and Germany's weapons chambered for M/88 ammunition like the Gewehr 1888. During a late 19th and early 20th century improvement program tasked with remedying the M/88's propellant compression and excessive barrel (grooves) wear problems, the German ordnance authority began to prefer spitzer bullets by 1898. A new Spitzgeschoß aerodynamic bullet, credited to the independent ballistician Arthur Gleinich, was tested in 1902 and officially adopted on 3 April 1903. After several shape revisions it entered mass production in 1904. The Spitzgeschoß nose was externally pointed like the French design and its shape was patented, but the full metal jacket Spitzgeschoß differed internally. The Gewehr-Prüfungskommission program resulted in the S Patrone or 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge, which was loaded with a relatively lightweight spitzer bullet with a slightly increased diameter of that had a ballistic coefficient (G1 BC) of approximately 0.321 to 0.337 (ballistic coefficients are somewhat debatable), along with a dimensionally redesigned chambering and bore (designated as "S-bore") and new double-base (based on nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin) smokeless powder loading, which delivered a greatly improved muzzle velocity of from a barrel. The S Patrone was adopted by the German Army and Navy in 1903 and had a maximum terminal range of approximately . The combination of increased muzzle velocity and improved bullet aerodynamics provided a much flatter bullet trajectory, which increased the probability of hitting an individual target at most typical combat distances. At the onset of World War I, Germany developed an aerodynamically further refined bullet. This full metal jacket s.S. (schweres Spitzgeschoß, "heavy spitzer") boat tail projectile had a ballistic coefficient (G1 BC) of 0.557 to 0.593 (ballistic coefficients are somewhat debatable) and was loaded in the s.S. Patrone. At muzzle velocity the s.S. Patrone had a maximum terminal range of approximately and retained supersonic velocity up to and past (V1000 ≈ Mach 1.07) under ICAO Standard Atmosphere conditions at sea level (air density ρ = 1.225 kg/m3). From its 1914 introduction the s.S. Patrone was mainly issued for aerial combat and as of 1918 in the later stages of World War I to infantry machine gunners. Fifteen years after World War I the S Patrone was phased out and the s.S. Patrone became the standard issue ball ammunition for the German military. United States In 1906, United States ordnance authorities arranged to purchase the production license for the Spitzgeschoß bullet design from Gleinich. Now referred to as a 'spitzer' design,