216 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[March 10, 1894. 



General CommentsZonL the' Drift i'of Bullets,' and 

 Rifles and Rifle V Shooting.! 



',BY ARMINaTENNKIl,}; 



Superintendent American Testing Institution. 



The projectiles as employed for our modern breech-loading rifles 

 are mostly of a cylindrical elongated shape. The center of gravity of 

 a bvdlet of this kind is found somewhere behind its transverse axis, 

 The effect of this condition is noticeable when such a bullet is brought 

 in a position horizontal to its longitudinal axis and so subjected to 

 the laws of gravitation, i. e.. allowed to drop. 



It will display a marked tendency to reach the ground with its rear 

 part first, or in other words, it will tip in its course of falling. A bul- 

 let fired from the rifle is affected by the same laws of nature in a 

 similar way, and this from the first moment after quitting the muzzle. 

 Its course of flight is thereby more or less disturbed and the resistance 

 of the air with which the traveling projectile meets now comes in as 

 another cause, tending to make the bullet shift from its regular path. 



This pressure of the air acts in the direction of the bullet's tangent 

 path. As long as the longitudinal axis remains true to the direction 

 as originally imparted to it the effect of the resisting air will be con- 

 fined to the arched portion of the projectile, and in this case the in- 

 fluence named will only show itself in the way of a retarded velocity. 



A bullet traveling in the direction of its longitudinal axis is shown 

 by Fig. 1. 



Fig, ji 



Before the bullet has traveled very far the effect of gravitation, in 

 conjunction with the air pressure, will assume larger proportions, the 

 projectile will form a slight angle to the original direction of motion, 

 which is likely to grow in degree as the tangent path of the bullet be- 

 comes more' curved, and now the resistance of the air will meet a 

 larger part of the bullet's lower surface in front of the center of 

 gravity, and thus produce a similar effect to that caused by gravita- 

 tion, namely to lift the point of the bullet and to make the latter 

 assume a position something like the one illustrated by Fig. 2. 



Fig. 2. 



The two disturbing forces named combined may. under certain con- 

 ditions, prove powerful enough to cause the bullet to tip or "keyhole," 

 and to make it rotate or spin around its transverse axis, which at the 

 same time constitutes the axis of the bullet's largest momentum of 

 inertia. In such an event, it will of course be impossible for a projec- 

 tile to move in conformity with the fixed laws in question and to 

 describe a regular trajectory. 



Ever since the rifle barrels with the spiral twist have taken the 

 place of those with grooves running in a parallel direction to the 

 soul or bore, derivation has ceased to be an important factor in rifle 

 shooting. With the aid of the spiral twist the tenrtencyfand possibility 

 of a bullet to rotate around its transverse axis, i. e., to'tio or "tumble," 

 has nearly been annulled, and also the disturbing effect, of the pres- 

 sure of the air on surface inequalities and the chances for variations 

 in the position of the center of gravity have been greatly lessened, 



Generally the spiral twist in rifle barrels turns from' the left to the 

 right, and hence the bullet will rotate in the same direction, a fact to 

 be borne in mind by the reader for the purpose of comprehending 

 more readily the following observations pertaining to the derivation 

 of bullets. 



THE DERIVATION OF BULLETS * 



The "deflexion," drift or deviation of a bullet solely due to an irreg- 

 ular or low speed of rotation or to the effects of gravitation is called 

 derivation. To determine the exact extent to which a particular bul- 

 let is subject to derivation is quite a difficult task, and frequently devi- 

 ation and derivation are confounded with one another. This rather 

 perplexing question can only be solved somewhat like satisfactorily by 

 means of a properly constructed and working shooting machine. 



Although, as previously remarked, derivation no longer constitutes 

 an important feature in rifle shooting, the subject is nevertheless suf- 

 ficiently interesting and instructive to be treated here more exhaust- 

 ively. 



The causes and effects of derivation have been the object of exten- 

 sive experiments and researches for a long period, in fact, ever since 

 rifled barrels came into use: but comparatively little of a definite 

 character was established in the premises until Prof. Magnus, of Ber- 

 lin, Germany, devoted his attention to the solution of this problem. 

