I A

The Staff

Dave Wolfe Publisher and Editor

Mark Harris Assistant Publisher

AI Miller Assistant Editor

Jana Kosco Advertising Manager

Dave LeGate Art Director

Barbara White Production Supervisor

Joyce Bueter Circulation Director

Sandy Casey Circulation Manager

Mardell Harms Circulation

Terry Bueter Accounting

Donna Dailey Executive Secretary

Holly McLean Editorial Assistant

Randy Swedhnd Photographer

R.T. Wolfe, Ph.D. Consultant

Technical Bob Brackney Sam Fadala J.I. Galan Bob Hagel Neal Knox Ed Matunas Ludwig Olson Stuart Otteson Homer Powley Layne Simpson Mike Venturino Ken Waters

Number 99 May-June 1985 Volume 17, Number 3

FEATURES

Hunting Rifle Fit ......................... C.E. El l i s

The French Lebel .................... .Ludwig Olson

Heavy Bullet Pros and Cons. .............. .Bob Hagel

............................. Hugh Douglas About Low Numbered Springfields, Sedgleys, and Others

Postscript: Broken Springfields

Pyrodex Update ....................... .Sam Fadala

Kimber Model 84 .................... Layne Simpson

........... Dave LeGate

Trimming Weight From A Ruger 7 7 ........ .Dave Scovill

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25

28

28

32

34

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DEPARTMENTS Air Rifles.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Spotting Scope . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Black-Powder Rifles . . . . . . .15 Capitol Watch. . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Aiming for Answers . . . . . . .16 Dear Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Product & Service News . . .-: 51 American Gunmakers . . . . . .12 ProducTests . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 Book Review . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 Trophy Pointers . . . . . . . . . .66

ON THE COVER When is a Ruger not a Ruger? When a gunsmith like Ron Webb, from Queensland, Australia, duplicates one in stainless steel. The 10122 in the photograph is a dimensional clone of those that come from Southport but there the similarity ends. The stock is Circassian walnut. A Shilen match grade stainless steel .22 Long Rjfle barrel, turned from a Number 1 contour blank, is threaded into a stainless receiver Webb machined from a section of three-inch stock. Trigger guard is Ruger's, but was matte nickel plated. All hardware was hand beaten from stainless steel, as was the trap in the butt which houscs a spare magazine. Photos by Ron Webb.

COPYRIGHT 1985

Rifle Magazine is published bimonthly by Wolfe Publishing Company, Inc. (Dave Wolfe, President), P.O. Box 3030, Prescon, Arizona 86302. (Also publisher of Handloader Magazine.) Telephone (602) 4457810. Second Class Postage paid at Prescott. Arizona. and additional mailing offices. Subscription prices: U.S. possessions and Canada -single issue, $2.50: 6 issues, $13.00; 12 issues, $25.00; 18 issues, $37.00. Foreign - single issue, $3.00: 6 issues, $16.00; 12 issues, $31.00: 18 issues, $46.00. Advertis- ing rates furnished on request. All rights reserved.

Publisher of Rifle is not responsible for mishaps of any nature which might occur from use of published data, or from recommendations by any member of The Staff. No pall of this publication may be reproduced without written permission from the editor. Manuscripts from free-lance writers must be accompanied by stamped self-addressed envelope and the publisher cannot accept responsibility for lost or mutilated manuscripts.

Change of address: please give six weeks notice. Send both old and new address, plus mailing label if possible, to Circulation Dept., Rifle Magazine, P.O. Box 3030, Prescon, Arizona 86302.

4 R I F L E 99

The Great Rifle Controversy Author, Edward C. Ezell. Published by Stackpole Books, PO Box 1831, Harrisburg PA 17105.334 pages, illustrated, annotated, index. Priced at $29.95.

is cial producers.” Nothing new about any arms. of this in the history of U.S. military ofthe arms except NATO, which is a post- Small WWII development. Being the compe

ic tent scholar that he is, Dr. Ezell reviews

the period of the Garand in his first T o b y (1984fbrings the story of world military armament up to date.

