RIDING

in the earlier days of motoring, riding, as apart from hunting and polo, received a somewhat severe setback. but the decrease in the number of those who rode merely for pleasure was not of long duration, and even before the war there were signs that horsemanship was still a desirable accomplishment, while during the years that have passed since the war there has been a marked increase in the number who ride. in great britain the increased interest in riding is due to the admirable series of horse shows which are now held all over the country. not that the horse show is in itself a novelty, but rather because there has of late years been a determined attempt by the executives of the more important shows to include more riding classes in their programmes, and to make such classes more attractive. the army equestrian schools have developed to an extraordinary degree, and there is a considerable body of public opinion which favours “ school ” riding, not only as a part of education in horsemanship, but as an aid to successful riding in the hunting field. the facts which have most bearing on the future of riding are the great increase in the number of horsewomen, both in the hunting field, at the show and in the country generally, and the increase in the number of children’s riding classes at the shows. these have multiplied 10 times in as many years, and are at the present day not only some of the most interesting, but the most popular of all the riding classes, high-class jumping alone excepted. rif campaigns: see morocco, campaigns in. 356 rifles and light machine guns (see 23.325)—the small arms used by modern armies may be grouped into rifles, light machine guns, machine guns and heavy machine guns. for the two latter see the article macuine guns. light ma- chine guns are also known as light automatics (great britain), fusils mitrailleurs (france) and machine ritles (united states). i. the military rifle definition.—a rifle so constructed as to constitule a complete offensive and defensive arm for one man and of such a size and weight that one man can carry it, together with its ammu- nition and accessories and the other essentials that a soldier is required to carry, over the ground and distances he is expected to cover in war. the weight of the military rifles of most countries averages 9 lb. without bayonet, which weighs about 14 ounces. the ammunition carried by each man varies from 100 to rso rounds and weighs from 5} to 8% lb. inclusive of the metal clips or chargers, each of which holds five rounds. subject to minor variations, the military rifles of the principal nations are of the following distinct types: short lee-enfield (british), mauser (german), mannlicher (austrian), lebel (french), krag jorgensen (norwegian and danish), schmidt rubin (swiss), three line (nagant) (russian), and springfield (united states). great britain.—in 1902 the first short magazine lee-enfield -303 mark i. rifles (s.m.l.e.) were issued for the british service, and by 1907 this rifle had been improved and advanced to mark iii. further improvements in matters of detail were under consideration in 1926, but no alterations in the main features of the ‘‘ action’? were contemplated. mark vii. am- munition was introduced in ro910. the bullet is lighter than that of the mark vi., has greater muzzle velocity and flies on a much flatter trajectory, thereby increasing the probability of hitting a given mark. before the world war, however, still greater velocities and flatter trajectories were being sought for and obtained by continental nations. the problem was taken up by the british war office, and a rifle, bored to -276, was issued in limited numbers for trial by the troops. ‘lhe ammuni- 3 ay ab st tits, 4¥i (maa fic. 1.—:303 in. magazine rifle, enfield pattern (1914). backsight. 5. backsight spring. 6. backsight bed. 11. bolt, split lug. 12. ring retaining handguard. 13. body rib. rib of bottom plate. 27. magazine platform. 28. magazine spring. nn 6:4 ee ee ss x sa siro ——e—eeee terest sas oy amis iim 17. magazine, bottom plate. 18. lugs for sear. tang. 22. scar nose. 23. trigger, 2nd point on head. 24. trigger, ist point on head. rifles and light machine guns tion for this rifle had a rimless cartridge, a lighter bullet than the mark vii., with much greater velocity but with much increased chamber pressure. to cope with this greater chamber pressure, a rifle was designed with a front locking action similar to that of the mauser, which was considered stronger and better able to withstand the firing stresses. the experiment was interrupted by the outbreak of war, and the suggested change from -303 s.m.l.e. mark iit. to the new -276 was abandoned. when the war began the number of men enlisted soon reached a figure far in excess of that for which provision had been made, and to provide them with a rifle for home defence and even training purposes became a pressing necessity. accordingly, large orders were placed in america for the -276 design of rifle, the only departure from the original being that it was bored to take the -303 mark vii. ammunition. this rifle was then issued to the troops and became officially known as the “ british rifle, pattern 1914” (see fig. 1). it is very accurate, and, when provided with a telescopic sight, is used for “sniping,” in which accuracy rather than rapidity of fire is the main desid- eratum. it was the only new design of rifle adopted by any of the belligerents during the war for use by rank and file. being manufactured in america, this pattern, bored to take the ameri- can *3 ammunition, was issued to american troops when it became necessary to augment the supplies of the united states springfield service rifle. france.