 Magnus started and conducted his researches upon the theory that the 

 conditions for the pressure to which a rotating bullet is subject are 

 the same whether the bullet be in motion and the air in a state of rest, 

 or the air be in molion and the bullet at rest, provided the air can bo 

 brought to move against the bullet at the same rate of speed which 

 may be imparted to the latter. 



Carrying out his experiments upon this basis, Magnus employed the 

 so-called Bohnenberger's apparatus, as illustrated in Fig. 3, but re- 



points, which'are fastened to the inner ring a a; the latter can easily 

 be moved vertically within the middle ring b b, thus permitting to 

 give the longitudinal axis of the bullet every desired position toward 

 the horizontal plane. The middle ring 6 b again turns in a horizontal 

 direction in the outer ringce, wftii hh'a ( Miionary position upon the 

 frame. To maintain the longitudinal axis iu any desired position, the 

 projectile and the two inner rings are arranged" so that their centers 

 of gravity meet exactly the center of the outer ring. Now in order to 

 force the bullet to rotate around its longitudinal axis, a small pulley 

 is attached to the point of the former and this again is provided with 

 a string which, upon being pulled, sets the bullet in a lively spinning 

 motion. 



The rings are all made to turn around their axes. As soon as and 

 when the bullet is set in motion, a comparatively great amount of force 

 is required to cause the ring to turn, and this for the reason that, 

 through the effect of the rotation imparted to it, the axis of the pro- 

 jectile assumes a high degree of stability and displays a tendency to 

 retain its position. If a force is brought to act against the bullet in 

 the direction through its longitudinal axis but not through its center 

 of gravity while the projectile is in a state of rest, the latter will turn 

 readily around the center of gravity in the direction of the applied force, 

 thus spinning around a transverse axis running through the center 

 of gravity, and the natural result is, the bullet will soon" tip or "key- 

 hole." When, on the other hand, a force is made to act (under similar 

 conditions otherwise) against the rotating bullet, the latter will not 

 move in the direction of the force, its movements will then be on a 

 plane perpendicular to the direction of the force. These phenomena 

 are quite in accord with the theorem of the parallelogram of rotations, 

 which establishes that every incitation toward lifting the point of the 

 bullet must, in consideration of the prevailing rotation from above to 

 the right, cause a spinning around a new axis projecting with its front 

 end somewhat to the right from the original direction of the longitud- 

 inal axis of the supposed vertical plane. 



Admitted even that these experiments as here roughly outlined, do 

 not exactly conform to the state of affairs as they exist in reality, for 

 the reason that the bullet as employed by Magnu'a did not swing abso- 

 lutely freely, they have nevertheless convincingly shown that the 

 point or front end of a traveling bullet cannot and will not accomodate 

 its turning motion to the sense of the incitation as caused by the 

 pressure of the air. They have also established the fact that when the 

 point of a bullet is incited to shift to the right, the point must at the 

 same time assume a slight downward direction and thus lean toward 

 the tangent path, bringing the latter again on a line with the axis of 

 the bullet. 



That such is really the case is best proven by the spherical holes 

 made by the elongated bullet on the target. If the longitudinal axis of 

 the bullet would retain, throughout its course, a position as shown in 

 Fig". 2, or one similar to the same, the holes on the target would be of 

 an oval instead of a spherical shape. 



Magnus has further demonstrated (he fact that it is erroneous to 

 suppose that while a projectile continues to rotate around its longi- 

 tudinal axis, the point of the former will, at the same time, spin in an 

 upward direction, and that in reality the bullet does not perform 

 either of these movements of rotatiou, but that both culminate in a 

 common turn around an entirely new axis. Efforts have been made 

 all along to find the means for avoiding or annulling the effect of the 

 resistance of the air. but they have only until quite recently b9en 

 crowned with something like success. Further attempts are still and 

 continuously made in the same direction. Prof. Hebler in Zurich, 

 Switzerland, assisted by the Austrian ballistic engineer, Mr. Krnka, 

 has constructed for his military small-caliber rifle an elongated torpedo- 

 shaped bullet with a channel running through the entire length of the 

 bullet and assuming at the rear end the shape of a funnel. 



