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E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company to Horack Kephart, May 31, 1919, page 1

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  • form siee <8Ig> 'Ai' l-SHED 1802 E.I.du Pont de Nemours s Company Wilmington,Delaware MILITARY SALES DEPARTMENT RIFLE SMOKELESS DIVISION ADDRESS REPLY TO ROOM 995 DU PONT BUILDING Hay 31, 1919. Mr. Horace Kephart, Bryson Ci ty, I. C. Dear Sir: SUBJECT: LOADING INFORMATION. are at last going to tardily acknowledge your letter of the 5th and we hardly know what to say to you, as we know you desire this information for publication. To be perfectly frank with you, we have recently learned a great deal concerning the .22 calibers and in view of new developments would hardly consider ourselves in a position to write a finished article on the subject,;. .. . The Winchester Company printed the ballistics of their .33 calibers in their new catalogue #81. This is public information and can be obtained by anyone. These figures we find check very close with actual firing tests and seem to be accepted as standard by a number of Loading Companies. The U. S. Cartridge Company however, is an exception to this and had loaded some higher velocity ammunition with Lesmok Powder. Taking advantage of our experience gained in pov/der making during the War, we recently developed some smokeless powders suitable for use in the .33 calibers that apparently have overcome the previous objections to smokeless powders in this type of cartridge, have given a better relation between velocity and pressure than any powders heretofore offered to the trade and have also produced a cartridge the accuracy of which is better than the Lesmok or semi-smokeless type. This powder has been purchased in quantity by several of the Loading Companies and as it has been offered to them all, will undoubtedly soon be in use by all of them. We should prefer to have them publish the ballistics obtained however. For your i nforma ,tion will give you the ballis tic results obtained with five different mak< 3S Of long rifle cai •t- ridg ss, four o: f them domestic and one fo: reign cartridges » —_ MEAN VELOCITY - - EXTREME VARIATION - ' vlEAN VARIATION - MEAN PRESSURES 1045 102 19.2 10, 310 933 38 12.3 83 357 1023 107 37.3 10, 538 1083 154 36.7 151 210 1048 25 6 12, 192
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  • In a letter to Horace Kephart on May 31, 1919, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company deny Kephart permission to publish their .22 rifle loading information. The company explains recent research developments prevent them from attempting to write an article on the rifle themselves. They recommend Kephart use the Winchester Company’s .22 rifle ballistics since these align closely with their product’s firing tests. Additionally, E. I. due Pont de Nemours and Company discuss the production of smokeless gun powder during World War I and many loading companies already purchase this product. They suggest the loading companies publish the ballistic information; however, the company provides Kephart with ballistics for .22 rifles before standardization with the new powder tests.