—iin the lebel, first issued in 1886 and still the service rifle in 1914, the magazine, which held 8 rounds, consisted of a tube with spring plunger, underneath and parallel to the barrel. this system proved to have many drawbacks, and accordingly in 1915 a box magazine of conventional type was substituted for the tube. germany.—during the war, carbines (i.e., very short rifles for mounted troops) were issued to troops in the trenches, apparently with the object of equalling if possible the lightness and handiness of the british $.m.l.e. the main features were identical with those of the ordinary service mauser rifle, but by reducing the diameter of the body and barrel and shortening the barrel and stock the weight, as compared with the riffe, /o fs 2? qu : bn 2 : —— j = kn anac aon = ——— ne als 1. striker. 2. extraction cam. 3. fixed sight aperture. 4. wings protecting 7. charger guides. 8. sear safety stud. 9. striker, front collar. 14. trigger guard, front screw. 10. body hood. 16. undercut 21. body 26. sear spring. 15. solid locking lug. 19. magazine catch. 20. trigger guard, back screw. 25. cocking piece bent. rifles and light machine guns was reduced from 9g ib. to 7 lb. 13 oz. and the length from 49% in. to 433 inches. after the tirst appearance of the tanks in the war, the ger- mans introduced a new form of weapon, the -5-in. anti-tank rifle, intended for use against tanks only. it was provided with very powerful ammunition, having a high velocity, heavy, armour-piercing, streamline bullet of 801 cre the extreme range of which has been found to be 7,000 yards. (the ordinary german spitz rifle bullet weighs 155 grains.) this rifle had a single loading mauser action without a magazine and, to cope with such ammunition, had to be correspondingly strong and heavy. it weighed 37 lb., was provided with a bipod mounting and was served by two men carrying 124 rounds of ammunition. periscopic attachments, wire cutting devices and mountings of various kinds were common in all armies during the war, but most of them have since been discarded. the axiomatic rifle—an automatic rifle is one in which the operation of reloading is performed by power derived from the explosion of the charge. in order to rank as a complete offensive and defensive weapon it should take the same ammunition and give the same ballistics and efficiency as the ordinary rifle and also lend itself to effective use in close combat when fitted with a bayonet. the automatic rifle, though undergoing continusus develop- ment, had not in 1926 reached such a degree of efficiency as to warrant its adoption. it has been found best not to make the automatic rifle capable of continuous fire, which in a light weapon with great recoil energy would be unpleasant to the user and very disturbing to the aim. moreover the injudicious use of continuous fire would make still more difficult the replen- ishment of ammunition supplies. accordingly the term “ auto- matic’ is perhaps unsuitable, and ‘‘ semi-automatic ” or “ self- loading ”’ would more aptly describe rifles of this type, in which, for each pull of the trigger only one round is fired. ja7 ii. the light machine gun dejinttion.—a truly automatic (self-tiring) firearm, which is portable but too heavy to be adapted for use as a close-combat weapon. ‘the increased weight (17 to 28 lb.) makes the recoil energy less than that of the riile, and a rest is provided at the front end which keeps the continuous fire it delivers reasonably accurate under ordinary conditions. to make the best use of this weapon much ammunition must be carried and it is accord- ingly manned by a team, one.man carrying the gun and the others ammunition, spares and accessories. light machine guns in the world war—prior to 1914 the main armament of infantry in all armies was the rifle (with bayonet), and the machine gun averaging 40 to 50 lb. in weight, on a fixed mounting. the light machine gun was a product of the trench warfare of the world war. when trench warfare started the power of manoeuvre disappeared and it was no longer possible to establish a superiority of fire in ‘ the fire fight ” by skilful tactics. superiority in fire power from small arms had to be secured by other means, and hence arose a greater demand for automatic weapons, which, manned by a few men, develop a fire power equivalent to that of a consid- erable number of men armed with rifles. further, in the battles fought in the early days of trench warfare, the muddy state of the ground, the obstacles which had to be surmounted and the heavy weight of the existing machine gun with its mount- ing, frequently prevented the gun team from getting the gun forward into position after an attack. lightness and mobility were even more important than accuracy and capacity for sustained fire. accordingly, the light machine gun definitely took its place in the equipment of the armies of most of the countries of the world. some of the principal light machine guns employed in the world war and some of the newer types are tabulated below with a few details. table i. light machine guns used in the world war country ; | britain france germany u.s.a guns lewis itotchkiss cliaueliat darne lewis madsen bergmann | parabellum | browning a se eere res bet age ee, ee weight . . | 26% ib. 28 ib. 1g lh, 15 lh. | same as! 20 ib. 25 lb., 12 0z.