This new work is the story of the post-WWII search in the United States for a new infantry weapon, told in great detail and brought up to mid-1984. But it is much more than that. True, experi- mental shoulder arms of all types are discussed, but even more, perhaps, it is the stow of “Unrealistic military re-

chapter. Then there is “The Search for a

Lightweight Rifle” (the T-20,22,25,27, 28, 31 and others). “Cracks in the Anglo-American Alliance 1946-47,” more experiments 1950-57, the M14, the M16, post-Ml6 developments and more. To the outsider, the problems were simple: nobody could develop arms or anything else while they were twina to understand U.S. military

EzeU is not kind to the military, the arms industry, Congress, or the many persons involved with each. Judging from his welldocumented evidence, they do not deserve kindness. Whether he is right in saying “by the late 1970s the M16A1 was regarded as the stan- dard against which all other small arms should be judged,” remains to be seen, but his expertise makes his opinion important. - C.R. Suydam

The Gun Collector’s Handbook of Values Author, Charles Edward Chapel. Pub- lished by Perigee Books, The Putnam Publishing Group, 200 Madison Ave., New York NY 10016.503 pages, illus- trated, bibliography, index. Paper- backed, $10.95.

Those who failed to get a copy of the Fourteenth Revised Edition of Chapel’s classic gun values book when it came out in 1983 now have another chance: this soft cover edition is essentially identical to the hard cover edition, with a lower price. Print quality is good, and the soft cover makes it easv to take to

quiremeints, poor management, - dis- gioups: USARMCOM, ARRCOM, putes with NATO, congressional tight- AMCCOM, ARDC, ARRADCOM,

ess, and the failure of c o m e r - DARCOM, TRADOC and ot shows. - C.R. Suydam 0

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* Pet Loads by Ken Waters $29.50 A handloading manual that grows! Contains loading procedures. load tables, tips, precau- tions. commentary on test guns; seventy cartridges a re detailed in this main volume. New supplements available twice a year.

Yours Truly, Harvey Donaldson Simulated leather hardbound $19.50 A compilation of Harvey Donaldson’s writings covering his relationships and accomplish- men t s with noted shooters and experimenters dating back t o the early years of this century. *

HOW IBecame a Crackshot by Milton Farrow Simulated leather hardbound $16.50 softbound $ 9.95

An interesting autobiography by one of the most famous American riflemen of the late 1880’s.

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Tables of Bullet Performance by Philip Mannes softcover $17.50 Almost any hypothetical ballistic situation may be solved by reading the results already computed in these tables. This da ta will interest wildcatters, hunters and other advanced ballistic enthusiasts.

* The Art of Bullet Casting Hardbound $19.50

Softcover $12.95 This collection of articles taken from the pages of Handloader and Rifle magazines covers the subject from basic to more advanced techniques.

* The Compleat ’Just Jim’by Jim Carmichel Hardbound $13.50 A collection of short stories abou t a g roup of characters from Jim’s native Tennessee. S o m e of them had something t o d o with the gun business, others were just crazy in their own right. Enjoyable reading a s you laugh your way from page t o page.

* Propellant Profiles - Volume I Simulated leather softbound $12.95 A collection of reference articles on various powders that appeared in Handloader and.Rif!e magazines. Technical da ta o n powder characteristics a s well a s loads for a variety of cartridges and shotshells a re covered in each of the fifty-eight powders in this reference work.

* The Golden Age of Shotgunning by Bob Hinman Hardbound $17.95 This book records the accomplishments of the last thirty years of the 1800’s o n various aspects of shotgun shooting. It is a valuable chronicle of that era for the historian and shotgun enthusiast.

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Benchrest Actions and Triggers by Stuar t Otteson Softcover $8.50 For someone who plans to build a benchrest rifle, this book will enable him t o select componen t s f rom the detailed s tudies and analysis contained within. *

* Master Index Simulated leather softbound $8.50 The material from Handloader 1966-1982 and Rif/e 1969-1982 magazines is cross- referenced and indexed so it is now easy t o locate the wealth of information in them.

See our other ads in this issue for our latest books.

Stuart Otteson’s The Manufacture o f the 1903 Springfield

The Bolt Action Vol . If

Payments outside the U.S. please m a k e payable in US funds.

PO Box 3030 Arizona residents add 5% tax.

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Kimber’s Model 84 is available in four grades: Classic (pictured), Custom Classic, Cascade and Super America.

The new Model 84 has a great deal in common with Kimber’s Model 82 which has been with us since 1979. The American walnut stock is the same, including checkered steel buttplate, steel grip cap and sling swivel studs. Both rifles have 22.5-inch barrels turned to the same contour. Both models have neat bolt releases located on the left side of the receiver bridge and both share the same rotary-type safety disc, positioned just back of the bolt handle.

