The Repeating Rifle in Hunting and Warfare [pp. 141-148]

The Repeating Rifle in Hunting and [Vaofare.
and then compelled to halt and clear
away obstructions, meanwhile receiving
the fire from defending forces armed
with this rifle, and discharging their
repeaters into the ranks every three or
four seconds. It makes one feel good
to know that his fighting days are over
to think of it. The next advantage,
perhaps, in using this rifle, consists in
the greater number of rounds of ammunition that can be carried per man.
Formerly the soldier carried from 60
to IOO rounds; now the lightness of
these small-bore cartridges permits of
I75 rounds being carried. The efficacy
of this small-bore, as a military weapon,
would consist principally in the flatness
of the trajectory of its projectile. -This
flatness of the trajectory will allow of a
fire being opened upon troops forming
for attack much sooner than would be
the case with the 45 caliber. Theoretically, as the range of these rifles is so
great, about four thousand yards, it
might be supposed that the distance at
which firing would be begun would be
limited only by the range of the rifle;
but practically, and in actual warfare,
the fire of the troops of the line is
governed greatly by the distance up to
which the weapon used is effective without its becoming necessary to raise the
back sight in order to secure greater
range. Range-finders may do very well
in drill for sharpshooters, and perhaps
for selected troops in siege of fortified
places, but in actual field fighting there
can neither be thought of, nor is there
time to fool with such affairs, and they
cut but a small figure in actual battle.
Doctor Hall, in the article quoted
above, in alluding to the importance in
hunting game of being able to estimate
distance, touches upon the question of
trajectory, and I will take-the liberty of
quoting from him once more. "In the
use of the rifle, the difficulty lies not in
attaining the direction, but the necessary elevation varying with the distance,
the act of gravitation upon the project
ile being constant,- whatever motion
we may impart to it, its trajectory is a
curved line, a parabola, modified by the
resistance which the air offers to the
moving body. We must thus elevate
the rifle sufficiently to overcome the
downward tendency of the moving body
from the influence of gravitation. In
the Springfield rifle used by the regular
army, the projectile falls eight inches in
the first two hundred yards. As the
ratio of fall increases as the square of
the distance, the necessity of accurate
estimation of the interval becomes
greater as the target is farther removed." Taking then the fall of the
Springfield rifle bullet at two hundred
yards to be correctly given above, its
drop at five hundred yards should be
fifty inches, sufficient to cause it to
strike the ground long before it reached
an infantry soldier standing erect, supposing that the rifle was aimed at his
breast. In such a case, then, as where
one body of troops were forming to
attack another that was armed with
this rifle, they could do so at five hundred yards, or even at a less distance,
without danger of suffering much themselves, should the troops attacked have
failed to estimate correctly the interval,
and to elevate their rifles, that is, raise
the sights, accordingly. This rapid
drop of the bullet of military rifles, with
which armies have heretofore been
equipped, and the difficulty in correctly
estimating distance, accounts in some
measure, perhaps, for the great disproportion between the number of bullets
fired in battle, and the number of killed
and wounded. The trajectory of the
bullet of the latest modern military repeating rifle being so much flatter than
that of either the Springfield or other
army rifles, the drop of this bullet up to
certain ranges must be correspondingly
less, and it follows that troops when not
under cover, or when wide intervals do
not separate the files, will no longer be
able to form line of battle at five hun
146
[Aug.