Chain shot

“ The recoil of this shot empties and reloads the gun, and so the process goes on just as long as the button is pressed. Some three hundred shots can be fired in a minute very accurately, and the effect on a body of men advancing along a road or across a bridge is deadly in the extreme. ”

“ He took his revolver and fired at it, aiming to hit it just in front and below the hammer, its most vulnerable part. Instead, the bullet hits the ground and ricocheting enters the breast of the dead man. He shudders as the body stirs from the force of the shot, although he knows that life has been gone for hours. Everything is plain to him now why his other shots had not taken effect. He was unnerved. How could a man with a hole through his body hope to hit anything. He had heard of men shot through the heart killing their assailants, and had often wondered if he could do it. ”

“ To fire a piece by way of the ricochet, the cannon is only charged with a quantity of powder sufficient to carry the shot along the face of the works attacked. The shot, thus discharged, goes rolling and bounding, killing, maiming, or destroying all it meets in its course, and creates much more disorder by going thus slowly, than if thrown from the piece with greater violence.
When ricochet firing is used, the pieces are elevated from 3 to 6 degrees, and no more; because if the elevation is greater, the shot will only drop into the work, without bounding from one place to another. ”

“ In the largest kinds of balls, such as are projected from field-pieces or guns of position, the form offers little subject for consideration to the surgeon. So long as there is momentum enough to carry forward the mass of iron of which these missiles are composed, so long will their weight be the most important ingredient in the production of the wounds inflicted by them. Whether the shot come as a solid cone or bolt from one of the new guns or as a round ball from an ordinary cannon, the injury will be equally destructive to life or limb. ”

“ Shot Groups.—Owing to errors on the part of the firer, and also to imperfections in the rifle and ammunition, it is found that a series of shots, even when fired by an individual under perfect conditions at a large, stationary, distinct target at a known and close range, do not all strike the point aimed at, but they form a group of shot-marks about this point, the density of which varies mainly with the skill of the firer. ”

“ Grape-shot, canister, and spherical case, on striking collectively—that is, before they have spread—as sometimes happens in assaulting or in accidental close proximity to guns in the field, produce the same kinds of injuries as cannon-shot, but individually resemble musket-shot in their effects. ”

“ Their purpose is to assist the artillerist in attaining his object without waste of time and ammunition, and also to regulate his aim when the effect of shot cannot be seen on account of the dust and smoke of the battle-field. The first few shots generally produce a great effect on the enemy, and it [163] is very important that they should be directed with some knowledge of their results, which, in the field, can only be attained by experience, or from the data afforded by a table of fire. Tables of fire for different kinds of cannon may be found in the Ordnance and Artillery Manuals. ”

“ No one can keep on shooting at small objects on a man’s head or held between his fingers without an occasional bad shot, and if it misses by only half an inch, such a miss may cause the death of the assistant.
Unavoidable sources of accident are, a weak cartridge giving a low shot; a hang fire, or, as in one fatal accident, the rifle blows open, lowering the muzzle and the bullet entering the assistant’s forehead. ”

“ The projectiles now in use are solid shot, shells, strap-shot, case or canister-shot, grape-shot, light and fire-balls, carcasses, grenades, and rockets.
Solid shot are now almost invariably made of cast iron, [35] formed in moulds of sand or iron. This projectile is used under almost every circumstance, whether in the battle-field or in the attack and defence of places, and is the only one that is effectual against the stone walls of forts. Hot shot are used against shipping and wooden structures of every description. ”

“ Mortars with iron beds immoveably fixed in the earth throw their shot to greater distances than guns which are affixed to carriages can do, and which, therefore, can recoil. This has been [320] incontestibly proved, both in large and small artillery. Having suspended a gun barrel, charged with a determinate quantity of shot, from the ceiling by two cords, so as to allow of its recoil, fire it point blank at a target, and mark the result accurately. ”