Kimber scope mounting rings, either the quick-detachable side-lever type or the new fixed rings, fit the grooved receiver, their forward movement arrested by a horizontal pin intersecting the dovetails. The barrel is screwed into the receiver ring as it ought to be.

LAYNE SIMPSON

HE 2 2 2 REMINGTON has been T with us for almost 35 years now. It and its 2 2 3 offspring probably account for the demise of as many varmints as all other small caliber, centerfire cartridges combined. Isn’t it strange that no American manufacturer has offered a bolt action rifle scaled down in size and proportion for either round? At least it was that way until 1984. We now have such a rifle and a nice one it is. Kimber calls it the Model 84. I call it the classiest lightweight varmint rifle ever produced in the United States. ,

In October 1982, while I was visiting the Kimber factory, its president, Greg Warne, told me about several projects waiting in the wings. They all got my attention but a baby Mauser, built specifically for Remington’s ,222 family of cartridges, had this varmint shooter panting with excitement.

In January 1984 I got my first look at the new rifle at the Dallas SHOT Show, but another three months rolled by before I had one for testing. It was well worth the wait. When you get.your hands on one, I’m sure you’ll feel the same.

Like its .22 Rimfire and .22 Hornet cousins, the Model 84 measures 40.5 inches long overall and is rated at a nominal six and a half pounds. From here we depart from design details common to both rifles.

Were Paul Mauser still with us, he would cast an approving eye toward the Model 84 because the basics of its action designbelong to him. Hence my reason for calling the Model 84-a baby Mauser.

The Model 84 is of turn-bolt design. When the bolt is pushed forward and rotated (in this case 90 degrees), dual,

Above, the floorplate/trigger guard assembly is made of steel. Pressing a spring-loaded plunger, which extends

from the front of the trigger guard, releases the hinged floorplate.

Upper left, the Model 84’s receiver is grooved for Kimber scope rings. Note the rotary safety wheel behind the bolt handle and the cocking indicator peeping out from beneath the bolt head. lower left, the bolt release can be seen on the left side of the receiver bridge. Both ejection port and bolt throw are a bit longer than those on the older Model 82 to accommodate the -223 Reminaton.

RIFLE 99

The first groundhog Layne took with the Model 84 dropped a shade less than 200 yards from the muzzle. Very accurate, light and well- balanced, Layne considered the new Kimber an ideal choice for the varmint hunter who spends as much time stalking and scouting as he does shooting. The scope is a prototype Leupold 6x Compact, with adjustment knobs and a small dot reticle designed for Hunter Class benchrest competition. It proved a good choice for the field, too.

I opposed locking lugs located at the front of the .555-inch diameter bolt body engage abutments milled into the receiver ring. The locking lugs measure .41 inch long, .305 inch wide and .095 inch thick, relatively heavy for such a trim bolt body. Backside, the root of the bolt handle serves as a safety lug. A flat metal tail with red dot on its top surface extends from the firng pin into view beneath the bolt cap, serving as a cock- ing indicator.

Not only is it an extremely strong little action, its designers obviously spared no effort in making it a safe one as well. In the event of a pierced primer

I

The counterbored bolt face is cut away at the bottom so the cartridge rim can slide between bolt face and extractor while feeding from magazine to chamber. The face of the extrac- tor claw is beveled to slip over the rims of cartridges loaded singly into the chamber.

or case separation during firing, powder gases are allowed to escape from the receiver through mating vent holes drilled through the bolt body wall and left side of the receiver ring. A second vent in the bolt body channels gas into the magazine well; back at the rear, the shooter is further protected by a bolt cap and shroud.

The non-rotating, external extractor is of the claw-type, held to the bolt body by a one-piece collar. Its claw or hook is a generous .29 inch wide, meaning it engages a generous portion of the rim area on a .223 case. The bolt face is recessed with the bottom side of its counterbore wall cut away to allow a cartridge rim to slip between bolt face

These five-shot test groups were fired at 100 yards. The target on the left shows how Remington factory loads fared. Groups in the middle target were made by handloads featuring Watson 52-grain custom bullets. The last target shows what the test Kimber did with the handloads it liked best.

