less powder leaves the gun barrel
perfectly clean and the two steel surfaces being in absolute contact
cause tremendous friction; and as the coefficient of friction varies
with every shot, the pressure in the gun constantly varies greatly.

The German silver covered bullet used by the French has the disadvantage
that when firing rapidly the chamber of the barrel becomes nickel plated
and great friction is caused, mounting up the pressures and causing the
muzzle velocities to fall off.

The Austrians, in order to prevent their steel cased bullets from
rusting and to lessen the friction in the barrel of the gun, cover them
with a heavy lubricant, which gives the cartridges an unsightly
appearance and causes them to gather dust and sand. The French employ a
lubricant at the base of the projectile, with a small copper disk
between the same and the powder.

Col. A.R. Buffington, commander of the National Armory at Springfield,
Mass., has made a steel covered projectile which he prevents from
rusting by blackening by a niter process. Several grooves are pressed in
the base of the bullet which carry a lubricant, and when the bullet is
inserted in the cartridge case the grooves are covered by it.
Furthermore, these grooves prevent the lead filling from bursting
through the steel casing, leaving the latter in the barrel, as often
occurs with the Austrian and French projectiles when using smokeless
powder.

A new projectile has lately come out, the invention of Captain Edward
Palliser, of the British army. This bullet consists of a jacket made of
very soft Swedish wrought iron, coated with zinc and filled with lead,
the lead being pressed into this jacket. The bullet is corrugated at its
base, after the manner of the one made by Colonel Buffington. This
projectile has been experimented with very extensively by the British
government, and at the works of the Maxim-Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition
Company, in England. The zinc coating of the bullet is too soft to stick
to the barrel of the gun, and also in a measure acts as a lubricant.
This projectile has given better results than any other that has been
experimented with. The great velocities and the most uniform pressures
by the use of smokeless powder have been attained with this Palliser
bullet.

NOISELESSNESS.

A great many stories have been told about the noiselessness of smokeless
powder. But there is no such thing as a noiseless gunpowder. The report
of a gun charg