Military Science Department To Have First of New Miniature Field Pieces

As soon as the snow has melted this spring, Harvard will be confronted with the novel spectacle of members of the Military Science courses squatting in holes in Soldiers Field, industriously firing ball bearings down the field by means of .22 calibre blank cartridges. This fact, proudly announced by the officers of the Unit, will make the Harvard group one of the foremost in the country, it having been selected for the honor of receiving the first battery of these guns.

They are to be fired in batteries of four, four men being in one large hole, with the cannon set flush with the ground. In a nearby ditch lies the officer commanding, who gives the word to fire, and who observes through field glasses the dust kicked up by the missiles on first bounce.

These "peewee" cannon are expected to revolutionize military training, for the missiles, ordinary ball bearings one inch in diameter have a maximum range of 100 yards, and firing practice can hence be held on almost any vacant lot. The guns, which are scaled approximately one to 1000, in addition to the usual traversing and elevating machanism, have telescopic sights, so that the midget objective may not be lost sight of in the vastnesses of Soldiers Field. The handling is similar to the large field pieces in all details, so that practice may be held before the trip to Camp Ethan Allen in the summer of the Junior year.

These guns were first developed by Major General Bishop, the head of the Field Artillery, and to him their economical operation is their most prominent feature. Apparently the army has in stock a supply of the .22 blanks, and the bearings used are of the ordinary commercial type, obtainable at slight cost, and which may be used over again.

Technically the gun is described as being a .22 calibre rifle butt, to which is attached a one-inch tube to serve as the barrel. The elevating and traversing mechanisms are worked by geared hand wheels, and have a movable field of 45 degrees each. The blank cartridges are black powder, and the gun is muzzle loading.