.223 Remington - Model 84 Accuracy Tests

Selected Handloads Powder H-4895 accuracy (MOA)

- * bullet charge before after (grains) (grains) tuning tuning

Watson 52 HP 26.0 .65 .51 Speer 52 HP 26.0 .81 .69 Hornady 53 HP 25.5 .86 .71 Sierra 52 HPBT 26.0 .89 .71 Nosler 50 HPBT 26.5 .92 .74 d Sierra 50 Blitz 26.5 * ;94 .78 d

-8 Hornady 55 SP 25.0 .97 .78 9 2 2

Nosler 55 SP 25.0 1.29 _ _ - _ 3

_ _ _ - c

Speer 55 SP 25.0 1.16 Sierra 55 SP 25.0 1.21 _ - _ _

P Factory Ammunition e accuracy (MOA) E

e a

load number tuning tuning .- e Winchester 53 HP 4VAU3 1.37 1.12 C

lot before after =

Federal 55 HPBT 33A-3336 1.39 1.07 0 Frontier 55 FMJ 608320 1.44 1.22 e Remington 55 PLHP PO1 1 D3558 1.50 1.27 z Remington 55 PLHP T05LD7422 1.51 - - - - 0

.. Rernington 55 PLHP T27CD1668 1.52 - - - -

2 Rernington 55 PLHP T05LD0041 1.59 - - - - 3 Rernington 55 PLHP T05LD7520 1.62 - - - -

Remington 55 PLHP T24LD5676 1.63 - - - - I?

Federal 55 SP 33A-3136 1.70 - - - - I Lapua 55 SP 6565-6941 1.75 1.64 2

d Winchester 55 SP 44TB32B2 2.18 1.96 Remington 55 FMJ S07KB2577 2.39 2.18

.- 0

C m Frontier 55 SP 81 348320 1.58 - - - - c P

c

MAY-JUNE 1985 39

and extractor claw as it is stripped from the magazine box during feeding. This system is known as controlled feeding since it eliminates the possibility of double feeding cartridges due to short- stroking the bolt.

For varmint hunters who prefer to load a single cartridge directly into the chamber, the face of the Model 84’s ex- tractor claw is beveled, allowing it to slip over the rim of a chambered round.

Those familiar with Winchester Model 54 and pre-64 Model 70 actions will recognize an old faithful ejection system incorporated into the 84’s design. It consists of a simple metal blade pivoting on a crosspin in a slot milled into the floor of the receiver

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bridge. Its forward end rides against the bolt body as the bolt is retracted and enters a groove cut in the bolt body and out through the bolt face. An advantage to this ejector as opposed to the Mauser type is that the left locking lug is not weakened by a slot cut for passage of the ejector.

Dovetailed into the bottom of the receiver ring is a rectangular recoil lug, its flat rear surface allowing plenty of area for solid bedding. The front guard screw threads into the receiver ring while the rear screw threads into the tang. The Model 84 also has a com- pletely new trigger, with what Don Kyle of Kimber describes as a roll-forward sear. Simply put, the sear’s pivot point is at the rear instead of the front. With the new trigger comes two claims: a lighter pull at the lower end of its adjustment range and more consistent release from shot to shot. One thing is certain - it’s a good one. As it came from the factory the trigger on my rifle pulled 33 ounces and is smooth, crisp and without trace of creep or overtravel.

True to Mauser tradition, the box magazine is of the staggered-column type with spring-loaded follower. The magazine is 2.28 inches long (inside) and is loaded from the top with five cartridges and emptied by releasing the hinged floorplate. The floorplate is latched by a spring-loaded plunger extending out from the front of the trigger bow. The entire assembly is honest-to-gosh steel, including the follower.

All of this is fine and dandy but how, you might be asking, does the Model 84 shoot? Like most rifles, it is quick to ‘indicate its likes and dislikes by the groups it prints on paper. For example, by precision handloading standards it doesn’t exactly set the world on fire with factory loads but then, I’ve not fired enough .223 commercial loads in other rifles to be able to make an honest comparison. All told, I’ve shot 10 dif- ferent factory loads in my rifle with Winchester’s 53-grain hollowpoint, Federal’s %-grain hollowpointed boat- tail and the Frontier %-grain full metal jacket averaging the best accuracy at 1.37, 1.39 and 1.44 MOA, respectively. At the other end, we have the Rem- ington 55-grain full metal jacket at 2.39 inches. The rest fell somewhere in between the two extremes. Accuracy with five different lots of the Remington %-grain PL HP load range from a low of 1.5 to 1.63 MOA.

