A WORK OF ART.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1073, 11 March 1911, Page 10

A WORK OF ART.

THE' ;303" BULLET, It would bo difficult to tell' tho number of bullets fired away in the. course Of the recent Tr.entham meeting.; No one pares very ranch,.. r ,3'ho .sleek .303 bullet does not count- "for very much; .ifc"is tho mark -in-?hg'>-target •that monopolises'airtlie attention. Set 'overy littlo steel-casfcd, -sharp-|Q)sed pellet,' has had the niinutest-care-iavished upon-it. ■Sometimes a visitor to the-OW Country sees them made, for it is.,'.the privilege'of .'loyal colonials to bb a tile to' obtain- passes t-o the Woolwich ..irsenal. The .303''bullet factory- is 'onot'of 'tho places; mithg -largo, area where infernal machinery-is to the' casual.-'iniaginativo .visitor/'

It' 'is" not necessary'to' explain that the regulation byllerjs .'comprised of an with loacli '■ It is on-MiopmMutacturo, of. the steel 'caso''-6Y"tBo -Uullet' Ifiat'.'so .much care is bestowed. In'its initial stage it is a tiny, round pieco of flat steel, punched, lilto a gun-wad, out of a broad sheet of metal. ; Before it assumes its proper--• 'shape 'it is put -. through .'ten Beparate. machines,'.' which:.littie"by_.iittlo punch it holip.Wj, .iifltl-jplgijgiite it, without damaging, inutile Jlj^ljte^.degree its surface/ Tiio'work is -very gradual, though" tho'iisa nds "firo' Being* inailb every day. in from ■machine to •■ machine,; j' is-- carefully 'examined,' and any iliat'.exliibit' even the most:;triyialAdefeQf;s ,vare thrown asido to bo melted down agaiil.' Even the weights and the size-of each arc tested by clover machinery.-'"Each case passes many 'scl-utiuisMig' ej-'6s "before it comes, out .perfect ; .caqh.hr reijHty is a work of art. The dexterity tho men and boys in handling thorn arid testing them-is also .a work .of. art.,.* In. peace a championship-niay"depend upon a Woohvich-maij's'caro'over a*bullet; in war-timd perhaps a'life! * iff£er. seeing tlie' cases made, tho visitor" is conducted into a small shed where a huge block of heavy machinery stands, in-shape not unlike .-an enormous letterpress.' This is a hydraulic press or punch. Tho receptaelo into which the punch descends is filled with molten lead I .' . The punch is slowly forced-down , into it, and as it presses, a thin shining" wire-shoots up .through .a small hole in the punch. The pressure;,is "continued,;. and tho leaden ,wire increases in length, and is rolled iip iu'coils by the mechanic until it becomes" 'two "or' three' chains in length,, and the lead in tho receptacle is exhausted. Afterwards this leaden thread is carefully divided into tiny lengths, and each piece ultimately finds its place ill a steel case. Machinery clasps the two together, and the bullet is completed.