| 22 lb.? 13 th., 18 ib. £402; i british! i4 oz how fed —.. | 47 rd. 30 a strip | 20rd. semi- | belt? | jord beit3 selt3 20 rd magazine? | 50rd. belt® | circular box | box 30x |(used in magazine’ magazine® magazine’ tanks) ee ee i ae ee ee ee eee i ee ne a ep eee how operated | gas gas ree ail gas recoil recoil recoil gas | | 5 in. 2 in 1g in , in. how cooled radiation radiation radiation radiation radiation radiation radiation radiation and draught 3 | how locked | locking rotating locking bolt forced breech locking toggle hinged lugs on threaded nut} lugs on up by piston block block joint as on block rotating locks with rotating to lock in pivoted to forced down | vickers rising in bolt threads on | bolt front of open and into recess machine front of breech bolt resistance close in holt gun resistance shoulders breech shoulders 1 used in aircraft. * horizontal on top of gun. 3 into right side. 4 vertical underneath. in body 5 into left side. ® vertical on top. table ii. new light machine guns recenily adopted or likely to be adopted country guns weight how fed jee a swiss, 1924 | fusil 18 |b 30 rd. recoil furrer magazine? (long) japan numu 1922 | 19 tb. 20:rd. clip 135 oz. spain 15rd. belt grecce gladiateur russia fedorou! ir lb. 25rd. belt | recoil ! more a sub-machine gun than a light machine gun. a how locked special features “radiation knuckle toggle unusual position of joint magazine radiation no information available bullet 140 grains recent purchase radiation 2 inter-locking bolts | -256. russian rifles take -3 ammunition. 2 into right side. 358 all these automatic weapons are opcrated either by gas or recoil. | gas operated guns.—all gas-operated weapons are practically identical in principle, and where differences occur they are usually in matters of detail, the merits of which vary accordingly as they are efficient and cheap, permit of easy manufacture, maintenance and manipulation and are readily understood. typical of gas-operated weapons is the lewis gun (see fig. 2). section on a-a looking rearwards) dec be on 88 rifles and light machine guns recoil operated guns.—in recoil operated light machine guns, the mechanical systems employed are more varied than are ihose used in gas operated weapons, and there is no general principle to which they closely adhere. a feature common to all, however, is the recoiling barrel which overcomes the resist- ance of antagonistic springs. these, at the finish of its back- ward travel, return the barrel to its forward position. the length of recoil varies in different guns from about one inch to barrel mouthpiece and radiator casing (showing siphoning action of escaping gases} fic. 2.—lewis gun. total length 50 inches. 1. backsight. 2. receiver. 3. bolt. 4. extractor. 5. striker fixing pin. 6. striker. 7. feed operating arm. 8, magazine latch. mouthpiece. 14. gas chamber. 15. gas regulator cup. 9. magazine top plate. 16. gas regulator key. barrel. 12. radiator. 13. barrel io. radiator casing. i1. 18, piston. 19. rack. 20. main- 17. gas cylinder. spring. 21. gear. 22, charging handle. 23. trigger. 24. feed operating stud. 25. sear. 26. ejector cover. 27. ejector. the principle usually adopted in gas-operated weapons is to divert the gas, which is forcing the bullet up the barrel, through a small hole into a gas chamber, and thence on to a piston situated underneath the barrel and free to work parallel to it. on discharge, the piston is driven back, compressing antagonistic springs. at the end of the backward travel, the springs force the piston again to its forward position ready for the next blast of gas to take effect. on its backward journey the piston oper- ates the mechanism for fecding the cartridges into the gun, so that when the piston is fully back, a round is ready for gathering and insertion into the chamber as the piston again goes for- ward. the piston on going forward brings about the locking of the mechanism against the shock of discharge and the firing of the round, which by that time is fully home in the chamber. such a system is known as “ positively locked,” and “ mechani- cally safe ’’ an essential feature of which is that it is impossible for a round to be fired until after the locking has been com- five inches; consequently they are classified as “long” or “ short ” recoil. (the length of recoil is shown in the table.) another common feature is that the barrel and bolt (or lock) are mechanically locked together for a certain length of the recoil, thereby sealing the breech till the bullet is clear. in “long recoil’ actions, the bolt, having come back with the barrel, is held in its rearmost position, with the extractor engaged behind the rim of the cartridge which is still in the chamber. accordingly, as the barrel moves forward under the influence of the springs which have been overcome in the back- ward travel, the round is withdrawn from the breech and ejected. the chauchat (see fig. 3) is atype of the “long recoil ’’ guns. in ‘short recoil ” actions, such as that of the bergmann gun (see fig. 4) of about one inch barrel movement, mechanism is provided whereby the bolt, locked to the barrel for a certain length of recoil (created by firing), is unlocked and withdrawn recoil spring breech casing olt head stop. bolt bolt head barrel barrel nut == a et ee ee ae so rr cay ee a sn gs 0-0 a wirssacerase si sss aa ee {do 9dddde a ee : hand sear sear lever — gage zap fic. 3.