Читать книгу Surgical Experiences in South Africa, 1899-1900 - George Henry Makins - Страница 24

	Lee-Metford	Mauser	Krag-Jörgensen
Initial velocity	630	718	720
Remaining velocity:
At 100 metres	574	699	718
At 1,000 metres	249	264	269
At 2,000 metres	159	165	165.9

Giving full importance to the effects of velocity as a factor in the severity of the injuries produced, when the large proportion of wounds received at distances above 1,000 yards is borne in mind, we see how rapidly the superiority of the smaller projectiles is lost. This loss, even in the early stages, is probably more than made up for in the case of the Lee-Metford, when the superiority in weight, calibre, and bluntness of extremity as contributing to striking force is taken into consideration.

The striking force (kinetic energy) of a bullet is indicated by the following formula: f = ½ mv.²; that is to say, the striking force is equal to half the weight of the bullet multiplied by the square of the velocity.

In point of fact, with unaltered regulation bullets I was never able to determine any very material difference between the wounds produced, further than that the wounds of entry and exit in the soft parts tended to correspond with the calibre of the particular bullet concerned. Although the immense majority of the wounds which came under my notice were caused by the Mauser bullet, yet I saw some hundreds of wounded Boers and a good many of our own men wounded by Lee-Metford bullets, in the latter case no doubt by some of the sporting varieties. The only cases that I can call to mind or have noted as exhibiting a superior wounding power in the Lee-Metford bullet are some injuries to bone. Thus I saw a considerable number of clean perforations of the patella produced by Mauser bullets, while the only two Boers whom I saw with injured patellæ had suffered transverse fractures. Again, I have a lively recollection of an old Boer who had suffered a fracture of the middle third of the femur, in the thigh of whom, with small apertures of entry and exit, a cavity of destroyed tissue, five inches across, was found beneath the fascia lata at the distal side of the fracture. I cannot however say that I did not observe many equally severe injuries to the femur produced by Mauser bullets in our own men, and as far as fractures of the skull went, a somewhat crucial test, among the men brought off the battlefield alive, I never saw any difference in severity whatever.

Fig. 15.—Sections of four Bullets to show relative shape and thickness of mantles.

From left to right: 1. Guedes; regular dome-shaped tip; mild steel mantle; thickness at tip 0.8 mm.; at sides of body 0.3 mm. 2. Lee-Metford; ogival tip; cupro-nickel mantle; thickness at tip 0.8 mm.; gradual decrease at sides to 0.4 mm. 3. Mauser; pointed dome tip, steel mantle plated with copper alloy; thickness at tip 0.8 mm.; gradual decrease at sides to 0.4 mm. 4. Krag-Jörgensen; ogival tip as in Lee-Metford; steel mantle plated with cupro-nickel; thickness at tip 0.6 mm.; gradual decrease at sides to 0.4 mm. The measurements of the sides are taken 2.5 cm. from the tip. Note the more gradual thinning in the Lee-Metford mantle.

These points of comparison having been made, it only remains to consider one other point, that of the relative stability of the bullets. This is a matter of the greatest importance as regards the regularity or otherwise of the wounding power of the projectile, and, as far as my experience went, I believe the Mauser to far exceed the Lee-Metford in instability of structure.

The core of all four bullets is composed of lead hardened by a certain admixture of tin or antimony, but the mantle differs in composition, thickness both general and in different parts of the bullet, mode of fixation, and consequently in its power of resistance to violence.

Fig. 15 gives an exact representation of the relative thickness of the mantles, and shows the general tendency to a thickening of the mantle at its upper extremity, designed to increase both the stability and striking power of the projectile. It will be noted that in general stoutness the Lee-Metford stands first, as the case increases gradually in thickness from base to apex.

