THE "LEADEN HAIL."

North Otago Times, Volume C, Issue 13147, 31 August 1914, Page 3

THE "LEADEN HAIL."

I Jt£ ARTILLERY AMMUNITION. y■^i^-.W ; -v />•;: , ; -V ;;f •;' -1. f l of shrapnel. V last Continental \ut ' * ? rf ! V s 11 (-0IU])lct0 ChllilgO ill till! of till uimmiiutlon It was not v ')< iluit a pi.iitit.il method of nuk j ft fekct ball lit the groom of 1 ft r » Was* found, though in the Peninsula w fyo regiments ere aimed witl) rifloa ... Il^lc.loaders. It was \oiy liiml to lo.ut lyS 11C ' 1 "iouleil" I'.ulh, and thc sdldicrs hud literally to haiiiiucr the bullots down the bands The ad\antages i, l :..M; lliikrifie were so great that scores,ot *\w; W.C'ikons were tried; and finally Prussia ;• ■: .• ■•." led, the «ay - with the celebrated '' jiccdle,{|un. J .' ( This was not only rilled, but it •••••.••>M-'.-}?oß,fl'-brccch-loaJcri > The cartridge was °£, paper, the bullet egg-shaped aii'dheld Uj a sort of woodfin eggcup which gripped .• v' , grooves of tho rifling/ The igniting «Bwco was m front of the powder, just ■v.belun'dxthe bullet, and it was'exploded by a long needle which pliiiigc.d'tlifough the powder lo roach it. Quickly the .j and then the British, adopted rifled.arms, using a buliet Known as 'the Millie. This was the first' of : a' shape cornparabln with the' modem" one—a ' .cylinder with a head somewhat conical. At the rear end was a holloiy contusing a plug, which was driven in by the - explosion, aud which spread the base of th'e bullet so as lo lit the grooves, This, device overcame a great drawback of i-.- previous. designs; it prevented the escape c- of the. propelling gas past tho ball, The •? :• "fl&. had a great bore—nearly' three- . quarters of an inch. It Was a muzzle- •; . loader,-: The bullet and powder were wrapped together in a paper case greased , : < to. exclude moisture, and in loading, the • soldier, bit off one end of the' cartridge ' . : and poured the powder into tho gun before, ramming down the bullet. It was s - ammunition which started the. It-' diftn Mutiny, for the Mohammedan and .-■ Hindu- troops believed thjit .animal fat , Was-used in the cartridges purposely, tc defile> their users, THE MODEM RIFLE. , "The Enfield rifle, of .577-irich bore, Was introduced in 1853, and was a vastly superior, weapon. It gave way ,to' the - Snider, which was' virtuallyj the Enfield Converted into a breech-loader.' This still . used a: Minie bullet, and those who: liare - seen: the old Sniders used ill'.eatiier days . inNNet-Zealandw t -Zealand are probably aware .that the bullet was lightened by .a small closed . • canity-.near the poiiit to give it. a better . balance. The whole , British'Ariny .hail Sni'ders at • the tini'e of tlie Franco-Prus-sian wi)r; and the French and Germans adopted the Ghassepot and the .Mauser i. respectively in 1869 and 18/1. In 1871: li.. . Britain threw out the barking,, kicking y Snider for the handsome Martini-Henry, hamm'erless weapon of calibre .45-inch, at that time the finest rifle'extant; and it / has not very long disappeared. Since theii the army has carried two generations of ; Lee-Enfield magazine rifles, .303 ■ calibre,-firing a bullet of lead in a nickll jacket, and loaded with cordite. Now every.-.civilised nation uses small-bore yifies .'with some form of niagaaine. It is .now an easy matter- for a soldier .to carry 150 rounds of ammunition, weighing-; about 10)b. Austria and France ;i?e the Mannlicher and Lcbel rifles, of .315inch bore, Germany the Mauser, of .310- ■ inch,-and Russia the "three-line," of .25G;inch bore. Both Germany and France use £i,bullet which is shorter and much sharper-pointed than that of the Lee-l Enfield, ' . i ARTILLERY AMMUNITION. While varied forms of'ammunition were in use by field artillery only a ! few years ago, there arc practically only j two kinds of outstanding importance: now, ..arid one is of vastly greater im-! portaiicc thaw the other.' First tlierc is shrapnel, and secoudiy high-explosive shell.'