Henry Seton-Karr and Charles Francis Atkinson

“ The German rifle has a long guardless sword bayonet, fixed to the fore-end only and not connected with the barrel, and a peculiar form of back-sight, which bears some resemblance to the slide and bed arrangement of the British “short” rifle. The special feature of the Belgian Mauser is a thin steel casing for the barrel, which is supposed to act as a hand-guard or cooler and to free the barrel from disturbing influences due to its connexion with the fore-end; but it is expensive, and if strong adds unduly to the weight of the weapon. ”

“ Here the advantages of flat trajectory make themselves felt. Within this distance the bullet is at no point in its career too high to be dangerous to a standing man or a horseman. A lying figure is in danger at any distance beyond 350 yds. if the sights are set to 500 yds. (front half of effective zone 110 yds., dangerous space 52 yds.) . This is the theory underlying the 500 yds. “fixed sight” or “battle-sight,” a setting which holds good for all less ranges, and can be put on the rifle instantly and without looking at the back-sight graduations. ”

“ With Lebel and Krag-Jörgensen weapons, multiple-loading is a practical impossibility, but in Great Britain the charger was deliberately rejected. It was desired to use the rifle normally as a single-loader, and to reserve the magazine (which held ten cartridges, or twice as many as the multiple-loading Mausers, Mannlichers, &c.) for emergencies; But from about 1903 this equivalence of infantry weapons began to be disturbed by two new influences: the tendency towards a “short” rifle, and the introduction of the pointed bullet. ”

“ In 1864 and 1866 committees were appointed by the British War Office to report on breech-loading arms, and after protracted experiments, Jacob Snider’s method of conversion of the muzzle-loading Enfield to a breech loader (fig. 1) was adopted, with the metallic cartridge-case improved in 1867 by Colonel Boxer, R.A. All available Enfield rifles were thus converted, and new arms made with steel barrels instead of iron. Great Britain was the first to adopt for her army a breech-loading rifle with metallic cartridge-case, which secured the perfect obturation of the breech. ”

“ The “long” charger-loading Lee-Enfield is converted from earlier patterns by the addition of a charger guide, the stripping of the bolt-cover, and improvements in the sighting. The action of the breech mechanism [3] is as follows (the breech mechanism of the “short” rifle being practically the same) : The breech is closed by a bolt (I) which slides in a bolt-way cut in the body; the bolt-head (Io) abuts against the base of the cartridge when the rifle is loaded, and when the knob is turned down the whole is locked. On the right side of the bolt is a solid rib, and on the left side a lug ”

“ An arbitrary figure of one-tenth or one-twentieth of peace-time effect has generally been assumed as representing war results, but some think that however the normal cone may be multiplied or divided, no relation can be found between peace and war effect, and that in battle the brave men aim and fire as if on the practice range, and the rest ire absolutely at hazard. ”

“ For the same reason, as the range, and consequently the angle of descent, increases, the beaten zone diminishes in depth. Another factor is the “dangerous space.” This is the space between “first catch,” i.e. the point at which the bullet (in a sheaf, the lowest bullet) comes low enough to catch a man’s head, and “first graze,” that at which it strikes the ground. The extent of this dangerous space varies of course with the height of the man’s head. In the case of a mounted man, at 1000 yds., it is 105 yds., while in that of a sharpshooter lying down, it is only 13 yds. ”

“ The configuration of the ground has often a great influence on fire effect. If the target is on a sharp forward slope, the beaten zone is greatly diminished in depth, ranging errors are no longer neutralized by the flatness of trajectory and (the bullets meeting the ground at a steeper angle) the dangerous space is reduced; if, on the other hand, the slope descends gently in rear of the target so that the falling -bullets instead of making a. pattern upon the ground, skim along parallel to the surface, the zone is increased. ”

“ Peace-time experiments have their value—and it is very great—in establishing data as to the effect of fire on troops in different formations, the limits of permissible error in ranging, &c., on the principle that of two methods, that which is proved to be better in peace would in much the same proportion be found better in war. ”

