in the instant of time during which it is passing through the barrel,
the rifling of the gun has to exert an enormous torsion on the bullet.
Lead, no matter how hardened, is not sufficiently strong, as it will not
only strip and pass straight through the gun without taking any rotary
movement whatever, but under such very high pressures it behaves like
wax, and is thrown from the gun in a distorted mass.

The French cover their bullets with German silver, a substance made of
nickel, zinc and copper; and in order to put as little strain upon the
rifling and projectile as possible, the rifling of the gun is made with
an increasing twist, and has no sharp edges. The French rifle is made
very strong at the breech and is of tempered steel throughout. In this
way the French have made smokeless powder a success--a smokeless powder
made substantially of a character such as I have herein described. With
smokeless powder, the French rifle imparts a muzzle velocity of 2,000
feet per second to the bullet, with a range of about 2,400 meters.

If smokeless powder be divided into sufficiently small grains to be
ignited by an ordinary fulminating cap, it would burn too quickly,
thereby causing the pressure to mount too high, and without giving the
desired velocity. Consequently very large and strong fulminating caps
have to be employed. Smokeless powder is not ignited in the same manner
as black powder. Something besides ignition is necessary. Black powder
simply requires to be set on fire; while a smokeless powder, on the
contrary, not only requires that it be set on fire, but that a certain
degree of pressure be set up inside of the cartridge case. For instance,
if a primer of a certain size should be found to operate perfectly well,
giving prompt ignition in the cartridge case of a rifle of small
caliber, it would be found that the same primer would not ignite a
charge of the same powder if loaded into a gun of one inch caliber. In