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Show could use them not only have kept Fritz at home nights but have kept him sleepless sleep-less more than one night. The shotguns are more effective than rifles for sentries. The guns will not replace the rifle in warfare nor will they perform the functions of a machine gun. which has done all that it was intended It is purely an emergency weapon which has done all that it was intended to do and some more. Will Not Replace Rifle or Machine Gun Firing from the hip, holding back the trigger and pumping the forehand, the shooter can lay down a perfect barrage in front of him that will be effective for more than 100 yards. This gives an idea of the value of the gun in the hands of sentries. It carries more terrors into the hearts of the enemy than any other instrument of destruction that has been used. i The only umbrella that will assist anyone any-one when the trench shotgun is showering shower-ing pellets over the universe is an armored ar-mored tank. The guns are mainly in the hands of trapshooters, men who learned to shoot at clay targets at the gun club. Trap-shooters Trap-shooters are sportsmen and have used the guns to deflect and explode hand grenades thrown by the enemy. Hand grenades explode four seconds after they are thrown and if they are missed by the shooter, he pays for the miss with his life. The compactness of the shot will check the grenade and cause it to explode near the enemy trench, which is fatal to the thrower. By PETER P. CAR NET. The trench shotgun is America's greatest great-est contribution to the war. Through the expert handling of the trench shotgun the Germans learned that the Yanks were coming. . At the first taste of the pellets the Huns began to whine and then to write notes calling us "barbarians." Germany, too! Quite naturally a lot of people wanted to know something about the trench gun. Quite a number of writers have written a lot about the gun. We'll add to the lot and try to give every bit of information about the shotgun shot-gun that is worthy of publication. It is the good old short barrel shotgun that was the greatest peacemaker in the early days of the west and southwest converted into a formidable weapon of war. Originator of the Big Idea. Three score years ago it was the handy piece of the sheriffs' who hunted the outlaws, out-laws, prison guards,, express messengers and stage coach guards, and it did yeoman yeo-man service. When America took a hand in the war a Georgia engineer by the name of Eagor began ruminating on ways to stop the Hun. His ruminations brought him to the discarded weapon of the days of mushroom mining towns. It was the big idea. He suggested the utilization of the short barrel shotgun to the war department and the suggestion met with favor. The improved Winchester riot gun, 1897 model, six shot, hand operated, ajngle barrel pump shotgun was examined and found worthy. But there was one problem to be met. That was the placing of the bayonet. The barrel of the gun was quite thin and did not;- offer much support for a bayonet. This is where Yankee ingenuity asserted itself and made the gun the deadliest short range weapon ever conceived con-ceived or used by man. The weakness of the barrel was overcome over-come by providing an outer steel coat, or jacket, which is perforated and held a short distance away from the barrel proper and forms an air chamber that acts as a cooling jacket. To this reinforced rein-forced jacket is the bayonet attached. This jacket prevents the scorching of the shooter's hands and permits rapid fire. The magazine holds five shells and there is one shell In the chamber, making it capable of firing six shot as rapidly as one can pull the trigger and work the pump handle. This we might assert Is mighty fast when in the hands of a trapshooter. Will Fire 50 Cartridges a Minute. These shells contain three and one-half drams nf smokeless powder, 00 buckshot load, nine pellets to each cartridge, each pellet about the size of a .32-caliber bullet. bul-let. It is possible for one man shooting, and others loading for him. to fire fifty cart ridges a minute. which means 450 slugs, a veritable shower of lead, would be sprayed over a 100-yard sector. With hundreds of these guns in use one can Imagine the result. No column nf troops could stand at close range before a line of men armed with trench shotguns. In tire past these guns have cowed mobs and upset mass formations. It is unwise to stand in front of them especially when they are in the hands of one who might pull the trigger. The gun weighs seven and one-half pounds and the bayonet one and one-half pounds. It is the twelve-gauge pattern, with barrels twenty inches long made from rolled steel, cylinder bored. The banyonet can be removed and used for "closeup" fighting. A sling Is attached to the gun, the same as to the rifle, so that It may be thrown over the shoulder. An Idea of the effectiveness of the gun is shown in these tests on a two-inch pine board. At fifty yards the pellets wormed their way into wood one and three-quarters inches. At seventy-five yards the shot went in three-fourths of an inch and at 100 yards the shot went in one-fourth of an inch. When General Pershing requested the shntguns we are of the opinion that the Idea was to try and keep Fritz at home in the evenings. Thousands were supplied sup-plied and these in the hand of men who |
