Base hit

“ The direction and force of the wind currents through which the projectile must fall are variable and they all exert influences tending to cause the projectile to swerve from its original course to a degree dependent upon their strength and the thickness of each stratum of air. The size of the target and, if it be animals or men, the direction and rate of movement of the target, are all factors to a successful hit. ”

“ If you are apprehensive, besides, that you don't push home, or justly, fear making you keep back your Thrust, or follow the Blade, the least Motion of the Enemy disorders you, and puts you out of a Condition to hit him, and to avoid his Thrusts. ”

“ As the heavy tool passes over the shoulder the impetus of the swinging motion lightens the weight, and something like a thrill passes through the sinews. Why is it so pleasant to strike? What secret instinct is it that makes the delivery of a blow with axe or hammer so exhilarating? ”

“ No longer could he do a fast twenty rounds, hammer and tongs, fight, fight, fight, from gong to gong, with fierce rally on top of fierce rally, beaten to the ropes and in turn beating his opponent to the ropes, and rallying fiercest and fastest of all in that last, twentieth round, with the house on its feet and yelling, himself rushing, striking, ducking, raining showers of blows upon showers of blows and receiving showers of blows in return, and all the time the heart faithfully pumping the surging blood through the adequate veins. ”

“ When you load your musket with buckshot, or coarse shot, and fire into a flock of ducks or geese, you never will see any flutter except the wounded. When you see a person flutter, you may know that is the character who is hit, and is the one who ought to be hit. ”

“ Well, the angle of fall and mean error of fire may not convey a satisfactory idea to you, but you must remember that the shot of a little gun goes to its target in a high curve, while the shot of a big one goes almost horizontally. So you can see why a little gun ought to have the bigger target. It curves more, has a greater angle of fall, than a big gun has. ”

“ If the slightest movement occurs in the gun, the shot is projected from an unsound base or foundation. It is precisely similar to a man who, in the act of throwing a stone, slips his foot backwards: the effect is at once apparent on the stone. ”

“ All at once a flash burst forth over our heads, the whiz of a ball shot past our ears, and the report of a gun echoed through the ravine, accompanied by a dull sound, as if the ball had been flattened against the rocks. ”

“ Watching a creature banging away at a target that he never hit, with an old flint musket, while you held in your hand a short Enfield that would have driven the ball through the bull's eye, is nothing to this ”

“ And if it be found, that even at so small a distance the Bullet falls lower than the Mark, if it touch not the Canvas, the Gun may be next time raised a little, and so on, till the Bullet hit the Mark, or as high as it: And if at first it fall as high as the Mark and cut the Canvas, the Mark and Canvas may be brought neerer the Gun, till it needs be done no more: Afterwards the Mark may be removed to greater and greater distances, till, to hit the Mark, it fly higher, than some or all the interposed Canvasses: And thus the Experiment. is to be repeated and varied at pleasure. ”

“ Not the drum, the bugle, or the fife, though these are thrilling, after their fashion; but the music of modern ordnance and projectile, the beautiful whistle of the minie-ball, the howl of shell that makes unearthly havoc with the air, the whiz-z-z of solid shot, the chirp of bullets, the scream of grape and canister, the yell of immense conical cylinders, that fall like redhot stoves and spout burning coals. ”

“ Some of them, who are hit by the enemy's shot, suddenly stretch out both their arms, let their muskets fall, and, with their heads falling backwards, drop off the height, step by step, from one rocky point to another, smashing their limbs to pieces. ”

“ There is a kick and a crash as well as an infinitely subtle intensity in the big, climax-speeches that suggest this lesson: the same well-calculated, restrained, delicately shaded force would simply rivet your ideas in the minds of your audience. An air-gun will rattle bird-shot against a window pane—it takes a rifle to wing a bullet through plate glass and the oaken walls beyond. ”

“ What happens more or less in every stroke in which one ball is made to strike another is that at the moment of collision the round surfaces are flattened by the shock, and impact is not confined to what is accurately called a point, but is extended to this flattened surface, which varies in size according to the strength of the stroke, the hardness of the balls, and the part of ball 2 struck. ”

“ How far removed are we from those simple joys! To charm the populace in these days you need ophicleides, saxhorns, trombones, cornets, every imaginable sort of brass, with big drums and little drums and, to beat time, a gun-shot. ”

“ Even the targets are of the most varied description: targets that fall to the ground when hit, targets that burst, targets surrounded by smoking objects or colored fires so that there will be some of the semblance of battle, fixed targets and targets that move or that float in the air, targets that have been lying flat on the ground but that suddenly appear here and there like an enemy issuing from the bushes. ”

“ He who fired the shot knows that, by sight as well as sound. For he sees—all see—a man reeling, staggering, about to fall, and another with arms outstretched, as if partly in surprise, partly with intent to support him. ”

“ But we may likewise say that the man who pulls the trigger of a gun or cannon is the cause of the motion of the ball, and here there is no relation between the strength of the effect and that of its cause. Now, in whatever mysterious way Venus and Mercury affect the sun, we may be sure it is not after the fashion of the blacksmith: they do not deal him a violent blow producing all this enormous effect, but they rather pull the trigger, and immediately a very great change takes place. ”

“ Now the effect of a ball is as the difference of its weight with the weight of the gun; while the one being so much lighter is propelled forward with great celerity, and with a corresponding projectile force, the other suffers but little motion, which we term the recoil. ”

“ Energy, as the resultant of the components of weight and velocity, represents the real damaging quality, striking force, or “punch” of a projectile, with a variation in wound effect as the energy is distributed over the surface of the body, through the [Pg 10] cross-sectional area and the form of the point of the projectile, and the elements of construction which a affect the preservation of its shape. ”

