In speaking of this new feed, the Board say in their report: "The action is, as claimed in the inventor's description, positive and continuous as long as the gun is worked. The substitution of a positive action for one depending upon the carriage of the projectiles to the grooves of the carrier-block by means of gravitation, modified by friction, is a great improvement. The gun works as well when the feed 'magazine' is horizontal as it does in an inclined or a vertical position. No jamming, or interference of any kind, occurred during the trials, and the rate of discharge varied uniformly with the revolution of the crank necessarily." In speaking of penetration, the report says: "The penetration from 3000 to 1000 yards was through two inches of spruce plank, and from three to five inches into the sand, the projectiles striking point foremost." The gun used in the trials was 45-inch calibre, with barrels 24 inches in length; and the ammunition used contained a charge of 85 grains of powder, and a bullet weighing 480 grains. In firing at high elevations, to have the bullets strike the ground at various distances, the following elevations were given the gun: At 200 yards range, the gun was fired at an elevation of 88 degrees, the bullets so fired remaining up in the air 57 seconds from the time they were discharged, until they struck the ground. At 500 yards range, the gun was given an elevation of 85°. At 1000 yards range, the gun was given an elevation of 77°. At 2000 yards range, the gun was given an elevation of 66°. At 2500 yards range, the gun was given an elevation of 56°. At 3000 yards range, the gun was given an elevation of 24° 40'. At all ranges, when the gun was fired at and below 85° of elevation, the bullets struck point foremost, and retained their rotary motion, as was proven by spiral scratches on them, caused by friction in their passing through the boards. Extracts from the official report of the United States Army Ordnance Board, on the trial of the model, United States calibre (0.45in.), Gatling gun, at Sandy Hook, N. J., in January, 1883: The gun is similar in general to the one described in the last report of the Ordnance Board on the subject. The lock is called a rebounding one, the intention being that the firing-pin shall not project in front of the face of the lock until, when released from the cocking-ring, it flies forward and discharges the cartridge. A device allows the cocking-ring to be thrown out of action at will, and prevents the cocking of the hammers. This is of advantage during drill, and allows firing motion to take place without snapping, and thereby injuring the hammers. The object of the experiments was to test further the new feed-magazine in its adaptability to the use of the service cartridge, both with the 500 and 405 grain bullets, and also to test some new features of the gun and carriage above described. The Board, in its report of October 11, 1882, on this "feed-magazine," when applied to a gun using the English bottle-shaped cartridge, states that it "is all that is claimed for it, and adds very considerably to the value of the gun.". In that experiment the gun was fired at various degrees of elevation from 1 to 89°, but in these experiments the gun was fired several times, as rapidly as possible, with 8 and 9 feed-magazines previously filled, and with both kinds of cartridges. The gun was finally dismounted, placed upside down on a staging, and one feed-magazine inserted from below, when the gun was fired with as much facility, and the feed worked as well as when placed on top, showing clearly that its action was positive and entirely independent of the force of gravity. No other feed that is known would operate in this manner, and, though this is an exaggerated case, and one not likely to occur in service, yet it shows how effectually the cartridge is held from the time it is placed in the feed-machine to its delivery in the carrier-block, and how impossible for any clogging or overriding to occur, as is the case at times with other feeds. T. G. BAYLOR, Lieutenant-Colonel of Ordnance, President of the Board. GÉORGE W. MCKEE, Major of Ordnance. CHARLES SHALER, Captain of Ordnance. General S. V. Benét, Chief of Ordnance, United States Army, in his endorsement of the above report, says: "The great improvement is in the feed, which is positive in its action, and ' entirely independent of the force of gravity.' It is believed that the modified Gatling gun, with the new feed, has about reached the utmost limit of improvement." Extracts from the official report of the United States Naval Ordnance Board on the trial of the new model, U. S. calibre (0.45-in.) Gatling gun, at the Navy Yard, Washington, D. C., January, 1883: RAPIDITY OF FIRE. Five drums (each holding 102 cartridges) to illustrate feed action: No. 1.-Drum emptied in 2.8 seconds. No. 2.--Drum emptied in 2.6 seconds. No. 3.-Drum emptied in 2.8 seconds. No. 4.-Drum emptied in 2.6 seconds. No. 5.-Drum emptied in 2.6 seconds. Number of cartridges expended 510. The mechanism and feed worked well in each case. Two trials of eight drums each for rapidity and endurance: First test-Eight drums emptied in 41.4 seconds. Second test-Eight drums emptied in 42.2 seconds. Cartridges expended, 1632. The mechanism and feed worked well. A supplemental test was here made with members of the Board at the crank, to determine if it be possible to cause an accidental stoppage or imperfect action in the feed by an irregular or jerking method of turning the crank. Two drums, 204 cartridges, were expended in this manner. The Board were unable to produce any imperfect action in either mechanism or feed. One drum at 75 degrees elevation. Expended 102. Two drums at greatest depression (56 degrees) permitted by the mounting. Expended 204. Two drums with feed 90 degrees to the right. Expended 204. Expended 204. W. M. FOLGER, Lieutenant-Commander and Member. J. H. DAYTON, Lieutenant and Member. F. H. PAINE, Lieutenant and Member. It is evident that an accurate vertical fire from Gatling guns, delivering a storm of bullets descending under a slight angle of