—chauchat light machine gun pleted. moreover, after the explosion of the charge, no unlock- ing of the action can take place until the bullet is clear of the barrel, and there is no longer any pressure of gas. the gas chambers are usually designed with a view to enabling the volume of gas that strikes on the piston to be controlled, thus permitting of a reserve of power should friction or other conditions arise which might tend to impede or cause incomplete movement of parts. foruardbrp cartridge ~~ _p panes fo oo uide j (long recoil). total length 453 inches. about three in. from the barrel after the latter has completed its inch of recoil. in this separation of bolt and barrel, extraction and ejection of the empty cartridge case is effected, and a new round is inserted into the chamber. the madsen action does not conform to the above descrip- tion, for in it the separation of breech from bolt is effected by guiding the bolt away from the breech in a vertical plane, the bolt being pivoied in rear to permit of this movement. riga—rio de janeiro fic. 4.—bergmann light machine gun (short recoil). total length about 48 inches. in ‘short recoil ’ guns, the recoil and return of the barrel is the source of power for operating the mechanism which brings about the feeding of the cartridges into the gun, in the same way as does the piston in gas operated weapons. normally, for such guns, the rounds are contained in a belt which is mechanically led through the gun, the rounds being withdrawn from it during its passage. in “long recoil’? weapons, the system of feed is normally by magazine, the rounds being pushed by a spring inside the magazine into the space which is created when the bolt remains back as the barrel goes forward. the sub-machine gun.—the sub-machine gun is a kind of automatic pistol, but heavier, more powerful, and with a longer range than the usual pattern. it is capable of a high rate of fire but is lighter than other automatics. ‘the ammunition resembles pistol ammunition. in the gas operated thompson ~ opens!) tga— —_ fic. 5.—thompson sub-machine gun. total length 23 inches. sub-machine gun (see fig. 5) the breech is sealed by the agency of adhering inclined surfaces on those portions of the mechanism which support the bolt against the gas pressures generated within the barrel. th rats) riga, latvia (see 23.337), the capital and the only large town of latvia, and one of the three principal ports, had an area of go sq. km., and a population of 327,176 in 1925, as compared with 520,000 beiore the world war. some 54% were latvians and only about 8% russian, but the russian language is much used, and latvian comparatively little understood. although an im- portant and well-organised industrial centre before the war with a large trade with russia, industry was at a low ebb in 1925: the transit trade with russia was small, and showed little pros- pect of improvement. much of the factory equipment was re- moved during the war, when the town was damaged by bom- bardment. riga remains, however, the industrial centre of latvia and had 501 manufacturing establishments in 1921, whilst 87% of the trade of the country goes through the port. an agricul- tural and industrial fair is held yearly. little building has been done. a scheme has been put forward for developing power for lighting, trams and factories from the dvina river, but no de- cision had been taken in 1925. the riga polytechnic was made into a university in 1919, dorpat university, which previously served all the russian baltic provinces, having become estonian property. an international exhibition was held in 1924. riley, james whitcomb (2853-1916), american poet (sce 23.343), died at indianapolis, ind., july 22 1916. in 1915, by proclamation of the governor of indiana, his birthday, oct. 7, was observed throughout the state, in honour of “ indiana’s 309 most beloved citizen.”” in 1913 he issued in six volumes a bio- graphical eclition of his works. see clara e. laughlin, reminis- cences of j. w. riley (1916). rilke, rainer maria (1875- ), german poet, was born at prague dec. 4 1875. from 1900-10 he, together with stefan george, held the field in lyric poetry. in his auto- biographically-coloured <aufseichnungen des malte laurids brigge (1910) rilke declares: ‘‘ verses are not sensations, as people think—they are experiences. for the sake of a single verse one must sce many towns, men and things, one must know the animals, one must feel how the birds fly and in what way the litle flowers open in the morning.” his works include: buch der bilder (1902); stundenbuch (1906): nene gedichte (1907-8); sonctte an orpheus (1923). ringworm: see skin diseases.