“ You are to observe two sorts of beating, the one with the Foot firm in the same place, the other gaining measure; the Beat with the Foot firm, is done in two ways, the one in appels, or alurements on the Blade, and the other in engagements or Feints. That upon the allurement on the Blade, may be made by a single beat of the Foot, but those who are pretty well advanced, make two without lifting the Foot but once, the first with the Point, and the other with the whole Foot: that on engagements or single Feints, shou'd have but one beat, the thrust being to be made on the second motion. ”

“ POINTING GUNS AND HOWITZERS.
1. What is meant by the term pointing a piece?
To point a piece, is to give it such a direction and elevation, or depression, that the shot may strike the object; and the rule (except in case of mortars) is: First give the direction and then the elevation, or depression.
2. When a shot is fired from a piece, by how many forces is it acted on?
By three.—1st. The impulsive force of the powder, which urges it forward. ”

“ In ballistics, again, we may measure the resistance which the medium in which we are obliged to operate, makes the force of impulsion and the target both obey the same law, and yield to the same process of calculation. ”

“ Keep your body as composed and easy as the requisite adjustment of the left leg will admit; let your arms do the hitting; and remember the wrists. The whiz that meets the ear will be a criterion of increasing power. Practise hard hitting,—that is, the full and timely application of your strength, not only for the value of the extra score, but because hard hitting and correct and clean hitting are one and the same thing. ”

“ It will be clear to you, that as a shot passes through the air its velocity must gradually diminish, and it will also be clear to you that as the velocity diminishes, the stored up energy in the shot, or the power to do work, upon that which it is to strike, also diminishes. ”

“ The action of the weight being nearly directly opposed to the impulsive force, the trajectory becomes compressed and the point-blank distance diminishes. The contrary effect obtains in firing downwards under a similar angle, as the weight and the force then act in nearly the same direction. ”

“ But as the first position of the axis is uncertain, and as it may perpetually shift in the course of the bullet’s flight, the deviation of the bullet is not necessarily either in one certain direction, nor tending to the same side in one part of its flight that it does in another, but it more usually is continually changing the tendency of its deflection, as the axis round which it whirls must frequently shift its position during the progressive motion. ”

“ At such a time a quick thrust will often catch him unawares and score. Opportunities for preparation attacks are often given when the adversary attempts a beat preliminary to his thrust; the beat is frustrated by an “absence of the blade,” i.e. your blade is made to avoid contact with his by a narrow movement, and your point thrust home into the space left unguarded by the force of his unresisted beat. ”

“ A revolving fly wheel will run machinery for some time after the application of force has ceased. This is doing work, and represents energy.
A bullet fired from a gun will accomplish destruction before having its motion arrested. This is work—energy.
If a boy throw a ball into a snow bank, its motion will sink it into the snow, but not far, the resistance of the snow will soon bring the ball to rest. ”

“ This speed I estimate to be much smaller than that impressed upon the ball by the burning powder.
An appropriate experiment will serve to demonstrate this fact. From a height of one hundred or more cubits fire a gun [archibuso] loaded with a lead bullet, vertically downwards upon a stone pavement; with the same gun shoot against a similar stone from a distance of one or two cubits, and observe which of the two balls is the more flattened. ”

“ A pistol fired point-blank at a man would blacken his breast with powder. The velocity of the ball, fired at such range might have been sufficient to knock the man over backward, instead of allowing him to fall upon his face as he did. ”

“ You think you hear the thud of a cannon-ball not far off, and you seem to hear the different sounds of bullets all around—some humming like bees, some whistling, and some rapidly flying past with a shrill screech like the string of some instrument. You hear the awful boom of a shot which sends a shock all through you, and seems most dreadful. ”

“ Touched with a spark of fire, it acts with extraordinary vehemence, and drives forward with astonishing force, whatever resists its action. So that balls or shot, impelled by this irresistible force, strike the object against which they impinge, so as to take away life: as you and I, and Fritz and Jack, see happen to us every day in letting off our guns. ”

“ For the brain shot only bullets with an unbroken metal envelope (i.e., solids) should be employed; and those showing good weight, moderate velocity, with a blunt or round-nosed point, are much better than the more modern high velocity sharp-pointed variety. They keep a truer course, and are not so liable to turn over as the latter. ”

“ The burst was thirty yards away, along the path we had just traversed, and the sound was like the burst of a shell and like nothing else in the world, just as the swirling, boring, growing scream of a shell is like no other scream in the world. A gigantic hammer-head sweeps through the air and breaks a steel drum-head. ”

“ With hands and face protected from the sun as best might be, we stretched ourselves on the earth, and perhaps all indulged in the luxury of “forty winks.” As time wore on, some sought entertainment in trials of strength, agility, and skill—this last by shooting balls at a stone set up a hundred yards away. ”

“ But if a needle be stuck on the end of the punch, its point upwards, the scale, instead of drawing nigh to the punch and snapping, discharges its fire silently through the point, and rises higher from the punch. ”

“ The impulse generated can be made to pick up a thread, or pull a trigger, operate a trip hammer, blow up a mine or move a battleship or an ocean liner, given a strong enough lever. And that means simply a proper transformation of power or energy. ”

“ What is the 'kinetic energy' of a moving mechanical system? A shot of 1,000 pounds moving at 1,600 feet per second strikes a fixed target. How far will the shot penetrate the target exerting upon it an average pressure equal to the weight of 12,000 tons? ”

“ A ball overhead, causes even the coolest man to dodge involuntarily, however surely he may know that the whistling bullet has already missed him. This is especially the case in a desultory scattered fire. ”