arrival, would, by grazing the superior crest of parallels erected by besiegers approaching a fortification, or those of ordinary rifle-pits or entrenchments, destroy their occupants much more certainly and rapidly than can be done by the shells or case-shot fired from mortars or fieldguns. This "high-angle" or mortar fire from a machine-gun opens up a new field in the science of gunnery, and is well worthy of the highest consideration of military and naval men of all nations. It is well known that the Turks, in the Russian-Turkish war, inflicted great injury upon the Russian forces at long ranges, by firing their muskets at high elevations, so as to deliver what is known as "high-angle" fire; but it is quite evident that in such firing there must have been a great waste of ammunition, for the reason that the infantry soldiers could not well determine what elevation to give their muskets in order to have the bullets reach the enemy. This great waste would not take place with the Gatling gun, which, being mounted on a carriage, does not move when being fired. A table of distances and elevations being established for the service of the Gatling gun, all that would be required of the men who use it would be to ascertain first the distance at which the enemy was entrenched, and then to give the gun the required elevation (by the use of the quadrant) in order to have the bullets fall within the line of entrenchments of the enemy. The Gatlings could be protected from the direct fire of the enemy by entrenchments or by a pit dug for each gun, so that not even the muzzle of the gun would be exposed. Among the prominent advantages claimed for the Gatling gun may be enumerated the following: Its adaptation to the purposes of flank defence at both long and short ranges; its peculiar power for the defence of field-entrenchments and villages; for protecting roads, defiles, and bridges; for covering the crossing of streams; for silencing field-batteries or batteries of position; for increasing the infantry fire at the critical moment of a battle; for supporting field-batteries, and protecting them against cavalry or infantry charges; for covering the retreat of a repulsed column; and, generally, for the accuracy, continuity, and intensity of its fire, and its economy in men for serving, and in animals for transporting, it. It is conceded that small-calibre Gatling guns, which use the service-musket ammunition, will prove invaluable in naval service when used from top-gallant forecastle, poop-deck, and tops of shipsof-war for firing on an enemy's deck at officers and men exposed to view; for firing down from tops upon the roof of turrets; for firing into an enemy's ports; and, in boat operations against an enemy, either for passing open land-works, or for clearing beaches and other exposed landing-places. Exhaustive official trials of the gun have been made in many countries, under the supervision of officers of high standing, who have strongly recommended its use, both for land and naval service. The reports of such trials are too extended for a paper of this kind. Gatling guns have been sold, in greater or less numbers, to most of the governments of the world. A few extracts are given of their use in warfare. In the late Prussian war, the French used the Gatling gun conjointly with the mitrailleuse. From the London Journal we clip a correspondent's description of its efficacious use in action: Up to this time we had not seen any Prussians, beyond a few skirmishers in the plain, though our battery of Gatlings had kept blazing away at nothing in particular all the while; but now an opportunity of its being in use occurred. A column of troops appeared in the valley below us, coming from the right-a mere dark streak upon the white snow; but no one in the battery could tell whether they were friends or foes, and the commander hesitated about opening fire. But now an aid-de-camp came dashing down the hill with orders for us to pound at them at once-a French journalist having, it seems, discovered them to be enemies, when the general and all his staff were as puzzled as ourselves. Rr-rr-a go our Gatlings, the deadly hail of bullets crashes into the thick of them, and slowly back into the woods the dark mass retires, leaving, however, a trace of black dots upon the white snow behind it. This, their famous and historical four o'clock effort, and its failure, has decided the day. That one discharge was enough. The Russians used Gatling guns in the siege of Plevna. A special correspondent of the London Times, writing under date of November 26, 1877, from the headquarters of the army of Bulgaria, at Bogot, says: The mitrailleurs [Gatling guns] were in constant action until midnight, splitting the air with their harsh, rattling reports. Another account (November 26th) says: The Russians are using their mitrailleurs [Gatlings] a great deal now at night, probably with the intention of keeping the Turks occupied, so as to relax the tension on the infantry in the trenches. No other arms in the world are equal to Gatling guns for night service. They can be placed in a position in the daytime so as to cover any point desired, and as they have no recoil to destroy the accuracy of their aim, an incessant fire can be kept up during the night with the same precision as in daytime. In the naval engagement that took place in Peruvian waters on May 28, 1877, between the Peruvian rebel iron-clad ram Huascar, and the British men-of-war, the Shah and Amethyst, a small Gatling gun, stationed in the foretop of the Shah, rendered excellent service. The correspondent of the Illustrated London News, in a semiofficial report of the conflict, says: About five o'clock, the Huascar being clear of the shoals, we seized the opportunity to close. The enemy likewise closed, with evident signs of ramming, firing shell from her 40-pounder. Our Gatling gun then commenced firing from the foretop, causing the men on her upper-deck quarters to desert their guns. Captain Aurelio Garcia y Garcia, one of the most distinguished officers of the Peruvian navy, in his account of the above engagement, says: |