For the gentlemen of culture,
Set out in the 'club-land' paper,
Of the Westminster Gazette,
Comes a discussion on rifle patterns.
An article of the soldier’s weaponry,
Discusses the rifles characteristics
Of each side - used in the fight to win,
The European war - a comparison
Of service rifles may give a clue,
To the pros and cons of each country.
British troops, it is said, are not
Being armed alike - having varied
Rifles – but each one has been adapted,
For the same cartridge. The standard
Regular Army small arms issued,
Is the Short Lee-Enfield rifle -
A result of the Boer War experience.
In this production of an adaptable rifle
Which, not being too long in the barrel,
Can easily be carried on horseback,
And purposeful for infantry usage,
And in the need for bayonet fixing.
For the interests of technically minded,
The Short Lee-Enfield rifle,
Is made of a twenty-five inch barrel,
With seven grooves in the rifling.
Each magazine holds ten cartridges,
Fixed in clips - but with an ability to load
Single cartridges - For the other rifle,
The Lee-Enfield, has a thirty-inch barrel.
The wood casing, short of the muzzle,
Fitting about only part of the barrel.
Both rifles fire bullets of .303 inches,
The cartridge is filled with cordite -
Per second a rounded bullet reaches
2,000 feet - While a sharp pointed bullet
Increases in speed up to 2,440 feet.
Such high velocity gives advantages,
To minimize any errors in a lower range -
The newer, pointed bullet’s speed,
Endangers any standing target, compared
To the old rounded bullet having a high Lift,
Moves too high to be of danger to an enemy.
The rifle of the German army being a Mauser,
Can fire pointed bullets at 2,800ft a second.
The Mauser is of the 1898 pattern - the barrel
Being 29 inches long with four rifling grooves.
The magazine of five un-detachable cartridges,
With the rounded bullet a velocity is 2,090 feet
A second - the bullets diameter of .311 inches
Weighing 227 grains (the English is 215).
Such rifles were favoured by Boers - and held
In the right hands proves an excellent shooter.
The French are faithful to the Lebel rifle,
Of 1886, which possesses a tube magazine
Below the barrel, with eight cartridges
31 and half inches, the barrel has a calibre
Of .315 inches with four rifling grooves.
The rounded bullet had velocity of 2,073 feet
And the pointed bullet 2,380 feet.
The pointed bullet originated in 1905, comes
Via Germany - is copied by France, England
And others - its gain an increase of speed
Moves as high as 2,900 feet per second,
Increasing the 'danger-space' of flight.
An earlier Mauser pattern is used by Belgium.
Lighter than the short Lee-Enfield by 2oz,
The barrel is 30 inches and fires a .301 bullet,
Weighing 219 grains - the chamber pressure
Higher than others gives velocity of 2,034 feet.
Austria is armed with Mannlicher – loaded
By a box magazine - the barrel of 30 inches,
Has 4 grooves to the rifling - the usage
Of a steel bullet of 244 grains and .322 inch
Diameter – the muzzle velocity of 2,034 feet
Per second - 19.7 tons a sq inch chamber
Pressure, Equal to the Belgian Mauser.
For the Russians the rifle is the Nagant,
Adopted from 1894 - a box magazine
Holds 5 cartridges 31.5 being barrel length
And 4 grooves in rifling. The velocity being
1,985 feet and bullet weight of 214 grains.
In conclusion the differences of weapons
Remain fairly slight with the German Mauser
Having the highest velocity, is balanced
Against the British skills of marksmanship.
The theory is that if another war ever evolves
All troops will be issued with automatic rifles;
Such weaponry is rapidly being perfected.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1914. Rifles in the War - Comparison of types. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 23 Sept. p.3. Col.6-7. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11109716/Daily-Telegraph-September-23-1914.html [Accessed: 23rd September 2014].
Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 23 September 2014).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11109716/Daily-Telegraph-September-23-1914.html
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