“ As you may imagine, the bullets work great havoc on men and horses within this area. Sometimes the fuse does not explode the powder at the right time. In order that the shot may not be wasted, it is provided with a cap, which causes the shell to explode when it strikes the ground. A quick-firing gun, such as is used by the Royal Field Artillery, fires about six times a minute. When necessary it can fire much more rapidly than this. As many as twenty shots a minute have been fired from a British field gun. ”

“ Nowadays, with the wax bullets driven by fulminate out of a duelling pistol, shooting off the heads of assistants can be done with very little risk except to the eyes, whereas with a leaden bullet a bad shot means the death of the assistant unless provided with a steel skull cap under a wig. ”

“ A small part of the gas generated by the explosion of the individual cartridge operates the mechanism, discharging the bullet, throwing out the empty shell and making ready for the next shot.
A machine gun is designed to enable one man to fire the equivalent of a volley, or series of volleys, discharged by an entire platoon (one-third of a company) of infantrymen. As at present developed, it represents a step toward the evolution of a shoulder-rifle that will throw a continuous stream of bullets. ”

“ In the last resort, bore a hole in the bottom of the breech, drive out the shot, and stop the hole with a screw. When a shot is jammed in a gun and cannot be rammed home to the cartridge, destroy the charge by pouring water down the vent and muzzle until the ingredients are dissolved, and cleared out of the bore ”

“ They could shoot over obstacles or fortifications, landing on, and perhaps piercing, the deck of a ship, or hitting a pile of powder kegs or other supplies behind fortified walls, or just wreaking havoc and demoralizing the people. Guns fired their projectiles in a flat trajectory, and their effectiveness in turn depended upon the weight of the shot: the greater the weight of the shot, the greater the muzzle velocity—the speed at which the shot exited the gun—and the farther the shot would go and the deadlier it would be. ”

“ Beware of the muzzle of the gun being kept hanging downwards; when so carried, the shot is apt to force its way from the powder, especially in clean barrels; if it happens that a space of sixteen or eighteen inches is thus obtained, and the gun fired with its point below the horizon, it is ten to one but the barrel bursts. There are other perilous consequences besides those that generally accompany the disruption of a barrel, for the men, horses, and dogs, are in perpetual danger of being shot when a gun is carried in the before-mentioned pendent manner. ”

“ As few sportsmen ever tried so small a charge of powder as 11⁄2 drachm with so heavy a charge of shot as 2 oz., or as large size as No. 2, we invite a trial of the experiment we are about to suggest, with any gun that may happen to be in their possession, not weighing more than 71⁄2 lb. With the above proportions of powder and shot—the shot being oiled—let the shooter fire at forty yards, with good elevation, because large shot droops more than small, at an unbound book nailed to a wall, with an open newspaper (double sheet) spread in front of it. ”

“ The lugger now began to fire her long gun; the shot, though failing to strike, pitched sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other side of the cutter.
“Why don’t we try and knock away some of her spars?” observed Lord Reginald.
“Little use firing our pop-guns,” answered the commander; “our shot won’t reach her as yet.”
Presently the long gun sent its missile through the cutter’s squaresail. Another shortly afterwards made a second hole, but did no other damage.
“Those fellows know how to handle their gun. We shall see how they behave when we get them within range of ours. ”

“ The greatest insult that can be offered to a professional shot is to call him a conjurer.
To begin with the unaided shooting: You must have a safe background to shoot against. The best, in my opinion, is a steel plate, leaning towards you at an angle of forty-five degrees, and below it a shallow tray, filled with sand, to catch the bullets, which flatten on the steel and drop into the tray. As only very light powder-charges are used, and as the bullets for this purpose are round, or semi-round, this is sufficient. ”

“ In the automatic pistol, the recoil from the explosion drives the working part of the pistol back against a strong spring. As soon as the force of the explosion is spent, this spring forces the working parts back into place again. These working parts do all the work the shooter does in a single-shot pistol—that is, it cocks the pistol, opens the breech, extracts the spent cartridge, inserts a fresh cartridge, and closes the breech. ”