*, "Common" siicll has a limited' use. / Shrapnel is sometimes combined with'high'explosives. Shrapnel is the projectile upon which the':-grcates;: reliance is. placed for attacking, troops anywhere but under really good cover. There, is no intention on the'part of a field gun of hitting any individual soldier with a 15-p'ound shot. That sort■ of thing was all very well in the, dap of; old, when globular projectiles'trim died across the field, lopping sundry heads and legs'before they stopped. The shell to-day lias a more y-'v glofious: ambition. It : is .potential to I slayits hundreds. It consists of a steel The base of the shell is strong and thick, tlie sides' as thin as they can be made;to. stand the strains of firing., Ono may regard the shell as a jar. Right at'the bottom is a liaiidful of powder, and oil-top of that an iron plate With .... a holq ia it, and a tubc.'passingtlirough the Jible, stands the full height of tho jafJ /'.The jar is then'packed, as one packs onions in a pickle-bottle, with hardened, lead bullets—about' 350 of tliemj .weighing about seven pounds.' . Then,the nose ,of the shell, consisting • mostly, of the: "fuse," is attached. WHY! THE SHRAPNEL BURSTS. The : fuse of a shrapnel shell is a most ingenious thing. It is 'supposed to ignite the.powder at the bottom of the shell a certain time after the gun is fired; but if;it fails to do so it will certainly cause . an explosion "on graze," that is, when the shell strikes-the ground'. It is ; a metal construction of many, parts screw--editogetfier; and a pair of rings on the outside Can be turned. They are , ' grooved on one flat side, and the groove • is filled with a slow burning composition;, and. holes drilled" in the rings 1 , bring ,the grooves into communication wife each other, while a hole in the body of the fuse leads from one. of. the . grooves to. the interior of the' shell, •where: there is a small charge of ,powj '■de'r-'to-.'make a flamb. that will reach • / • through the central tube to the burst-ing-charge at the base. By turning the. rings/appropriately, various lengths V - of ', the-composition can be placed between'tlie communicating holes, and the / v> time that.elapses before the fire reaches the interior of the shell adjusted to a ■ small fraction of a second. In the far •past, gunners trusted to the flash of / the powder round the loose fitted shell to light the fuse; or even fired it with . ' rematch just before discharging the gnu, :>. Neither of these plans will serve now, . As for the first, no gas, theoretically, i?s- '' capes; and for the second, there is not time to, fool about with a match like that, There are'two percussion caps in the: fuse,' both held firmly iiv placiV by . little.-metal fastenings, bat both fairly Jieavy. ' Their sensitive sides face each , other, but- they are in sepnrate. chambers; ; The chamber nearest the nose of the; shell communicates With the' time fuse in the movable rings, and the other : /' , directly, with the powder in. the shell, • Fastened in the partition between the . iwo' chambers are ' small steer spikes, and the detonators, if they arc iorcc(l ■ upon the spikes, .will explode. \ ■ At tliq moment the gun is fired,, the shell- begins to move so quickly that the ' .foremost- detonator, anxious not to start .off so.rapidly,, breaks avviiy.from-, its : ifnstoning,' and is pierced