THE TRENCH SHOTGUN

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 259, 20 July 1918, Page 9

THE TRENCH SHOTGUN

NEW AMERICAN WEAPON. A now military arm is being used on the West front by the men from tho United .States. It is a purely American weapon, and no other army has it. It sprays an area nine feet wide and three feet high with balls that will go through two inches of board at 150 yards. Tho new trench gun was first suggested by a general officer with the American Expeditionary Forces in France—General Pershing himself, it is said—and.was perfected by the Winchester-Repeating Arms Company engineers, working in conjunction with experts of the Ordnance Department at Washington. . Whether or not General Pershing was the first to suggest tho idea of using a modified and very deadly sporting shotgun on tho Bodies, there is no doubt at all- (states an exchange) that tlie new Winchester "trench gun, as it ie called, is so popular a weapon with Black Jack Porshing that he is sending for all of tho now trench guns that the Winchester firm caii turn out in a. hurry. Tho new trench gun is, elementarily speaking, a comparatively short repeating shotgun of the "pump" variety, capable of sending 5-t gleaming little globes of 00 buckshot all over tho anatomy of as many of the Kaisor's six sons as could be crowded into an area measuring nine feet horizontally and about three feet vertically; In other words, Private- Clem Hoo-oer. 'or Bill Spriggs of tho A.E.1 1 , could,- supposing Clem or Bill was as good a marksman as tho average American soldier, at fifty yards niako a polka dot pattern all over the grey uniform of three or four Boche'boya just where the doses would <lo tho most good—between the neck and the knees, inclusive. •Utached to 'tho single-barrelled shotgun is » bayonet. Also the bayonet is Ion" enough to penetrate, beautifully, smoothly, and delightfully even a Teutonic waistline, especially ns waislines made in .Germany measure these dayfl. The bayonet takes the- new shotgun out of the sporting arms class; in fact, tho shotgun is not manufactured for sporting purposes, but is a trench gun designed and made solely for tho American Army abroad.. American Army men abroad made it plain a few months ago, when the Winchester firm first took up tho work of turning out tho gun, that when Clem, Bill, or Jim goes over the to]) ho absolutely insists upon having a bayonetiixed' firmly to tho muzzle of the arm he carries. Immediately n difficulty presented itself, inasmuch as the comparatively small amount of metal in the thin barret of a shotgun did not offer a substantial enough base- upon which to fasten a bayonet that might be called upon to withstand a thrust into Teutonic solid ivory.

Tlie lack of stability, however, was overcome by tho : Winchester folk, who covered the muzzle end of the barrel with a. second skin of steel which, being perforated and not quite touching tbo barrel proper, acts not only as a brace for tho bayonet, but also, owing to tho free passage ,of air, as a ventilator that keeps the barrel from getting too hot. ' Tho gun holds six paper shells such as aro used in big gauge duck shooting. In each shell arc nine pellets of 00 buckshot, or a total of 5! excellent reasons why tho world shortly is to be quite safe for democracy. Although a shotgun, tho arm is equipped from muzzle to stock with a leather ride sling, so that it may be slung over tlie neck and shoulder. Shotgun awl bayonet complete weigji only eight and three-quarter pounds. At forly yards tho buckshot will go completely through a 2in. pine board. When the , nun was tested in the 12th Regiment armoury range some weeks ago a canvas target backed with hard wood ".n inch thick was used in order to get the 'pattern" of tho buckshot. All the pellets fired from a, distance of fifty yards went clean through tho hardwood planks.