Lateral ricochet. Illustrating effect of solid base in maintaining the stability of the mantle
Fig. 39 represents a type of ricochet sometimes found on the field. In spite of a considerable amount of violence which has caused the escape of the core, the fissuring of the mantle is comparatively slight. In point of fact, the casing is, as a rule, preserved from the severe violence it suffers when complete, by the flattening and turning over of the soft nose. I am sorry I cannot append an illustration of a damaged soft-nosed Mauser, but I am of opinion that those used during the campaign were not of a very dangerous nature on account of the small amount of lead exposed. To gain the full advantage of the soft nose at least a third of the core should be exposed. No. 3, fig. 37, of a Lee-Metford, probably represents the most effective form of such bullets. I am inclined to think these bullets as a class, however, are not more dangerous to the wounded man than the regulation Mauser fired at short range, if the latter either comes into contact with bone or suffers ricochet.
The Tweedie and Jeffreys bullets come under a somewhat different category. In the Tweedie the top of the bullet is sawn off in such a manner as to flatten the tip and widen the surface of direct impact, and to expose the leaden core over a small area. The general principle of the flat tip resembles that of the French Lebel bullet. In the Jeffreys modification the mantle is sawn down for about half the length of the whole mantle, the slits neither reaching tip nor base. I seldom saw these bullets removed, but they were used to a considerable extent. Fig. 40 illustrates one of Mauser calibre in the possession of Mr. Cuthbert S. Wallace. It perforated the abdomen, producing fatal injuries, but the only alteration in outline consists in slight bulging and shortening. This specimen, however, manifestly suffered but slight resistance. A somewhat general impression existed that a number of severe injuries had been produced by the Jeffreys bullets, but it was a matter of conjecture, as few of them were removed. A weekly illustration appears in the advertisement sheet of the 'Field,' showing the deformity of some of them shot into animals, which bear a strong resemblance to the Mauser figured earlier (fig. 31), and which we have seen can be produced in the human body by contact of a regulation fully cased bullet with a bone like the malar. A tendency on the part of the longitudinal slits to become caught in the rifling of the barrel militates against the use of this bullet.
Fig. 40.—Jeffreys modification of Mauser.
The bullet is in the possession of Mr. C. S. Wallace. It perforated the abdomen and caused death. The bullet is only slightly shortened by bulging at the shoulder
Fig. 41.
1. Section of Mark IV. Lee-Metford. Note thickness of mantle and exposed core at base. 2. Soft-nosed Mauser. Note solid base. Short pattern
Fig. 41 represents sections of the soft-nosed Mauser, and the British Mark IV. bullet, and shows the different method of closure of the base. If the former remarks on the influence of the closed base in maintaining the stability of the bullet be correct, Mark IV. should be a very destructive bullet. I have no experience of its use, but I am inclined to think that here, as elsewhere, the thickness and resistance of the cupro-nickel mantle would endow it with considerable stability, unless it met with very great resistance.