Going to the opposite extreme, my Model 84, fresh from its box, averaged .67 MOA with Ed Watson’s custom benchrest bullets seated over H-4895. This combination was used as a control load, with groups fired at random durine the various test sessions. When ”

all was said and done, its overall average shrunk to .65 inch.

That is remarkable accuracy from an untuned factory rifle, partially explained when we consider that quite a number of world records have been shot by benchrest shooters using those bullets. On the other hand, even custom bullets won’t magically transform an inaccurate rifle into an accurate one, so a good chunk of the credit must be given the Model 84’s inherent accuracy. In other words, by using custom bullets and H-4895, I established a standard by which all other handloads could be judged in my particular rifle.

During the first test session, overall accuracy with commercial bullets averaged about 1.25 MOA but by cherry-picking certain loads, the tally reads more like .95 MOA. Since I chose not to waste space by listing loads that didn’t work in my rifle, only those select loads are shown herein.

Besides the Watson 52-grain hollow- point, six bullets produced several five- shot groups averaging less than one minute of angle; the Speer 52-grain hollowpoint; Hornady %-grain hollow- point; Sierra 52-grain hollowpoint boat- tail; Nosler 50-grain hollowpoint boat- tail; Sierra 50-grain Blitz; and the Hornady 55-grain Spire Point.

Next, I decided to snoop around in the Model 84’s innards to see if a bit of minor tuning might be in order. The recoil lug was bedded at the factory with its back and bottom surfaces bearing heavily against an epoxy-like com- pound. After relieving the bottom of the recoil lug area, groups seemed to shrink just a tad but it took a section of business card between barrel and forearm to make the rifle really percolate.

Immediately after the two modifica- tions weie made, the Watson bullets began to average just over half an inch for five-shot groups while averages with four commercial bullets - the Speer 52-grain hollowpoint, Hornady 53-grain hollowpoint, Sierra %?-grain hollow- pointed boat-tail, and Speer 55-grain softpoint - dropped to .694, .706, .725 and .845 MOA, respectively. Average group size with Winchester, Federal and Frontier factory loads shrank to just over one MOA.

If you’re wondering why the “before and after tuning” accuracy is reflected in the accompanying chart, there’s a reason. Since this report is about the rifle and not necessarily about how to fine-tune same for top accuracy, I feel it’s only fair to highlight its level of accuracy prior to modifications - simple though they may be. On the other hand, when a rifle responds so favorably to a few minutes’ work, fail- ing to mention its potential would be

40 RIFLE 99

nothing less than an injustice to those folks out in Clackamas who created it.

Overall quality and workmanship on my Model 84 are certainly up to snuff. The Custom Classic grade stock has beautiful figure and was obviously mated to the barreled action with close

slightly flattened diamonds around the pattern edges, the 18-line cut checker- ing is neat, well executed and of ade- quate coverage. Finishes on both wood and metal are as good as we’ve come to expect from Kimber craftsmen.

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The chamber was reamed as perfectly f I round as any factory job &e ever checked. Both locking lugs bear evenly on their abutments, too. With the excep- tion of a weak ejector on my early production rifle (which has now been corrected) the Model 84 has fired over 500 shots without a single problem. This, my friends, is a well made little rifle.

Firing pin travel is short and quick and I’ve experienced no ignition failures with Federal, CCI, Remington or Win- chester primers. The bolt glides smoothly to and fro in its raceways with minimum wobble at the extreme rear of its travel. Bolt lift is extremely light, indicating well designed and properly hardened cam surfaces.

The nitpicker in me would like to see one detail changed: the floorplate hinge should be made a bit narrower. I’d like to see, as an option, a Model 84 with its receiver drilled and tapped for scope mounting in lieu of the dovetail grooves. Those are matters of taste and aesthetics thou,gh, and have nothing to do with the Model 84’s capability of dropping a chuck at long range or shooting tiny groups on paper. Every- thing else about the Model 84 is about as handsome as any rifle maker could possibly make it.

As this is written, the Model 84 is slated for one chambering, the 2 2 3 Remington, with a rifling pitch of one turn in twelve inches. Other possi- bilities are being considered, however. The 2 2 2 Remington is an obvious candidate as is the sadly neglected . I7 Remington and what is often thought of as a modern Hornet, the 2 2 1 Remington Fireball. The decision makers at Kimber are also taking a serious look at several wildcats, namely the 6x47mm and 7mm TCU. Possibly more suitable for the 84’s magazine box length is the 6x45mm and 7x45mm, both on the 2 2 3 case. Dies are available from RCBS and Redding for all those wildcats.

