Part 6 (2/2)

Now in the latter years of the century all these weapons have been superseded by magazine rifles, _i.e._ rifles which can be fired several times without recourse to the ammunition pouch. They differ from the revolver in having only one firing chamber, into which the cartridges are one by one brought by a simple action of the breech mechanism, which also extracts the empty cartridge-case. The bore of these rifles is smaller and the rifling sharper; they therefore shoot straighter and harder than the large bore, and owing to the use of new explosives the recoil is less.

The French _Lebel_ magazine rifle was the pioneer of all now used by European nations, though a somewhat similar weapon was familiar to the Americans since 1849, being first used during the Civil War. The Henry rifle, as it was called, afterwards became the Winchester.

The German army rifle is the _Mauser_, so familiar to us in the hands of the Boers during the South African War--loading five cartridges at once in a case or ”clip” which falls out when emptied. The same rifle has been adopted by Turkey, and was used by the Spaniards in the late Spanish-American War.

The Austrian _Mannlicher_, adopted by several continental nations, and the Krag-Jorgensen now used in the north of Europe and as the United States army weapon, resemble the Mauser in most particulars. Each of these loads the magazine in one movement with a clip.

The _Hotchkiss_ magazine rifle has its magazine in the stock, holding five extra cartridges pushed successively into loading position by a spiral spring.

Our forces are now armed princ.i.p.ally with the _Lee-Enfield_, which is taking the place of the _Lee-Metford_ issued a few years ago. These are small-bore rifles of .303 inch calibre, having a detachable box, which is loaded with ten cartridges (Lee-Metford eight) pa.s.sed up in turn by a spring into the breech, whence, when the bolt is closed, they are pushed into the firing-chamber. The empty case is ejected by pulling back the bolt, and at the same time another cartridge is pressed up from the magazine and the whole process repeated. When the cut-off is used the rifle may be loaded and fired singly, be the magazine full or empty.

The Lee-Enfield has five grooves (Lee-Metford ten), making one complete turn from right to left in every ten inches. It weighs 9 lb.

4 oz., and the barrel is 30.197 inches long. The range averages 3500 yards.

We are now falling into line with other powers by adopting the ”clip”

form instead of the box for loading. The sealed pattern of the new service weapon is thus provided, and has also been made somewhat lighter and shorter while preserving the same velocity.

We are promised an even more rapid firing rifle than any of these, one in which the recoil is used to work the breech and lock so that it is a veritable automatic gun. Indeed, several continental nations have made trial of such weapons and reported favourably upon them. One lately tried in Italy works by means of gas generated by the explosion pa.s.sing through a small hole to move a piston-rod. It is claimed that the magazine can hold as many as fifty cartridges and fire up to thirty rounds a minute; but the barrel became so hot after doing this that the trial had to be stopped.

The princ.i.p.al result of automatic action would probably be excessive waste of cartridges by wild firing in the excitement of an engagement.

It is to-day as true as formerly that it takes on the average a man's weight of lead to kill him in battle.

To our neighbours across the Channel the credit also belongs of introducing _smokeless powder_, now universally used; that of the Lee-Metford being ”cordite.” To prevent the bullets flattening on impact they are coated with a hard metal such as nickel and its alloys. If the nose is soft, or split beforehand, a terribly enlarged and lacerated wound is produced; so the Geneva Convention humanely prohibited the use of such missiles in warfare.

Before quitting this part of our subject it is as well to add a few words about _pistols_.

These have pa.s.sed through much the same process of evolution as the rifle, and have now culminated in the many-shotted _revolver_.

During the period 1480-1500 the match-lock revolver is said to have been brought into use; and one attributed to this date may be seen in the Tower of London.

Two hundred years ago, Richards, a London gunsmith, converted the ancient wheel-lock into the flint-lock; he also rifled his barrel and loaded it at the breech. The Richards weapon was double-barrelled, and unscrewed for loading at the point where the powder-chamber ended; the ball was placed in this chamber in close contact with the powder, and the barrel rescrewed. The bullet being a soft leaden ball, was forced, when the charge was fired, through the rifled barrel with great accuracy of aim.

The percussion cap did not oust the flint-lock till less than a century ago, when many single-barrelled pistols, such as the famous Derringer, were produced; these in their turn were replaced by the revolver which _Colt_ introduced in 1836-1850. Smith and Wesson in the early sixties improved upon it by a device for extracting the empty cartridges automatically. Livermore and Russell of the United States invented the ”clip,” containing several cartridges; but the equally well-known _Winchester_ has its cartridges arranged in a tube below the barrel, whence a helical spring feeds them to the breech as fast as they are needed.

At the present time each War Department has its own special service weapon. The German _Mauser_ magazine-pistol for officer's use fires ten shots in ten seconds, a slight pressure of the trigger setting the full machinery in motion; the pressure of gas at each explosion does all the rest of the work--extracts and ejects the cartridge case, c.o.c.ks the hammer, and presses springs which reload and close the weapon, all in a fraction of a second. The _Mannlicher_ is of the same automatic type, but its barrel moves to the front, leaving s.p.a.ce for a fresh cartridge to come up from the magazine below, while in the Mauser the breech moves to the rear during recoil. The range is half a mile. The cartridges are made up in sets of ten in a case, which can be inserted in one movement.

MACHINE-GUNS.

Intermediate between hand-borne weapons and artillery, and partaking of the nature of both, come the machine-guns firing small projectiles with extraordinary rapidity.

Since the United States made trial of Dr. Gatling's miniature battery in the Civil War (1862-1865), invention has been busy evolving more and more perfect types, till the most modern machine-gun is a marvel of ingenuity and effectiveness.

The _Gatling_ machine-gun, which has been much improved in late years by the Accles system of ”feed,” and is not yet completely out of date, consists of a circular series of ten barrels--each with its own lock--mounted on a central shaft and revolved by a suitable gear. The cartridges are successively fed by automatic actions into the barrels, and the hammers are so arranged that the entire operation of loading, closing the breech, firing and withdrawing the empty cartridge-cases (which is known as their ”longitudinal reciprocating motion”) is carried on while the locks are kept in constant revolution, along with the barrels and breech, by means of a hand-crank. One man places a feed-case filled with cartridges into the hopper, another turns the crank. As the gun is rotated the cartridges drop one by one from the feed-cases into the grooves of the carrier, and its lock loads and fires each in turn. While the gun revolves further the lock, drawing back, extracts and drops the empty case; it is then ready for the next cartridge.

In action five cartridges are always going through some process of loading, while five empty sh.e.l.ls are in different stages of ejection.

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