The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1918-10-30

(St. Petersburg Times)

An interesting description Of the
shot gun invented by W. G. Eager,
formerly of st. Petersburg, and now
lone of the chief weapons used by the
american army in France, has been
written by Peter P. Carney, editor Of
the National Sports syndicate. Mr..
Eager was connected with the, st.
Petersburg Lighting company three
years ago. Extracts from the article
are given.
Three score years ago the shot gun
with sawed off barrel was the handy
piece of the sheriffs who hunted the
outlaws, prison guards, express mes
sengers and stage coach guards, and
Lit did yeoman service.
When America took a hand In the
war Georgia engineer by the name
of Eager began Illuminating on ways
to stop the Hun. His nominations
brought him to the discarded weapon
of the days Of mushroom mining
towns. 1t was the big idea.
He suggested the utilization OF the
! short barrel shot gun to the war de
partment and the suggestion me
with favor. The improved Winches
ter riot gun, 1897 model, six shot
hand operated, single barrel pun
shot gun was examined and foun
worthy.
! But there was one problem to b
met That was the placing OF tn
bayonet The barrel of the gun wa
4 quite thin and did not offer muc
support for bayonet. This is wheI
Yankee ingenuity asserted itself an
} made the gun the deadliest weapo
4 ever conceived or used by man.
The weakness of the barrel w;
\ overcome by providing an OUT
i steel coat, or jacket, which Is pc
I foxated and held short distan'
4 away from the barrel proper al
- forms an air chamber that acts
! "a cooling jacket. To this reinforce
I Jacket is the bayonet attached.
! This jacket prevents the scorchil
a of the shooters hands and permi
rapid fire. The machine holds fl
4 shells and there is one shell In t
> chamber making 1t capable of fri
I six shots as rapidly as one can p1
Z the trigger and work the pump he
Z die. This we might assert is Nigh
Z fast when in the hands of tr
- shooter
- These shells contain IL drains
. smokeless powder, 90 buckshot lo'
8 pellets to each cartridge, each 7
. let about the size of 80 CALL
bullet. It is possible for one m
shooting, and others loading for h
to fire SO cartridges minute, VIII
means $50 slugs, a veritable SHOW
of lead, would be sprayed over a
yard sector. With hundreds Of tn
guns in close range before line
men armed with trench shot gu
In the past these guns have GOV
mobs and upset mass formations.
is unwise to stand in front of Their
=. especially when they are in the ha
of one who might pull the triggel
The gun weighs 7 IL pounds
the bayonet | IL pounds. 1t Is
,12 gauge pattern, with barrels
- inches long made from rolled st
- cyclinder bored. The bayonet
be removed and used for "close
al fighting. A sling is attached to
~ gun the same as to the rifle, so
III it may be thrown over the shoul
q The guns are mainly in the hs
II of trapshooters, men who learned
II shoot at clay targets at the gun {
III TGapshooters are sportsmen
q have used the guns to defect and
III plode hand grenades thrown by
ri enemy.
& Hand grenades explode four
ii onds after they are thrown-an
Ill they are missed by the shooter
. pays for the miss with his life.
compactness of the shot will G
ri the grenade and cause it to exI
near the enemy trench, which
fatal to the thrower.