The siege artillery of the United States army consists of the 5-inch gun, the 7-inch howitzer, and the 7-inch mortar. They all use shell, and their effective range is from three to four miles.
When the enemy is sheltered behind entrenchments it is difficult to reach him with shrapnel fired from field guns. Field mortars have accordingly been devised for this purpose and have given excellent results. The United States 3.6-inch field mortar is rifled, and carries a shrapnel weighing twenty pounds. The weight of the field mortar is only 500 pounds, and it can be easily carried in a cart drawn by a single mule.
KRAG-JORGENSEN RIFLE.
But great as the improvements have been in artillery, they are less important than the changes effected in the infantry rifle; for upon the quality of the infantry depends, more than upon anything else, the efficiency of an army. There are many kinds of rifles now in use in the different armies of the world, but in their essential principles they are very similar. All use smokeless powder, and all are provided with a magazine which admits of firing a number of shots without reloading. The Springfield rifle formerly in use in the United States army has been replaced by the Krag-Jorgensen, which has a magazine holding live cartridges, and is provided with a cut-off which enables the piece to be used as a single-shooter. When an emergency demands rapid fire, the opening of the cut-off enables the cartridges in the magazine to be fired in rapid succession. The range of the Krag-Jorgensen is 4066 yards, being practically equal to that of the Mauser, which, in the hands of the Spaniards, inflicted casualties upon our men when they were more than two miles from the hostile position. The difference in the penetrating power of the Krag-Jorgensen and the Springfield is shown in the accompanying illustration, taken from the report of the chief of ordnance for 1893. The Springfield lead bullet was fired with 69 grains of black powder, and penetrated 3.3 inches of poorly seasoned oak, the bullet being badly deformed. With a bullet covered with a German silver jacket the penetration was 5.3 inches, the bullet being again deformed. The Krag-Jorgensen used a bullet consisting of a lead core and a cupronickeled jacket, which was fired with 37 grains of smokeless powder. The bullet penetrated well-seasoned oak to a distance of 24.2 inches and was taken out in perfect condition. The new rifle, at short ranges, has an almost explosive effect and produces a shocking wound; but at ordinary ranges the wounds inflicted by it may be almost characterized as merciful, for the bullet makes a clean puncture, and unless a vital organ is struck the wound heals easily and quickly. The old expression of “forty rounds,” so familiar to veterans of the Civil War, is now obsolete; for no soldier now thinks of going into action with less than 150 cartridges on his person. Not only is the firing more rapid than was formerly the case, but the lighter weight of the cartridge enables a greater number to be carried.
SPRINGFIELD, CAL. 45 (LEAD BULLET).
SPRINGFIELD, CAL. 45 (GERMAN SILVER JACKET).
KRAG-JORGENSEN, CAL. 30 (NICKEL STEEL BULLET).
From the rifle to the Gatling gun is only a step, for the latter is essentially a collection of rifle barrels fired by machinery. It consists of a number—generally ten—of rifle barrels grouped around, and parallel to, a central shaft, each barrel being provided with a lock. By turning a crank at the breech, the barrels and locks are made to revolve together around the shaft, the locks having also a forward and backward motion, the first of which inserts the cartridge into the barrel and closes the breech at the time of the discharge, while the latter extracts the cartridge after firing. Upon the gun, near the breech, is a hopper which receives the cartridges from the feed case. The cartridge falls from the hopper into the breech-block of the uppermost barrel, and in the course of the first half-revolution of the barrel it is inserted, the hammer is drawn back, and at the lowest point of the revolution the breech is closed and the cartridge is fired. As the barrel comes up in the second half-revolution the cartridge shell is extracted, and when the barrel reaches the top it receives another cartridge. The Gatling gun can be fired at the rate of 1000 to 1500 shots a minute. It generally uses the same cartridge as the infantry rifle; but some patterns of the gun fire a projectile an inch in diameter, and approximate closely in their effect to a field gun. The gun is mounted either on a carriage similar to that of a field-piece or on a tripod. Gatling guns were very successfully used by the British in the Zulu War and in the Soudan, and by our own troops in the battles around Santiago.