by the niiedlej • - it fircsj-.aml starts the time fuse. ' • 1 If by any chance the time fuse should fail to act, the other cap will operate * Sitting upon a firm piece, of metal, ii had to,start suddenly like-the shell; but stopping is another matter. "When the shell strikes flic ground,-.the cap' exer- • rises its .'privilege of -inertia and, goes . • on.still,.as tar as it, can, .yrhteh is as fai r . as the-waiting needle.: It.goes.ofE; ami , / ; at the instant t.he:shell's sped : i'hcck'e>( bv the ground-it is shattered: ; ' THE l-rPKCTS OF SHKAPNtiL. -, Shr»]iiip| is' 'setto hurst some dis ■" tance in front of the ground>it. is- ae sired to l(lt. When the charge explodes i* wrecks,the thin steel shell, burst ' ingjit usually into .several pieces, anc scatters the bullets, which immediate!} 'c' - 'y'-'r i';\ i V

\ * v I lißlljupon T tI)0 * ground., v At tongc thty Will all fall upon it strip of gfomidji littlo d\«r ii clirtnt ivido, and perhaps threo liundred lofiL'j and wit|i .this sholl-as n so;t of lethal, uroom, tho battcry. of. artillery s\yepps 'the artfa whcrc'thocuoitiylie.-' • If lie has howit•/.er s,thcax t i ll|<J*r iat;oa nr a i uli i ssh rap - uel dovj'ii sovsteeply so as to-rcach men in well designed troutlio;,. THE LYDDITE SlillLL. High qxplosive shells arc filled,„ as. a : rule, with . lyddite, melinite,, ot. some similar , explosive. Picric acid -is used "in 1 medicine sand 'urthe- arts'' in conndcrablo quautltKjs. At one tune tor tun populHr sticks of a moat Rigorous yellow colour were (Ivcd ivitli it. But, ; itis ; mpstlfiised' ; in : ' potassium 'and ■ nnimonium, .which are the explosives aforesaid. • They explode with extraordinary violence, making a . dejiso blnilk sjiiok'c, aiiil smashing a shell into'tinv fhigineiits. AVhcn tho detou.i tion is 'incomplete, the smoke is yellow, and the neighbourhood may be stained a bright yellow ;.and .the funics are vory. Ovil. to, breaitliqi' T' lC shell is not jiriniaf ily -a' niatf klHcr; its ' chief -uso is for wrecking 1 iglit'protective structures, and o'n6'slifill tvcll plttcbd will smash a . smalF wobdei}' liouso' ,cbniplqtfll v V:. Sucli sheiis do not nqejd :>ny fuse; they.will explode through' the" shofelt : of striking; Tho ' dainsigq''. doners' extremely' seve'ro within about a'chain,' but' beyond tlidt, little harm is done.- As,'a rule the chief result, if ii sltnlj ißmis on the ground, is the sudden digging of a jpit in the ground. It was one of the jokes ciir-j rent during, the siege of Ladysniitli that a hole was a particularly safe place to sit in, because no two shells oyer'! landed iu the'same place. THE FIRING, CHARGE. As to • the propelling cliafge in the gun, that tiaS changed radically! within the.past'dozen; years'; 'AVhen Armstrong! invented his" clever breechloader, : ' the shell, was. put into the ' gun first,, and then the; powder, done up' in a .flannel; : bag, wis .pushed, in after it. Now the. quickfirihg! require a simpler'load-'J ihgj and like a' magnified '■ rifle cartridge. A" big | ' brass cartridge. contains tho charge of cordite, its base carries a percussion' v 'cap'; aiid the shell is'fixed in the' cartHdge. This is'" fixed aminunition v '' Each' giili is'fltteided by a.limber, which' has the cartridges in handytracks, and which; tilfs .j irp; so", that: tiiey are coiivehiint'.to''. "gunner's'. liapd. : Almost a's'fast-as the men.caii-load- thbiii, the field-gun's can sendthe scre'eching'she.lls awjty';- and the< problenr lvhicli- always ha,lints' thp. artillery- : cpinniander; "Us Whether his'supplies are,soundly managed enough to" keep iiis-'l.iinber3 full and his guns busy.—Wellington'' "Evening Post." - - .'