Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-07-12
THE RIFLE OF THE
HUN
(By Edward c. Cross, in the August
Popular Mechanics Magazine.)

In the hands of the chap in the
sloppy greeuish-gray uniform,
watchfuIly waiting in the trench
across the way. there is a rife with
higher velocity than ours, with
nearly a foot greater stabbing
length, when the bayonet is fixed,
and with a better stock. making
snap-shooting and shooting at night
more certain.
The rifle of a nation that has
specialized on war and it's tools. the
German MauseT an some respects
offers serious advantage to its user
over the new Springfield of the
American forces. The weak point
is the man behind it 1t gives I'M
questionable advantage in bayonet
fighting the Hun doesn't like
the bayonet and therefore gets
licked in spite of his superiority in
weapon 1t gives higher speed to
it's buliet-but the German soldier
is usually a poor shot and even the
little, antiquated, patched-up, short
Lee-EnfieId Of England proved too
much for the better Mauser. be-
cause it was in the hands of better
men and better rife shots. The
stock is better than the stock on
either new Springfield or our newer
M1917. modified Enfield, but the
bolt handle is so clumsy that the
superior speed of fire of the Amer
lean rife neutralizes this advantage
and gives US a lead into the bar
gain
Consider Mauser rife No. 1858,
captured at the Sonhme, and made
| in the year 1916 at the German
works of Oberndorf, where Paul
Mauser developed the great rife
that bears his name. 1t was taken
| by the British in the year in which
/ it was made, but as it lies before
me it looks the part of the battle
| SCARED veteran. The wood Of the
stock is cheYed up and SCARED
and full Of dents, as if it had been
used on barbed wire. But the bore
is still clean and bright, testifying
to the German efficiency, and the
fear of the consequences that COM
PEELED its owner to keep it clean in
spite of hell and high water"
The stock is IS inches long, or
one-fourth more than the Spring
field. 1t is far better shaped, with
its neat pistol grip, and .semi-shot-
gun lines, and it is better shaped
than the stock of the M1917, b.
cause it fits the shoulder and aids
to line up the rifle. In mechanism
the rife is practically the same as
the new Springfield and the MISTY
which are both modified Mausers.
We tried it out one day at Camp
Kearney. Major White and l, and a
lieutenant with very Teutonic &C
cent. a man who had doubtless
served his time with some other
army regardless of his love for
America now. The African big
game hunter, swapping off his shots
in the short time Of 1875 seconds
per shot, from a position below the
elbow to the report Of the rife, and
using only this square of light for
a rear sight, made bulls eyes on
the little sin. black spot at 100
yard or else "fOurs' close up to the
black spot The lieutenant did
nearly as well.
We tried out the Hun rife at long
range, 500 yards, and then some
groups at 500 1t was accurate
enough for fighting-it hit The
3-foot black spot eight times cut of
ten shots at 500 yards, with the
other two shots not far off. At $50
yards it put five shots into space
smaller than a mans chest, but
not into so small a space as would
the two American rifles.
But with all the Mauser's good
points, it has a point so bad that
our Yankee rifles far Outclass it in
the sort of fighting now done on
the fields of Europe. This is that
the American rife in the hands of
skilled rifemen, will fire, l should
say, three or four shots to only
two shots for the Hun rifle.
The sole difference lies in the
silly and clumsy shape Of the Maus-
er bolt handle, the only weak point
in the Mauser, but the fatal and
necessary concession to the rough
handed, half trained "wop" type of
soldier found in the armies of cen
usl Europe. Ieay half-trained, be-
cause as Tlfemen. they are half
trained; a regiment of American
marines of the old days-I don't
know about them since the war
broke out-could lie in a field at
500 yards and shoot to pieces a
regiment of Prussian guards if said
guards depended only on their rife
fire to serve them. l know this be-
cause I know German systems of
training and l know the marines.
Wherefore. in spite of bayonet
superiority Of the Hun rife, and in
spite of the better stock. and in
spite OF the higher velocity Of the
German bullet, our new rife makes
two bullets fly where but one bull
let had flown beforehand bullets
are what are going to end this war.