The daily Alaskan., 1916-04-07
BULLETS IN FLIGHT
Even the Best Aimed Ones Never
 Follow Their Noses.
STRIKE A WEE BIT SIDEWAYS.

The FoJecrii0 reNelS on A SuTNoT VI
 Course, and it Keeps Its ANis Always
 In the Direction the Axts Had Whom
 the Ball Left the Gun.
 It Is well known fact that a bullet never goes straight to mark, but flies in curve on the order of the parabola. But most people think that tho bullet itself follows Its nose and that at first (when the nose is pointed pP1 the bull let follows it and that when the bullet is coming down on tho ether leg Of the curve the nose Is pointed down
 This Is Q mistake, for the nose. Of a bullet always maintains its own dtrec- tion, no matter what the bullet as a whole tries to do. That is, H gun be pointed slightly up, the bullet when 1t strikes the target, will not enter 1t per pend!cularly by the nose, and the hole made will be larger thaR the bulet Is round, for the bullet Of necessity must hit in a certain degree Hatwiss. Of course the reason the bullet does this is because It has 0 very rapid rotation given 1t by the rifles lR the barrel ! which keeps 1t also from turning over and over in the mir.
 Another thing that will seem peculiar to most people is the action of gravity on n bullet. If gun be fired exactly horizontally the bullet win have to bo pulled down by gravity exactly sixteen feet during the first second. So if there were no sights on gun and 1t was leveled by means of a hand level and fired the bullet would hit something exactly sixteen feet below the gun at a distance away equal to the velocity of | the bullet per second.
 No matter what the bullets velocity gravity will pull it down sixteen feet during the first second, or if the bullet be fired upward gravity viii take from it's upward velocity thirty-two feet dur ing the first second.
 The bullet itself keeps its axis al- ways in the direction the axis had when the bullet issued from the gun This Is the well known gyroscoplc prin- ciple made use of in the gyroscopic compass and the monorail car-that a rotating body will maintain its axis of ! rotation in the same direction unless Q ! moment of force be applied to 1t.
 But what actually happens with the modern high powered rife? Does 1t shoot bullet that goes in sideways?
 To a slight extent 1t may be stated | that the modern army bullet does do that very thing. Its velocity. however, Is so enormous that the gun barrel does not have to be elevated through 80 large an angle, md consequently tho bullet enters fairly on Its nose, though not squarely so, at all ordinary ranges.
 The same may be said Of the bigger guns. They have rifling tH them GAd so give rotation and gyreScopAe action to the projectiles. But 6 mortar does not. A mortar shoots somSthinE al- most straight up in the air and lets it fall down. As the mortar is too short barreled to be rihed the top of the pro jectile would hit a target long dis. tance away, bus for a shot almost straight up iu the air t0 fall right down of course the bottom of the projectlle would strike lrst- Ths mOEfET Protec- tiles arc generally round, ss that t will not matter how they strike.
 The reason Q bullet cannot be made so that 1t will always enter q target squarely on its nose is that for every range a differently shaped bullet would have to be manufactured; also the bul. let should be symmetrical, 50 that the air will exert no disturbing influence on its distorted parts.
 A bullet has a distinct curve like that of baseball, due to its rotation, and this curve Is Independent of the Darab- ola given by gravity. The smoother and more polished a bullet is the less Is this curve. But the action of the ritling in a gun barrel puts little grooves in the bullet as 1t goes through the barrel. These catch the air as the bullet rotates and causes the curve spoken of.
 If the bullet be rotated in the direc- ton of the hands of a clock the curve will make the bullet go to the left of the exact point aimed at. The effect Is so small, however, that 1t does not have to be taken into account in the manufacture of rifles and ammunition