This projectile is provided with a sabot in its center, made of papier 

 inache' or soft metal, which is arranged to leave the bullet immediately 

 the latter quits the muzzle. The bullet is made preferably of steel, the 

 sabot of copper. The inventors claim for this bullet the highest de- 

 gree of accuracy — flat trajectory— and penetrative power. A velocity 

 of 2,800ft. per second is claimed for this bullet, which is nearly 700ft. 

 more than that obtained with any rifle bullet now in existence. The 

 diameter is only about }4in., and the inventors assert that it will 

 do effective work up to a distance of nearly 6,000yds. Of course such 

 a bullet is intended for military purposes only; it will not serve the 

 hunter, but may, perhaps, answer for rifle shooting at extremely long 

 ranges. A similarly constructed bullet is said to have been lately in- 

 vented also in France and is there called balle tubulaire. 



The old adage, according to which there is nothing new under the 

 sun, again applies to these inventions. Hollow elongated bullets and 

 those provided with sabots or guide collars have been employed in 

 Germany in connection with the various styles of needle guns nearly 

 thirty years ago. 



[TO BE CONCLUDED NEST WEEK.] 



Fig. 3. 



placed in the same the spherical bullet, by one of a cylindrical-elon- 

 gated shape. 



The arrangement of this apparatus may briefly be described as fol- 

 lows: The longitudinal axis of the projectile turns between steel 



* It is hardly possible to do justice to the several subjects dwelt 

 upon herein in the limited space devoted to them. Those who are 

 particularly interested in the matter and wish for more minute de- 

 tails are recommended to consult the works published on the differ- 



de Bahstique Experimental. ■ (Ge^mcm) "Handbueh f iir die Offiziere 

 der Konigl. Preuss. Artillerie." Bud.j Pflster; "Die Rotation der Ge- 

 schosse," E. E. Kummer; "Tiber die Wirkung des Luftwiderstancls 

 auf Korper von Verschiedener Gestalt," Rordansz "Ballistik-" 4 

 Mieg, "Theoretische Aussere Ballistik," The latter work is the only 

 one employed as a source for the comments on the derivation of 

 ullets, etc. 



Rifle at San Antonio. 



For over a month the riflemen of San Antonio have been agitated 

 over the team match which came off yesterday. It came about in 

 this way: Capt. Ernest August Dosch, a veteran septuagenarian, who 

 has always held his own, and considerably of some one else's as a 

 rifleman, made a wager, unfortunately for himself, with Chas. F. A. 

 Hummel, the popular whiskered gentleman who sells Petmecky 

 cleaners and gun wads. It matters not what the bet was— the stakes 

 being a round two dozen quarts of Jlumm's. Capt. Dosch lost the 

 wager, but awaited Charlie's pleasure as to delivery of the goods, and 

 about a month ago the latter made the following proposition to his 

 confrere: 



Capt. Dosch to have the first choice, and the two to choose a team 

 of eight men from the membership ot the rifle club and shoot a match 

 for a supper, on which occasion the wine was to be drunk— the ex- 

 pense of the occasion to be borne by the losing side of course. It was 

 shot on Feb. 25 as follows: 



Team match, eight men on each team, 30 shots per man, 200yds. . off- 

 hand, any sights desired, but no artifice of any kind allowed on'rifle 

 by which shooter can obtain body or any other kind of rest. 