I have also heard mentioned a Model a4 Varminter with a heavier barrel and single-shot action with a solid bottom

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receiver for greater rigidity. Chambered for the .222 or .223 cartridges, this would make for about as ideal a prairie dog rifle as one could ever ask for. Time will tell, of course. For now, the Model 84 is availahle in four styles: Classic, Cascade, Custom Classic and Super America. Barreled actions are also available.

Except for ignition tests with various primers, Remington cases and Federal Match primers were used in preparing all test loads. All loading took place at the range, using a Custom Products powder measure, RCBS scale and Lee Turret press with Lee sizing die and Bonanza benchrest seating die.

The Model 84 shot best with 100 percent density charges of H-4895 and all bullets seated out to within x6 inch of the lands. The rifle also prefers that its forearm rest on an extremely soft sandbag when being shot benchrest.

All groups represented five-shot strings 100 yards from benchrest. The wind blew from several different direc- tions during all test sessions, so I held my fire with each shot until the wind flags stationed at 25, 50 and 75 yards told me to squeeze the trigger. The Model 84 wore a Redfield 16x RM6400 scope during most of the bench testing. Data-Targ BR-100 targets were used exclusively to record accuracy.

When shooting prairie dogs, crows and groundhogs with the Model 84, I’ve used a Burris 3-9x Mini scope and a Leupold 6x Compact, the latter with windage and elevation adjustment knobs and a tiny dot, made up espe- cially for Hunter Rifle benchrest com- petition. For future varmint hunts, I’ve installed a Burris 4-12x Mini with fine crosshair reticle.

All in all, I’m impressed with the Kimber Model 84. To date I’ve used it on Carolina crows, Carolina ground- hogs, West Virginia groundhogs and South Dakota prairie dogs and it has yet to let me down. Kimber’s new offspring won’t replace any of my other favorite varmint rifles but it will join them as a permanent part of my battery, simply because, pound for pound, it’s a most handsome and accurate little varmint rifle.

I have other rifles that are more accurate but they outweigh the Model 84 by several pounds and are not so well suited for what I have in mind. I’m thinking about a couple of places in particular, where the hills are quite steep and I won’t even know the 84 is slung over my shoulder until a grizzled old chuck decides to taunt me from yon side of the green valley.

This little rifle is made for walking. 0

The French Lebel (Continued from page 24)

the Balle D was its French cannelure, which was tapered so that its deepest portion was a t the front. The abrupt shoulder a t the front edge of the cannelure engaged the case mouth to prevent the bullet from being pushed into the case. A short section jus t forward of the cannelure was .327 inch diameter to reach the bot- tom of the rifling grooves. This was similar to the rotating band on an artillery projectile. The cylindrical bearing portion covered by the case neck was .320 inch in diameter.

A second version of the 1 8 8 6 D cartridge, called the Model 1 8 8 6 D (a.m.), was designed to avoid acci- dents with pointed bullets in the tubular magazine of the Lebel. Although (a.m.) in the designation stands for amorcage modifie (modi- fied primer), it was actually the case that was modified. There was a deep groove on the case head encircling the primer. When cartridges were nestled in the tubular magazine, the bullet point of the round behind engaged in this groove to prevent the point from contacting the primer. A s with preceding Lebel rifle cartridges, the primer of the 1 8 8 6 D (a.m.) had a brass protective cover, or double cup. An extra-heavy firing pin blow was required to fire the cartridge. It appears from specimens of this car- tridge I’ve examined that the-primer assembly was secured in the case with an annular (ring) crimp.

Although the Balle D project was conducted in great secrecy, the Germans soon learned of it, and responded by developing the S ver- sion of their 7.9mm cartridge featur- ing a 154-grain spitzer bullet. Intro- duced in 1903, the S cartridge was ready for general issue October 1, 1905. It gave outstanding ballistic performance over normal combat ranges, and served a s inspiration for development of the American .30-06 cartridge.

The spitzer bullet of the S cartridge had higher velocity and a flatter tra- jectory than the Balle D a t short and medium ranges. However, the greater sectional density and boat- tail of the Balle D made it much better than its German rival for long range machine gun fire.

As mentioned earlier, France adopted the Model 1890 Berthier cavalry carbine, but the principal French infantry rifle continued to be the Lebel. The Model 2 8 9 0 cavalry carbine had a turned-down bolt

4 2 RIFLE 99