The New Springfield Army Rifle.

Muzzle velocity, 2,300 feet per second. Weight of bullet, 220 grains. Weight of charge, 43.3 grains. Weight of gun including bayonet and scabbard, 9.47 pounds.

The new Springfield magazine rifle, which has undergone its preliminary tests with very gratifying results, will take the place of the Krag-Jorgensen, which now, for several years, has been doing excellent service in the United. States Army. We present a photograph of the gun, which will be known as Springfield Magazine Rifle Model 1902, and also a line-drawing which shows several sectional views of the gun. By means of the carefully lettered parts a good idea is obtained of the details of the gun. The weapon is supplied with a cleaning rod, which can be partially pulled from its place below the barrel, and held with a catch so as to form a bayonet. The great advantage of the rod bayonet is that it lightens the weight made up of the gun, bayonet and bayonet's scabbard, and, by dispensing with the latter two as separate articles to carry, permits the soldier to carry with him an entrenching tool of sufficient size and weight to be serviceable. While there is some diversity of opinion as to the value of the rod bayonet, which is considered to be less effective than the type now in use, it still is of value as converting the musket into a pike. Moreover, in view of the growing value of the entrenching tool and the ever-decreasing opportunities for the use of the bayonet, the substitution of an entrenching tool for the latter is certainly in line with the recent development of field operations. The piece is centrally fed by means of clips, each of which holds five cartridges; and it will be noticed that the bolt has two lugs instead of one as in the old gun. In a recent report of the Chief of Ordnance the trials of the piece are spoken of as having given "very satisfactory results." The chief points of difference from the Krag-Jorgensen are this use of two lugs in place of one for holding the bolt against the rearward pressure of the powder - the increased strength so obtained being sufficient to allow of an increase of velocity with the same weight of bullet, from 2,000 feet per second in the Krag-Jorgensen to 2,300 feet per second in the new piece, the resulting increase in muzzle energy being from 1,952 foot-pounds to 2,582 foot-pounds. The Krag-Jorgensen is capable of penetrating 45.8 inches of white pine at a distance of 53 feet, whereas the new weapon penetrates 54.7 inches at the same distance. The striking energy at 1,000 yards has been raised from 390 foot-pounds to 448. Other data regarding the new piece are as follows: The caliber is 0.30; the rifling is made up of four grooves of a depth of 0.004 inch, the twist being one turn in 10 inches. The bullet weighs 220 grains, which is the same as that of the Krag-Jorgensen, but the powder charge has been raised from 37.6 to 43.3 grains. In spite of the considerable increase in its power the weapon has been greatly reduced in weight; for while the present service magazine rifle weighs 10.64 pounds, and the Mauser 10.5 pounds, and the German military rifle 11.54 pounds, the new weapon weighs only 9.47 pounds. It follows, as a matter of course, that, with such high velocity and fairly heavy bullet, the trajectory is correspondingly flat, the maximum ordinate of the 1,000 yard trajectory being only 20.67 feet as against 25.8 feet for the Krag-Jorgensen, 24.47 for the Mauser and 23.73 for the German military rifle.

Details Of The New Springfield Army Rifle.

In addition to those mentioned above there are other improvements, such as housing of the magazine in the stock directly below the chamber, instead of having it project at the side of the gun. and there are many changes of detail which both improve the rifle and cheapen and accelerate its production.

In closing it should be mentioned that the new gun is considerably shorter than any existing rifle, and is only slightly longer than the military carbine.