Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1915-08-12
Surprising Discoveries
About Bullets and Shrapne|

a.
About Bullets and Shrapne|
The conflict now raging in Europe
has brought to light some very un-
usual facts as to the penetrability OF
bullets and other projectiles.
During the winter campaign in
Russia, for instance, it was demon
strated time and again that three or
four feet of snow afforded as effective
a shield against rifle bullets at long
range as the same thickness of steel
or concrete, and the more loosely the
snow was packed the more bullet
proof it became.
Experiments conducted by Russian
military scientists along these lines
showed that even at point blank range
a rifle bullet will not penetrate eight
feet of snow.
In the vast field of trench warfare
an excellent opportunity has been
afforded to test the resisting power OF
clay, earth and sand, and some very
striking and apparently anomalous
results have been revealed.
Five feet of clay will stop modern
rifle bullet, at the closest range, and
SO will three feet of loose earth or two
and a half feet of sand, but three feet
of tightly packed earth is not bullet
proof, and high velocity bullets will
penetrate through sand farther at
long range than they will at close
range.
This latter fact will appear more
remarkable if it is borne in mind that
the penetration OF bullet is usually
affected as much by the air resistance
it encounters in its path as by the
target itself. Thus it takes four feet
of soft wood across the grain to stop
a bullet fired at point blank range,
but at distance of 500 yards the
same bullet would be stopped by two
feet of the same kind Of wood. Again,
while it takes q inches of hard wood,
ike oak, to stop a bullet fired at
point blank range, only 10 inches
are required when the range is 500
yards. Why, therefore, sand should
be more easily penetrated at long
range than at close range is more or
less Of a mystery.
The fact that half an inch of iron
or mild steel, quarter Of an inch OF
hard steel is bullet proof is not par
ticularly surprising, but it was not
suspected, until actual experiences in
the present campaign demonstrated
the fact, that 6 inches of shingles, 10
inches of coal or s feet of snow is
equally effective.
The effect of shrapnel, which has
been so extensively used by all the
armies now engaged, has been very
closely studied by army medical men,
and it is not unlikely that the con-
illusions arrived at may result in the
near future in a return to the wear
ing of individual armor like that
worn by the knights of old.
Eighty out of every hundred soldi-
ers killed or wounded in the present
war are hit by shrapnel. Shrapnel
is a combination of shell and grape
shot, having the range of the former
with the scattering effect of the lat
ter. 1t was invented by Col. Shrap-
mel, of the British Army, who, at
the siege of Gibraltar in 1873, noticed
how few cannon balls hit men, while
the more effective grapeshot was no
good at a greater range than 200
yards. TO get the range of the one
with the scattering effect of the other
he filled a hollow cannon ball with
grapeshot and attached a fuse to it in
such way that the ball exploded
over the heads of the enemy at such
a height as most effectively to disable
the greatest number OF men.
A French Army surgeon recently
reported that out of IS soldiers whom
he had treated for wounds in the
head AZ had not been provided with
the protective headpiece, while only
10 were injured despite its use. OF
the AZ unprotected soldiers, % suf-
Tered fractures which in most cases
proved fatal, and the remainder sus-
tanned severe wounds on the head or
scalp, while the wounds of the pro-
tected soldiers were for the most part
superficial Sun,