Beyond this it must be noted that the Lee-Metford is the only one of the four that is ensheathed with a mantle composed of a definite alloy, this consisting of 80 parts of nickel and 20 of copper. Two of the remaining bullets, the Mauser and Krag-Jörgensen, are ensheathed with steel covered with a thin coating of an alloy of copper or cupro-nickel, to take the rifling of the barrel, while the third has a plain steel mantle which is covered with a layer of wax to take the place of the nickel used in the manufacture of the two others. It is interesting to mention here that the Boers evidently found the copper alloy coating insufficient for its purpose, or at any rate not satisfactory in preserving the weapon from the ill-effects consequent on the friction between the steel case and the rifling of the barrel, as at about the middle of the campaign they began to use their bullets waxed, as in the case of the Austrian Mannlicher; hence the legend of the poisoned bullets which caused such a sensation for a short period amongst the uninitiated. It is possible also that the additional layer of wax was necessitated by the wearing of the barrel.

The wax employed for the Mauser bullets was not originally green. Mr. Leslie B. Taylor informs me that it is probably paraffin wax, the green colour depending on the formation of verdigris from the copper alloy with which the steel envelopes are plated. This completely corresponds with my own experience, since on the bullets in my possession the green colour, originally pale, has steadily increased in depth. Many old leaden bullets I found in the Boer arsenals were also waxed, but in this case no alteration in colour had taken place. The Guedes bullets, which are cased in mild steel, become somewhat brown with exposure from a similar oxidation or rusting of the surface.

As far as my experience went, however, the steel casing has an important surgical bearing beyond the mere question of wear and tear on the rifle barrel. That it possesses elasticity and capability of bending is obvious, and in a later chapter, devoted to irregular wounds, several illustrations of such deformities are given; but when it strikes stone I believe it splits and tears with very much greater freedom than the cupro-nickel mantle of the Lee-Metford. At any rate, I never came across Lee-Metford bullets deformed to the same degree as Mauser bullets, either when removed from the body, or as ricochet projectiles on the field of battle. For this reason, therefore, provided the fighting takes place on stony ground, I believe the Mauser bullet and others ensheathed in steel to be much more dangerous surgically than those encased in cupro-nickel. I fancy this would be equally the case even if the mantles were of exactly the same thickness.

The layer of copper alloy on the steel mantles is also a physical characteristic worthy of mention. This very readily chips off in a manner similar to that we are accustomed to see with nickel-plated instruments. This may be due to the compression into the grooving of the rifle, or as the result of passing impact of the bullet with an obstacle previous to entering the body or contact with a bone within it. Small scales of metal set free in one of these ways are seen in a very large proportion of Mauser wounds, and although they are so small as usually to be of little importance, the presence of such in, for instance, the substance of one of the peripheral nerves which has been perforated cannot be considered a desirable complication.

To recapitulate, it would appear that at mean ranges, both in striking force and as regards the area of the tissues affected, the Lee-Metford is a superior projectile to the Mauser, in spite of the greater initial velocity possessed by the latter. On the other hand the comparative ease with which the Mauser bullet undergoes deformation either without or within the body, so ensuring more extensive injury and laceration, renders it the less desirable bullet to receive a wound from when not in its normal shape and condition.

I can say little about the remaining two rifles. The Krag-Jörgensen was little used, and beyond pointing out its capacity to inflict very neat individual injuries, in which it must surpass even the Mauser, I can only add that I had no opportunity of forming an opinion as to the danger dependent on the great initial velocity imparted to the bullet. The Guedes rifle has been included in the table because it approximates in bore to the other three. Its bullet is of the same calibre as the Austrian Mannlicher, one of the most powerful military rifles in use, and it was used to a considerable extent during the war by the Boers.[8] As to its capabilities, it appeared an inferior weapon, since want of velocity and striking power of the bullets was indicated by the number of these which were retained in the body, and by the fact that I never saw one extracted that had undergone any more serious deformation than some flattening on one side of the tip. On the other hand wounds of the soft parts occasioned by it were only to be distinguished from Mauser wounds by their slightly greater size, and at a short range of fire the weight and volume of the bullet made it a dangerous projectile.

The question of deformed bullets will be again referred to at length in the section on wounds of irregular type, and a number of type specimens are there figured and described (p. 76). In the same chapter will be found illustrations of a number of sporting bullets of small calibre, as well as of large calibres in lead, found in the Boer arsenals and camps. I have placed them in that position as mainly of interest in connection with the occurrence of large and irregular wounds (see figs. 42 and 43, pp. 95 and 98).

The small sporting bullets were mostly of the Mauser (.276), Lee-Metford (.303), or Mannlicher (.315) calibre.