GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 



Anybody can keep shooting all day, but it takes a gentleman to quit when he gets enough. 



FACTS ABOUT SMOKELESS POWDERS. 



Montgomery, Ala. 

 Editor Recreation : 



M. E. B., in August Recreation, asks 

 why the so-called shot gun smokeless pow- 

 der can not be used in a rifle, and why 

 smokeless powder can not be used in a 

 muzzle loader. If M. E. B. will place a 

 small quantity of black powder on a piece 

 of board and ignite it with a match, he will 

 observe that it burns with a flash and a 

 puff. The same experiment with smokeless 

 powder will give an entirely different re- 

 sult. The smokeless powder will burn 

 fiercely, with intense heat, for a much great- 

 er time than the black powder. Therefore 

 we say smokeless powder is slow burning. 

 When powder is ignited in a confined space, 

 the gas evolved can not escape, and it 

 causes pressure. All powders burn more 

 rapidly the greater the pressure, but smoke- 

 less powder increases its rate of burning 

 much faster than does black powder. There- 

 fore under great pressure smokeless powder 

 burns faster and acts more violently than 

 black powder. In a shot gun the powder 

 is confined until the pressure has risen to 

 the point where it is able to force the 

 charge of shot and wads out of the shell, 

 unfolding the crimp of the shell at the same 

 time. After this the charge of shot passes 

 through the smooth barrel with compara- 

 tively little resistance. In a rifle, the pow- 

 der is confined until the bullet can be forced 

 through the barrel, and the pressure ne- 

 cessary to force the metal of the bullet into 

 the grooves of the rifle is naturally much 

 greater than that required to move the shot 

 in a shot gun. This is especially true when 

 long jacketed bullets are used in a small 

 bore rifle. Shot gun powder is so mads 

 by the manufacturer that it burns at the 

 proper rate when confined in a shot gun. 

 If subjected to the greater confinement of 

 a rifle, the pressure, being greater before 

 the bullet moves, will cause the powder to 

 burn too fast, and the pressure will in- 

 crease. This increased pressure will in- 

 crease the rate of burning, and the pressure 

 will again run up ; to such a degree that 

 damage to the rifle and its operator is al- 

 most certain to occur. 



Rifle smokeless powder is made to burn 

 at the proper rate in a rifle, and can not 

 develop its power in the lesser degree of 

 confinement of the shot gun. The same 

 explanation holds for shot gun smokeless 

 powder in a muzzle loader, where the ab- 

 sence of the crimped shell causes the con- 

 finement to be too slight even for shot gun 



smokeless powder. Therefore the quick 

 burning black powder will give better re- 

 sults. 



For every gun each different kind of 

 bullet will require a powder load different 

 either in kind or quantity of powder to 

 produce the best possible result in each 

 case. This is why so many riflemen ex- 

 periment with their ammunition, and why 

 their conclusions vary so widely. There 

 is one peculiarity of smokeless powder 

 that is responsible for many a disaster to 

 experimenters, and that is the tremendous 

 increase of pressure developed for a com- 

 paratively small increase in the powder 

 charge. It can not be too strongly urged 

 that the greatest charge of smokeless pow- 

 der recommended by the makers for a 

 given gun must never be exceeded. By 

 means of extra strong testing barrels these 

 makers have determined the greatest safe 

 charge, and they know what they are talk- 

 ing about. Do not put your guess up 

 against their knowledge, or something may 

 drop. 



The question is sometimes asked, why 

 smokeless powder is better than black. 

 Apart from its greater cleanliness and the 

 absence of smoke, it will actually do more 

 work, for it gives off more gas at a much 

 greater temperature. The value of the ex- 

 tra heat will be appreciated if you place a 

 tightly corked empty and dry bottle in 

 the fire. In a few minutes the expansion 

 of the air in the bottle will blow the cork 

 out with a pop. Just so the gas from the 

 powder will expand more the hotter it is. 



In a high power rifle black powder can 

 not give pressure so high as smokeless, for 

 the space occupied by the gases increases 

 as the bullet moves forward, and the powder 

 can not burn fast enough to keep the pres- 

 sure up. Under great pressure smokeless 

 powder burns rapidly; hence it can keep 

 up the pressure better than black powder 

 can. 



In some guns the pressure from black 

 powder runs higher than the pressure from 

 smokeless, yet the velocity of the shot is 

 less with the black powder. This is the 

 case with shot guns. The reason is that 

 the work done in pushing the shot through 

 the barrel and giving it a velocity is meas- 

 ured by the force exerted, multiplied by 

 the distance over which the force acts. 

 Thus the work done in lifting one pound 

 2 feet is exactly the same as that done in 

 lifting 2 pounds one foot. The higher 

 pressure of the black powder, acting 

 through only a part of the length of the 

 barrel, can really do less work and pro- 



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