Metropolis weekly gazette. (Metropolis, Ill.) 1???-19??, 1917-08-03

'NNFN
tracts. with view to establishing q
general purchasing policy for the mill
tary arms OF the government as
whole.
Geomesry and Rife Fire.
Being OH the subject OF rifles, II is
interesting here II note how much
geometry enters into modern rife ire.
Fire when you see the whites of
their eyes was Prescott's stirring
command to the continentals in
trenched on Breeds Hill as the Brit
ish regulars stormed them.
Fighting still comes to that in the
ultimate. for infantry grapples hand to
hand with infantry in the final anal
ysis. bat the foot soldiers also engage
In effective warfare with battle lines
so far apart that old time soldiers
would say artillery wouldn't be eff
feciive.
The steel or nickel jacketed bullets
used in modern warfare are effective
at $500 metefs: that is. they Will seri-
ously wound At that range. They viii
penetrate single man al almost
mile. With the coming OF such high
power arms. which men can bold 10
their shoulders and kill other men
with SO far away that Frederick the
Greats cannon would have been inef
fective. the problem arose how TO en-
able the marksman TO aim accurately.
No matter how great the initial or
average velocity of bullet. II travels
not in straight line. but along "A ira
jeetory. Conceding that no obstacle
presents itself in the path of the bull
let. its starting point Is the muZzle of
! the rife from which II Is fired. It's des-
tinafion a point on the surface of the
earth The line connecting these two
points l. curve called the trajectory.
the degree of curvature increasing as
the bullet nears its destination. or. in
other words. as its velocity decreases.
Modern Rifle Sight.
1t is apparent that man wishing to
hit an object at point 5000 yards
from where he stands cannot point his
rife directly at this object. II he did
so the bullet would fall far short Of the
mark. The modern infantry rifle Is
fitted with a sight which may be regu-
lated according TO the distance the tar
get is from the marlsman. When in
fantry Is enga ged the range finders first
determine the distance Of the enemy.
The range given, the men regulate the
rear sight-raise or lower IL as the case
may be-and then aim al the target.
To their eyes they. are aiming point
blank at the mark they wish to hit. but
in reality the rife is pointing high
above Il. When you see picture OF
soldier drawing a bead on the enemy,
If he is fighting at long range. he is
not pointing his gun at the enemy at
all. but considerably over his head II
the range given is correct and the
marksman sights properly the bullet
drops just enough by the time 1t reach
| es the target TO strike 1t.
Modern rifles are fitted with telescope
sights as well, in order TO make plain
to the eye the target. which may be so
| far away that Ii Is not easily discern
| ible.
| To show how accurate are these high
power rifles with telescope range sights,
the Russian sharpshooters at Port Ar
| thur more than once caught the CLINT
| of the sun on the lenses Of telescopes in
| the hands of japanese range finders on
distant hills and fired with such accn-
racy as TO send the bullets down the
telescope and into the eye of the OBJ
| server