“ Usually for military purposes a single ball was used, but sometimes, especially for hunting, a number of small shot, much like present day buck shot, were used. These were called swan shot by the men who used them.
There were several ways of carrying this ammunition. The powder was normally either in a flask or bandolier; the shot in a soft leather pouch. When going into action, a soldier often took his bullets from his pouch and put them in his mouth so he could spit them into the barrel of his gun and save time in loading. ”

“ If within three, four or five inches from the muzzle, the portion so destroyed can be sawed off, the barrels squared up and it will not always seriously affect the shooting of the gun.
In loading a gun be careful that there be no air space left between the charge and the ball or shot cartridge. In double guns, frequent firing the right [138] barrel, which is the one fired the most, the recoil will often cause the ball or shot charge in the left barrel to be thrown forward from the powder, and when it is fired may either strain or burst the barrel. ”

“ The shot is packed within a wire cage, which is constructed so as to allow them to escape from it gradually while the charge is in motion. They cause all guns to shoot with double the strength which can be obtained by the ordinary mode of loading, and with much greater regularity, as each shot retains its spherical form. ”

“ Two sizes of shot can be carried in it; it can be worn much more comfortably than a pouch, which is always getting in the way, and there is no loss of shot from chance blows on the lever: a still greater advantage lays in your being able to see that which goes into your gun. If only one size shot can be taken, select No. 6 for general use; but No. 8, No. 4, and Bristol B. should be added if practicable. Gunpowder of excellent quality is now to be obtained of all the first-class makers. For percussion caps, thick felt gun-wads, and ordinary mercurial ditto, go to either Joyce or Ely. ”

“ A target will be assigned to you, and you will repair to the firing point and load your arm. It is well to let your coach fire the first shot or two, to see if your piece is sighted approximately right. If so, you are ready to begin shooting. If the sights appear to be as in Fig. 85 at the moment of discharge, then the bullet should hit the center of the bull’s-eye. If, after several shots, you are convinced that the bullet does not strike where it should, the arm is not properly sighted for you. ”

“ Iron shot were doubtless used as a general rule for breaching purposes, for which stone shot were ill adapted, owing to their lightness and liability to break up. We even hear from time to time of the use of bronze and lead cannon balls. ”

“ When a cannon-shot strikes a limb and carries it away, the immense velocity and momentum of the impinging force can scarcely be supposed to have no physical effect upon the neighboring or even distant parts independent of, and in addition to, the ‘shock,’ in the ordinary acceptation of the term, which would result from the removal of the same part by the knife of the surgeon, or the crushing of it by a heavy stone or the wheel of a railway wagon. ”

“ If we wish merely to drive the enemy from it, solid shot from heavy calibres will be necessary, which will more surely reach and destroy his troops, wherever they may show themselves.
9. The moral effect, both of solid shot and of shells, is much greater than that of grape or other case-shot, from their more fearful effects on the human frame, and from the great number of men that a single ball or shell will kill or fatally wound. One twelve-pound solid shot has been known to kill forty-two men, who happened to be exactly in its range. ”

“ A gun loaded with a quantity of sand, equal in weight to a charge of snipe-shot, kicks still more. If, in loading, a space is left between the wadding and the charge, the gun either recoils violently, or bursts. If the muzzle of a gun has accidentally been stuck into the ground, so as to be stopped up with clay, or even with snow, or if it be fired with its muzzle plunged into water, the almost certain result is that it bursts. ”

“ The public think that a bullet goes only where the shooter wants it to go, “You pull the trigger and the bullet does the rest” sort of idea.
They believe the bullet goes direct of itself to that object and stops there, when the trigger is pulled. They have no idea that the bullet may miss that object and hit someone beyond.
People will stand in the direct line of fire to watch a wounded buck in a park being shot, and are indignant if asked to move to one side. ”