw press es until it has been drawn ont to brass cylinder, about the length or the complete shell Then the head is formed from the thick brass left in the base During these drawing operations the case has to be fre- quently annealed, the process making the brass very brittle. In American cartridges the final operation is to meek down the cylinder to the pro- per bottle-ueck form for that particu- lar rife In the British service. where the cordite powder is loaded in the form of tubular strips, the powder is inserted before the ease is necked down Every shell has to be gauged to make sure it wiu chamber in the rifle, for a bad one might jam rifle or tie up a machine gun for day.
 Brass insted of pure copper is used N'N NtANiH' 'NNfi'NlH Nfltf'. NNNI-lif AAHi" I'Ni resiliency to spring back to form aft- CT being thrust against tha chamber walls in the rifle by the terrific gas pressure. lf the case does not do this it cannot be extracted so he tenn per of the finished shell is very im- portant IT it is too brittle, 1t will split at the neck or break off at the base, disabling the weapon 1T it is too soft it will upset or swell into the chambers most minute rough spots. and cannot bo extracted
 The chamber pressure Of the rifles used in the war ranges from 10000 ib. to 5000 ID. per square inch of cham Der area The actual thrust on the head of the bolt holding the shell i'm 1 Continued on Page Two)