The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1918-05-01
BY IAN n. COLLINS.

ey JAMES n. COLLINS.
(From the Committee on Public lnforma-
tion.)
When the ordnance department an.
nounced recently that Its production
of rifles had passed the 10000 mark
weekly. the statement was news to the
general public, bringing both surprise
and relief. To the ordnance officers
In charge Of small-arms production.
however. these figures represented
simply the attainment of a production
that had been planned months before
important detail In the war pro-
gram foreseen and provided for-just
another item In the vast work OF prep
aration, which was running on SEIZED
production of rifles will have reached
the 100000 mark weekly, and by July
! u army will have 10000 modified
Enfield rifles, officially known as the
U. s. rifle. model of 1917. and 100000
new Springfields of the standard u.
s. army type, known as the U. S. rife.
model of 1908. Even IL Uncle Sans
own arsenals stop making rifles to-
morrow. our private manufacturers
would be able to provide wastage for
several armies of 100000 men. Be
sides, II has over 100000 rifles for drill
purposes.
This production is four times great
or than the British output after q year
Of war and twice as large as the Brit
ish output after two and one-half
years of a II is q larger produc-
ton than has ever been achieved by
any country In a similar period, and
It ean more than adequate supply
for all OF our soldiers now In France
and In training here. For we have q
production capacity for creating, In
due time. a reserve of rifles at the
rate Of 100000 monthly, providing for
m increase In our army, II necessary,
at the rate Of Is w~ar-strength d.
visions Of approximately 27,0n sol
diers each month. as approxim ately
only 80 per cent Of the troops In a d.
vision are armed with the rife.
Back OF this achievement there are
two interesting stories. First comes
the Industrial story of rifle production
in such large quantities-the careful
redesigning of the standard British
Enfield rife to take Springfield am
munition; and, second, the story Of
the superiority of the Springfield rifle
over those used by all other armies,
including the German Mauser.
Could Not Make Army Rifles.
When war came to Europe in 1914
not q single firearms manufactures In
the United States had equipment or
workmen for making army rifles. Only
the government ~arsenals at Spring.
neld, Mass. and Rock Island, ILL.,, were
capable Of making anything better
than sporting arms.
The difference between a sporting
rifle and q modern army rifle is great,
Sporting rifles are sold to single pur-
chasers an a rule and call for little
sxactituds in the interchangeability OF
parts. II something breaks on the
sporting rife. the owner sends II bach
to the factory to be repaired. Al
army rife, however, must be rigidly
interchangeable in all Its parts, so tha'
pieces Of mechanism Of n rifle cal
be used to repair another In the field
Its parts must be machined to toler
ance Of one one-thousandth Of an inch
This calls for exact and expensive,
gauges In large quantities.
The Springfield 1908 Is composed o.
about 100 different parts, and the car
trid~ge-receiving mechanism. ~includin,
the bolt, alone requires 100 gauges FOL
It's manufacture. These gauges cal
only be made by expert toolmakers, o.
whom there are only q limited number
in the United States, and the magni
tude of the problem Is realized wher
one knows that thousands of duplicate
gauges must be made to equip ma.
chinists and inspectors for large guam
tity production. First, there must be
what Is known as a grandmother
gauge, fiawless In Its dimensions. The
grandmother gauge is used only to
check up q number Of master gauges
and these master gauges In turn are
relied upon to keep the large number
Of actual working gauges up to the
standard. Not only are tens Of thou
sands Of gauges required to equip
factory for the production Of arms
and ammunition on the modern scale
but these gauges must be regulari,
replaced. II 10 estimated that tn
most durable of them become inaccur
ate after 10000 to 10000 parts have
been tested. and some types of gauges
require replacement for every 1000 o.
5000 parts manufactured.
Preparing Gauges.
Nearly \ year was spent by private
manufacturers In this country prepar
ing gauges and machine tools 4
manufacture rifles and ammunition
for the British and Russians, and eve
after actual production had begul
there was trouble with gauges. Con
tracts were placed with different con
Germs. each Of which undertook to pro
vide its own gauges from grandinaste
SAUCES brought from abroad. Whs'