“ The very accuracy and range of modern weapons involved new problems. The necessity, in the larger area of effective fire, of setting the sights to the distance of the mark made further demands on fire-discipline and brought up the difficult problem of judging distance. ”

“ No nitro-powder used appears to have equalled the black powder in regularity of shooting. At the same time the object of the N.R.A. competitions is to encourage the use of the military service rifle in the first place, and in the case of the “any” rifle competitions to encourage the production of weapons of the highest efficiency for military purposes. Acting on these principles the rifles allowed by the N.R.A. regulations (1907) are classed as follows:—Class I.—Service rifle (S.R.) : government pattern ·303 magazine rifles; sights strictly in accordance with service pattern. ”

“ The complete cessation of fire at intervals enables the leaders to observe the progress of the engagement, to change their target, to economize ammunition, to select the ground for the next rush and the next burst of fire, and to regain control-of the men, whom prolonged fire-fight hypnotizes and rivets to the ground, The chief use of “slow” fire, which is generally employed by skirmishers working in pairs, is to keep the enemy under ”

“ The results of the Bisley meetings since 1895 have proved that rifles of the ·303 class, the British ·303 rifle particularly, are not so good for match rifles pure and simple as the larger bores using black powder. The light bullets are more subject to deflection by the wind at long ranges than the heavier speed-retaining bullets of the larger bores. ”

“ The barrel was shortened by 5 in., multiple-loading by charger was introduced, and by the Musketry Regulations of 1909 magazine fire was laid down as the normal, single-loading being forbidden. The change met with very considerable opposition, especially from target-shooting experts, who maintained that a long rifle, so perfected in details as to be equal to the short in every point except in length, must be more accurate. ”

“ In these weapons the work of extracting the empty cartridge-case, re-loading and re-cocking, is accomplished either by the motive power of the recoil or of the gas generated by the explosion of the powder, thus enabling a rapid and continuous fire to be maintained to the full capacity of the weapon’s magazine. fIn the case of machine guns the hring also is automatic, but self firing rifles are not very desirable as infantry weapon sand in addition are so heavy as to approximate to machine guns. ”

“ As the bolt continues to turn the rib on the right of it comes up clear of the body and the whole bolt, with the bolt-head, can thus be drawn back until the bolt-head comes against the resisting shoulder on the right of the body and the extractor attached to it flings out the fired cartridge-case. ”

“ Gas-operated rifles, like the Hotchkiss and Colt machine guns, have fixed barrels and are worked, by a portion of the powder-gases which is allowed to escape from the barrel through a small hole near the muzzle, thence entering a cylinder and working a piston in connexion with the breech mechanism. ”

“ Rifles, the senior rifle corps in the British Army is the Ride Brigade, raised in 1800 as the 95th Regiment and armed with a flint-lock weapon known as “Baker’s Rifle,” which weighed 91/2 ℔. The barrel was 21/2 ft. long, its calibre 20-bore, with seven grooves making a quarter-turn in its length. A small wooden mallet was at first supplied with this rifle to make the ball enter the barrel, and it was loaded with great difficulty. ”

“ A more serious objection than that of want of superfine accuracy in bull’s-eye shooting was the loss of 5 in. of reach in bayonet fighting. This objection was met in 1907 by the introduction of a new pattern bayonet with a blade 5 in. longer. In 1908 the long Lee-Enfield and Lee-Metford rifles in store were converted for charger-loading (fig. 3) , fitted with safety catches and new sights, and issued to the infantry of the Territorial Force in 1909 and 1910. For target purposes many rifle shots prefer this converted. weapon to the short rifle (fig. 4) . ”

“ Standing, formerly the usual position, is now employed chiefly for firing behind cover with the rifle rested, and-for snap-shooting during an advance when it is undesirable to halt and lie down. As regards cover, it may be mentioned that well-covered or in trenched troops generally shoot less accurately than troops in the open, the soldier in security being 10th to expose. himself long enough to take careful aim. ”

“ The commander of only a single section, therefore, however tempting the target, must refrain from opening fire at all. At medium ranges, however, controlled and directed fire is effective, and at such ranges troops should still be sufficiently in hand to execute the fire-director’s orders. ”