The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1918-05-21
Rx NJ Il. COLLINS.

CFrom the Committee on Public lhforma
tion.)
When the ordnance department an
nounced recently that its production
Of rifles had passed the 10000 mark
weekly. the statehent 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
an important detail in the war pro
gram foreseen and provided for-jusi
another item in the vast work of prep
arati0n. which was running on sched
ule and a little ahead. BY now the
production If rifles will have reached
the 100000 mark weekly, and by July
/ our army will have 100000 modified
Enfield rifles, officially known as the
Z. S. rifle. model of 1917. and 7OO.0OO
new Springfields of the standard Z
S. army type, known as the u. S. rifle.
model of 1903. Even if 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
er than the British output after a year
of wal and twice as large as the Brit
ish output after two and one-half
years of war. 1t is a larger prOduc-
tion than has ever been achieved by
any country in a similar period, and
il means more than adequate supply
for all of our soldiers now in France
and In training here. For we have a
production capacity for creating. in
due time. a reserve of rifles at the
rate of 100000 monthly, providing for
an increase in our army. if necessary.
al the rate of Is war-strength d.
visions of approximately 27,0e sol
diers each month. as approximately
only 50 per cent of the troops in a d.
vision are armed with the rifle.
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 rifle to take Springfield am
munition and. second, the story of
the superiority of the Springfield rife
over those used by all other armies.
including the German Mauser.
Could Not Make Army Rifles.
When war came to Europe in 1914
not a single firearms manufactures In
the United States had equipment or
workmen for making army rifles. Only
the government a~rsenals at Spring
field. Mass. and Rock Island. H.. were
capable of making anything better
than sporting arms.
The difference between a sporting
rifle and a modern army rifle is great.
Sporting rifles are sold to single pur-
chasers as a rule and call for little
exactitude In the interchangeabillty OF
parts. If something breaks on the
sporting rife, the owner sends II back
to the factory to be repaired. An
army rifle. however, must be rigidly
interchangeable in all its parts, so that
pieces of mechanism of one rife can
be used to repair another In the field.
Its parts u be machined to toler-
ance of one one-thousandth Of an inch.
This calls for exact and expensive
gauges in large quantities.
The Springfield 1903 is composed OF
about 100 different parts, and the car
tridge-receiving mechanism, including
the bolt, alone requires 120 gauges for
its manufacture. These gauges can
only be made by expert toolmakers, of
whom there are only a limited number
In the United States. and the magni.
tude of the problem is realized when
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 grandmaster
gauge. iawless In Its dimensions. The
grandmother gauge is used only Il
check MP a number of master gauges
and these master gauges In turn are
relied upon to keep the large number
of actual working gauges up 10 the
standard. Not only are tens Of thou
sands OF gauges required to equip &
factory for the production of arm,
and ammunition on the modern scale
but these gauges must be regularl,
replaced. II is estimated that tn,
most durable of them become %inaccur
ate after 10000 to 10000 parts hav,
been tested. and some types of gauge,
require replacement for every 1000 Of
5000 parts manufactured.
Preparing Gauges.
Nearly a year was spent by privat,
manufacturers in this country prepar
Ing gauges and machine tools I,
manufacture rifles and ammunition
for the British and Russians. and evel
after actual production had begul
there was trouble with gauges. sCon
tracts were placed with different con
Germs. each of which undertook TO pro
vide Its own gauges from grandmaste
gauges brought from abroad. Whel