MAT ORE 
545 
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1902. 
FUSILS DE CHASSE. 
Tir des Fusils de Chasse. Par Journée, Lieut.-Colonel 
du 69° Régiment d’Infanterie. Deux: Edition. Pp. ii 
+387. (Paris: Gauthier-Villars et Fils, 1902.). Price 
fr-212; 
HIS volume on guns, rifles and explosives is divided 
into eight chapters. 
the writer states that the ca/ihve which we call 16 signi- 
gun weigh one pound. The nominal calibres are then 
shown in a tabulated form reduced to millimetres, also 
some of the qualities of different powders and shot are 
described. 
In chapter ii. the pressures of powder gases are con- 
sidered, and a large amount of solid work on this subject 
has been collected together in section vii. of this chapter. 
The pressures due to Amberite, Cooppal and Valsrode 
are shown in a tabulated form. 
The action of the gas of explosion was measured by 
the method of Sébert, by which the successive velocities 
and accelerations of recoil of a gun are measured during 
the passage of the shot through the barrel. When the 
writer comes to the subject of crusher gauges, for deter- 
mining the pressure of powder gases, he quotes from the 
Field, in which the results obtained by M. Polain, of 
Liége, were published ; the author might have cited with 
advantage the excellent work on this subject to be found 
in the Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society 
of London, vols. lii. and clxv. respectively. In chapter iii. 
the question of the velocity of the projectile is treated, 
and the author writes :—- 
“‘ Mais le plus souvent, on déduit la vitesse initiale de 
la vitesse restante 4 une petite distance de la bouche, 
vitesse qui a été mesurée avec un chronographe élec- 
trique, dont le modéle le plus usité est le chronographe 
de Boulengé.” 
The Boulengé chronograph, now a rather antiquated 
instrument, has gained a far-reaching popularity from 
the fact that nearly anyone can read the results, but the 
instrument is not at all suitable for determining high 
velocities over short ranges, and in the case of a shot gun 
the range for finding the velocity is very short indeed. 
The method of dealing with the question by MM. | 
Billardon and Don is far better and exact ; it consists of 
a moving target and a fixed one. The form of this 
| 
fixed screen covering the lower half of the circular target, 
except where it is perforated with a circular opening 
4 feet in diameter, so placed as to coincide with the 
width of the band moving behind it. Across this open- 
ing a sheet of very thin paper is strained ; this receives 
the stationary pattern of the discharged pellets, while the 
revolving band receives the pattern made by the pellets 
striking it in succession. Observations made with the 
| instrument show the relative velocity of the pellets, so 
The first is devoted to general | 
information about guns and ammunition ; for example, | 
| 
instrument, referred to by the author, has been con- | 
structed by Mr. R. Griffith, the manager of the Schultze 
Powder Co. The moving target consists of a disc 12 
feet in diameter, from which a central disc of 4 feet 
diameter has been removed, leaving a band carried 
on spokes, 4 feet wide. 
engine that the velocity of a point on its edge is 200 feet 
per second. The edge is marked with divisions, each 
representing 1/400 sec. From each division lines are 
drawn to the centre. The band is also ruled with fifteen 
concentric circles. Thus the whole surface of the band 
This is so rotated by a steam | 
| 
is divided into sections, which can be numbered for | 
reference. In front of the target, and close to it, is a 
NO. 1718, VOL. 66] 
( 
that from the observations a diagram may be constructed 
showing the actual position of the pellets at a given time. 
In chapter iv. the recoil of guns is discussed, the 
: | velocities of recoil being measured by the method of 
fies that sixteen spherical lead balls of the calibre of the | 
Sébert ; but the instrument employed was far more 
simple than that of Sébert, and gave results the limit of 
which is shown by the following quotation from the 
writer :—“I] permet d’obtenir la vitesse du recul 4 1/5000 
prés.” None of the modern methods of working experi- 
ments on recoil, such as the pneumatic and electrical 
methods of firing, are mentioned. Chapter v. is along 
one of eighty-one pages, the subject being the dispersion 
of shot. The author has illuminated this portion of his 
book with one of the excellent spark photographs of Prof. 
C. V. Boys, F.R.S., in which the relative position of the 
pellets is clearly shown. Information on the subject of 
“choke bore” has been carefully collected, and exhibited 
in tabular form. The author devotes six pages to the 
vibration of the gun, and on p. 254 the supposed form of 
vibration is shown. The excellent and new work of 
' Cranz and Koch on the vibration of gun-barrels does not 
appear to have been consulted, neither is the method 
employed in obtaining the results described. 
In chapter vi. a large amount of matter respecting the 
form and nature of bullets has been collected. On p. 269 
the name of the celebrated inventor W. E. Metford is 
wrongly spelt, “d” being written for “t.” Alloys used 
in the manufacture of bullets, both of the heavy and 
light classes, are described. With respect to the latter, 
the author writes :— 
“Les balles faites en aluminium pur se champignon- 
nent trop facilement sur les os offrant quelque resist- 
| ance.” 
Alloys are also mentioned, such as that of aluminium 
and tungsten, called partinium, and aluminium and mag- 
nesium, called magnalium. The latter alloy is becoming 
popular amongst Continental instrument makers on 
account of its lightness and tenacity. Bullets made of 
these alloys would be of great service as man-stoppers at 
close quarters because of the spread of the bullet. 
The chapter concludes with a description of the 
method of applying the abacus for finding the remaining 
velocities of projectiles at different ranges, when the 
initial velocity is given. The abacus now used in calcu- 
lations connected with technical matters in France is 
well described in “Le Calcul Simplifié,” by Maurice 
d’Ocagne. By means of the abacus, solutions of many 
problems may be easily and rapidly found, when the law 
of the formula employed has been plotted in the form of 
agraph. The work concludes with a chapter on aiming 
the gun in sport, and the influence of the nervous condi- 
tion of the sportsman and the skill of different individuals. 
The author has collected together a great mass of 
AA 