E Dosch 10 05 10 75854 5-59 



067656886 5-57 

 568564874 4-57-173 

 G Altman 398698477 7—68 



6 10 6 10 8 9 9 7 7 7-79 

 987 10 10 0976 7—79—226 



Texas Field 6599777 10 7 6—73 



7 10 7 10 5 7 8 10 8 8-80 



7 7 6 9 8 6 7 8 6 7—71—224 

 A Steves 980 10 78066 4-62 



6 10 84657 10 4 7—67 



4 6 7 8 4 9 10 5 7 5- 65—194 

 A Guenther 7 8 6 5 7 8 8 5 10 8-70 



6 9 6 9 10 10 - 6 6 6 0-68 



8 8 6 10 6 7 10 8 10 4—77-215 

 *E Steves.. 4009657676- 50 



66 10 987576 10-74 

 767786556 9—66-190 



H Degener 8 5 8 8 8 6 6 9 5 9—70 



5. 7697 10 788 8-75 

 577775986 7-68-213 



J Leyler 4 4 5 6 6 7 7 10 6 5—60 



5 10 5975 565 7—64 



5 6 9 8 5 5 7 7 7 9- 68-192-1627 

 CBummell..... 6 77 10 78786 5-71 



797634 10 57 8—66 

 585778799 9-71-208- 

 E Seffel 7786975 10 8 6—73 



9 89 10 76977 10-82 

 98889 10 10 89 9-88-243 



AAltmann 984 10 78778 9—77 



893795686 9—69 

 10 10 6 8 6 9 10 8 7 6— S2-228 

 Dr Herff 4 6 8 4 6 6 6 9 6 8-57 



7 6 7 5. 9 9 4 10 7 8—72 

 86959 10 4 7 0 7—65—194 



A Uhl 6 9 10 9 9 10 5 9 10 5-82 



8 7 7 7"8 6 10 10 6 10—79 

 7878787 10 8 9-79—230 



EDreiss- 389789 3 8 8 10—73 



877786 10 10 6 10-79 

 87788 10 686 0—74—226 



G Gresecke 1 7 8 5 8 7 10 9 10 4—75 



676566679 6-64 

 874468464 9-60—199 



E Leich 6 6 4 6 5 7 7 5 5 5-56 



585757780 9-61 



6 10 7 7 9 8 9 6 8 5-75-192-1733 

 To say that the Doshites were disgusted at their defeat is putting it 



mildly, and as I am writing these lines tht> captain of that side is 

 clothed in mythical sack cloth and ashes. The ruddiness of Ernest 

 Steve's peacfi-hued cheek was heightened by his first three shots, 4, 0, 0. 

 Sometimes the bullet hit the top then the bottom frame of the target', 

 but always a "poodle." In southwest Texas nomenclature "poodle" 

 meaus that the bullet has missed the target. 



Albert Steves, who generally thumps his fiiands into convulsions 

 simply because he is glad to see them, and who shoots nearly always 

 close to the top row, lost his rudder. His bullets drifted about the 

 target like drunken sailors, so that the sum total of his score was 

 much below tint ever made by him. 



Hans Degener shot his usual average, rather below, but he was cool 

 collected, and while his shooting was not brilliant, he plunked his 

 bullets close to the bullseye when he did not get in it, 



John Leyler started in badly with two fours, but gradually im- 

 proved as he shot each score of 10 shots. His face had as much ex- 

 pression as that, of the Egyptian sphinx when the enemy fell upon him 

 With loud huzzas. You can't down John with defeat. 



The entire winning side fell on one another's necks, but did not 

 weep. They yelled, screamed and applauded, and had there been an 

 old-fashioned Sioux Indian on the premises he certainly would have 

 felt at home. During the- shoot— it is stated by some' of the losing 

 side, to illustrate the roseate good luck the winners were playing in— 

 Dr. Herff, in his excitement, forgot all about the set trigger up to the 

 critical moment. He lowered his rifle and in setting the trigger 

 pulled the front, or business, trigger by mistake. Bang went the gun j 

 "Och," says the doctor, "das vas ein poodle." But he was thrown 

 into convulsions when the faithful pointer indicated a good 9. 



Uhl, surnamed the farmer, sailed away above the average he usually 

 makes and close unto him came Ed Dreiss, the founder of the shot in- 

 the-duck-gizzard theory. 



