

GUNS And AMMUNITION. 



Anybody can shoot all day but a gentleman always quits when he gets enough. 



ECONOMY FOR RIFLEMEN. 



J. H. BARLOW. 



The National Shoot at Ft. Riley and the 

 military maneuvers at Manassas, the Na- 

 tional Rifle Association meeting at Sea Girt 

 and the New York State Rifle Association 

 shoot at Creedmoor, all coming within 

 one month, made life indeed strenuous for 

 those who took part in the various meetings. 

 Now that the crack of the rifle has ceased 

 and the smoke has cleared away, we may 

 look about and try to find out what has been 

 gained by all this practice. The informa- 

 tion picked up along the shooting line and 

 the late military movements will undoubt- 

 edly prove of great and lasting value. _ A 

 start has been made in the right direction 

 that will eventually put our civilian soldiery 

 on a much higher plane than they ever 

 dreamed of. It will result in keeping from 

 the rolls officers and men who join solely 

 for the sake of social festivities and public 

 dress parade, the expenses for which our 

 country legislators are always loath to pay. 

 The coming militiamen will be soldiers in 

 reality, whom our Nation in her time of 

 need may count on. 



There will of necessity be extra expense 

 for the national government at first, as well 

 as for each State, but if there be a hearty 

 co-operation all along the line, as suggested 

 by The National Board for the Promotion 

 of Rifle Practice, the desired end will be 

 attained gradually and in an economical 

 manner. 



The intent of this article is to point out 

 one economy that is worthy of attention. 

 Our national government is now and has 

 been for some time economizing by reloading 

 shells that have been fired, and using the 

 reloaded ammunition for practice work. 

 This^ at first sight, may seem a trifling econ- 

 omy, but when carefully looked into will be 

 found worthy of attention by every State in 

 the Union, every military organization and 

 every individual shooter, whether military 

 or civilian. 



During the experimental stages of smoke- 

 less powders and the multiplication of varie- 

 ties and their introduction to the ordinary 

 shooter, there have of course been many 

 accidents which were caused entirely by 

 lack of knowledge on the part of the 

 shooters. These accidents have naturally 

 frightened many, and rather than en- 

 lighten or instruct the shooters in general, 

 there seems to have been a desire to con- 

 vince them that smokeless powders are so 

 dangerous they can not and should not at- 

 tempt to use them. This has undoubtedly 



prevented the sale of many arms and much 

 powder. 



Ignorance and fear are always dispelled 

 by enlightenment. Black powder is a thing 

 of the past; smokeless powders are superior 

 and all that is required to use them with 

 safety is knowledge, which the users of all 

 kinds of firearms are rapidly gaining. 



For the present purpose I will confine 

 myself to a consideration of the 30-40 Krag 

 rifle and the ammunition as made for it, 

 though my arguments will apply equally to 

 all other arms and ammunition. 



When the high power smokeless powder 

 first came into use, it was generally admitted 

 that shells could not be reloaded. In the 

 report of the chief of ordnance for 1896, on 

 page 85, will be found the following: 



"Experiments show that after the first 

 firing with 30 caliber smokeless powders, 

 the metal of the shell undergoes a slow but 

 decided change, the exact nature of which 

 the best experts have as yet failed to de- 

 termine. After the first fire the- shell be- 

 comes brittle, and rupture at the next dis- 

 charge is probable. Chemists have examined 

 shells before and after firing, and experi- 

 ments have been made to ascertain if gal- 

 vanic action is responsible for the brittle- 

 ncss, but all to no avail." 



If conditions had been allowed to remain 

 as they then were, there would not now 

 be any reloading of shells with the full 

 charge of high power smokeless powders. 

 On the lower power or bulk smokeless 

 powders the above report has no bearing 

 whatever. 



The above quotations from the Ordnance 

 Report has been reprinted repeatedly to con- 

 vince shooters that there should be no more 

 reloading and that with smokeless powders 

 a new cartridge must be used every time the 

 gun is fired. Were this teaching to prevail, 

 the expense of providing sufficient ammuni- 

 tion for small arms practice, for the regular 

 army, the State militia and the military 

 schools, would be greatly increased and the 

 expense to the individual shooter through- 

 out the country would prohibit shooting in 

 many instances. 



Relative to the brittleness of shells after 

 being, fired when loaded with high power 

 smokeless powders, the opinions of the pow- 

 der manufacturers may be of interest. 



E. I. DuPont & Co. w r rite as follows : 



"So far as we know the only trouble in 

 this direction has come about in shells using 

 the 30 caliber smokeless powder. The solu- 

 tion of the difficulty is the large quantity of 

 fulminate of mercury in the caps used 



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