Emanuel Seffel distinguished himself on this occasion, as usual, by 

 making the best score, an average of 8.01 in 30 shots. His shooting 

 was close to the center nearly all the time, making a beautiful string 

 of fourteen consecutive spot shots. 



Following the great match a team shoot was proposed as follows, 

 10 shots per man, 200yds, off-hand: 



H Degener 55666763 3 10—57 



CHummell 799898997 7—82 



AAltmann 58898 6 088 0-72 



A Uhl 9 10 4585786 7-72 



E Steves 7 5 8 3 3 0 8 10 6 9-63 



A Guenther.... 5 10 6 5 7 9 8 8 8 8—75 



G Giesecke 774767864 4—60-553 



EDreiss 5 8 4 10 10 5 8 8 6 7— 71 



E Seffel 9 10 9 5 9 6 10 7 6 10-81 



Texas Field 10 7 10 9 6 8 10 9 8 8-85 



G Altmaun 7 9 9 6 7 8 10 7 8 10—81 



A Steves , 5854897 10 7 10—73 



Dr Herff 6 5 3 7 10 6 7 9 10 10-73 



E Leich 507654 6 00 7-40 



J Leyler 7 5 7 7 4 9 7 9 0 6-61—565 



After which an exodus to the city was inaugurated, and the beauti- 

 ful range was left to the mercy of the coyotes and a flock of goats that 

 have shown a predilection for barking our young trees that puts to 

 shame any dog barking at the moon. O. C. G. 



Cincinnati Rifle Association. 



The Cincinnati Rifle Association held its regular practice shoot at 

 its range to-day and made the scores appended. Conditions, 200yds., 

 off-hand, at the standard target. Most of to-day's shooting was done 

 through a snowstorm, nevertheless some fair scores were made: 



Gindele 8 6 10 10 8 9 5 8 10 6-80 



79 10 86 10 989 8-84 



689969688 8-77 



10 6 6 6 10 6 9 8 9 7-76 



Weinheimer 8 7 8 6 9 5 8 10 5 9-75 



6 7 8 10 3 10 9 6 5 5-69 



• 966877986 5-71 



6876679 6 7 5-67 



Drube 10 7 10 7 7 10 8 8 9 6-82 



8 8 6 8 6 7 7 9 9 9-77 



8 10 9975887 6-77 



97897 10 9 3 4 9-75 



Payne 8 5 8 10 10 8 4 10 10 5-78 



778 10 8946 10 7-76 ' 



10 8 10 9 9 7 5 8 8 7—77 



8 99588845 7—71 



Roberts 8589 10 898 7 7-79 



5777 10 797 10 7—76 



85789 10 959 9—79 ' 



685 10 6 10 679 8-75 i 



Louis 9 10 8 7 8 6 6 9 10 7-80 



10 9 5 10 9 8 10 5 10 9-85 



6786 10 96 7 8 10-77 



10 8 8 8 10 6 7 8 8 6-76 



Hake 5 10 4664 10 74 3—59 



7287933 3 1 7-75 



9864 5 5 964 6-6*. 



0 3 2234764 6-3? 



Wellmger 10 7 7 5 9 10 8 8 7 7—78 



7?a 10 88 10 75 7—75 



6867 10 76 10 9 .6-75 



10 54 10 09688 8-77 



Schmidtliug 0 3 4 0 4 2 5 4 6 5-33 



58 10 6574 05 5-59 



305083564 5-45 



Busse vs. Liuft. 



The 100-shot gallery match between R. Busse and Ignatz Luft, which 

 has been pending for some weeks, was shot off on the Zettler ranges 

 on Friday of last week. Luft is an old rifleman of experience and 

 ability. He was one of the three who tied for the New York Inde- 

 pendent Corps' 8500 trophy at the great festival in Newark in 1888. 

 At the present time he is not connected with any rifle club. R, Busse 

 is a member of the New York City Corps, also the Zettler Club. He 

 has only been connected with rifle shooting a few years, and has had 

 but little experience in match shooting. His connection with the 

 Zettler Club is developing his shooting qualities, however, and he will 

 be heard from later in the ranks of the experts. Chas. G, Zettler and 

 William. Rosenbaum acted as judges and G. W. Plaisted referee and 

 score keeper. The conditions called for 100 shots each in 10 shot 

 strings on the 25-riug target, $10 a side. The score: 



R Busse 23 21 24 25 25 25 25 25 25 25-246 



23 23 23 21 2,5 25 25 25 25 25-242 

 23 23 24 24 24 24 24 24 25 25-210 

 23 23 23 24 21 25 25 25 25 25-242 



22 23 24 24 24 24 24 25 25 25- 210 



23 23 24 25 25 25 25 25 25 25- 245 



23 23 24 24 25 25 25 25 25 25-244 

 22 23 24 24 24 24 25 25 25 25 - 241 

 22 22 23 24 24 24 25 25 25 25-239 



24 24 24 25 25 25 25 25 25 25-247- 2426 

 I Luft 23 24 24 24 25 25 25 25 25 25-245 



22 22 24 24 24 24 25 25 25 25- 240 



22 23 24 24 24 25 25 25 25 25- 243 



21 23 23 23 24 24 24 24 25 25 - 236 



23 23 24 24 24 24 25 25 25 25- 242 

 23 23 23 24 24 24 24 25 25 25- 239 

 23 23 24 24 24 25 25 25 25 25- 243 



22 23 24 24 24 25 25 25 25 25- 242 



23 33 24 24 24 24 24 24 .25 25 - 240 



23 2 4 24 24 25 25 25 25 25 25-245- 2415 



Smith & Wesson Team Victorious. 



Springfield, Mass., Feb. 23.— The Smith & Wesson Pistol Club, of 

 this city, returned home from a very successful meeting with the 

 M. R. A. on AVashington's Birthday, Feb. 22, the former team winning 

 both matches. Four of the five individual merchandise prizes were 

 won by Messrs, Axtelle, Talbot, Wesson and Clark respectively. The 

 outcome of this meeting reflects great credit upon the S. '& W. team 

 as it was their first attempt at a match with an outside club, and the 

 result was all that could be desired, considering the fact that the M. 

 R, A. is one of the strongest shooting societies iu the country. The 

 Smith & Wesson delegation used exclusively the new single shot tar- 

 get pistol manufactured by Smith & Wesson, shooting the long ride 

 cartridge, and the results obtained demonstrate the fact that this 

 arm, in the proper hands, is a wonderful shooter. The M. R, A. used 

 the Stevens, Wurfflein and S. & W. arms. 

 Below are the totals of the matches: 



Smith & Wesson Team. 



Wesson 90 



F Hodskins 77 



CS Axtelle 91 



Talbot 85 



Goodrich 78 



Stephens 82 



C Clark 82 



T D lark 79 



82 

 84 

 85 



M. R. A. Team. 



84 Hussey 81 



80 Bell 80 



94 Partridge 80 



88 Russell 85 



84 Hinman 81 



83 Harris 88 



86 Humphrey . , , . 76 



76 Tuck 82 



J. R. Buchanan, Sec'y- 



Zettler Rifle Club. 



Ten members of the Zettler Rifle Club were present to participate in 

 the gallery shoot on Tuesday night. In the competition for the cham- 

 pion medal Fred Ross again came to the front with the fine score of 

 248. R. Busse was second with 243. In the competition for the best 

 10-shot score in five entries, R. Busse came in ahead, making 249. 

 Scores: ' 



Champion medal: Fred C. Ross 248, R. Busse 243, C. G. Zettler 242, 

 B. Zettler 241, B. Walther 241, Gus Nowak 242, H. Holges 241, M. B 

 Engel 241, H. D, Miller 240. P. F. Schmidt 240 



Best 10-shot score, five entries: R. Busse 249, Fred C. Ross 248, B. 

 Zettler 248, Henry Holges 247, B. Walther 247, M. B. Engel 246, Gus 

 Nowak 244, C. G. Zettler 245, Gus Nowak 244, P. F. Schmidt 246. 



