The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1870-08-16 00:00:00

THE HITRAILLEUI: AT SHOEBUILYNEIS.

The Foabery mitrailleur was tried on Thursday at
Shueburyneui. Major losbery declares it to be un-
doubtedly better than the French mitrailleuse. We can
well belie.e it, and think that it will bold a worthy
place in battles and sieges, and that place is between
the bre of iefatitry and tield artillery.
The hr.t di.charge was from the mitrailleur, at a
range of 81/0 yards, too far for anything like steady
sh.oting fro,. intently in battle. An °dicer sto•al with
a tim keeper in his hand, and when the hand came
round to an east.y marlerd place on the dial, cried
"Load !" Instantly the axletree boxm, close on each
atle of the barrels, were opened, slid a breech-plste
with it. 37 cartritges was a. ized quickly and placed in
the hollow breecth while the Lying of the piece was in
progress. One momentary 'immure Cu the lever pushed
up the plate and it. cartridges to their place and
cocked all the locks; thin the weed "Fire" was given
• by Captain Alderson, who superintended the working
of the machine throughout the trial.; a gunner b. silo
he pi, co pressed rapiely down the aide lever, and in
an itortant the locks were art free and 37 bullets sent
flying through the air. 'flee sound was exactly .1•1 that
of a volley et inu-keiry, hut the target was too distant
to stio. of ',gnu.i te.. idiarp taps of the bullet* upon
its wooden face, so dd.', nt from the dull thud made
when a small missile finds its ri at in human dealt. No
sooner was the crash of the volley heard than an upward
thrust of the lever treed Om breech-plate again and left
it loose, to be instantly lilted out by the gunner on the
right of the piece.
The Fame process was repeated a second and a third
tin.e without • hitch and very rapidly, but when the
fourth brecch.plate was about to be inserted it became
mandeat that the whole a the cartridges could not
enter their barrels, bemuse two out of the 37 last di,
charged hail adhered too tightly to their barrels, no
tightly that their bases Liht been turu off, leaving
the rest of each of too two orsrtridge cases in the
barrels. . . . . . . . .

It w us clear that fresh cirri eou'd not be Vro-t1
. .

in. and an inexperiruced Ihind would have taken it for
grantro boat tin witrai'l, u.. must cease firing, but not
so Captain Aldrroin. quick as lightning, his eye de-
tected the blocked barreh., out, with hardly less speed.
he 'rind the b.'... of the two rhirtr.dges Correspohding
with thrin ahil about to be introduced. Thy were
rapidly extracted, arid then the breech-plate was dropped
into its place, pushed home by the lever, and tired as
b. fore, but only 35 bull, to this lime left the liariels.
The fifth rued was find like the fourrh. two c‘r•ridges
bring ixtr.ckal as before, but the fifth bretob-plate
left holdwi it two more cartridge eters, blocking two
which, al barrels, co that this time four caitridges bad
to be extracted. These ioiaoap,, which were solely due
to the compound furin of the cartridge case, caused •
cert.in amouht of delay, and the two minutes expired
before • wreath n.und could be fired.

_
The total number of bullets fired ought to have been
222. but eight cartridges had been withdrawn because
of the biockad b h. There remitoed, thereto's, to
be amounted for 214 bullets. _ _ .

No slight lots ,ouch as could be made by mush's re-
bounding from the earth, but there were tumid 110 fair
bard -trek a nt.'s the target. 'Ehey were to be counted
ea
••thr..tigh " or " lolgert." So far as we could aee,
they were all tht..ugh. Some of ti ens had not actually
struck the painted noires, but wete to be found perhaps
within an inch, or even closer, of the me't'e Inads or
the hoses' leg,. Now a rear rank, whether of cavalry
Or infantry, never covers its front rank no ascurately
ut
bul.ets missing their comrad us front must fail to
st,ike tle-m also. Again, in some ca-es more than two
bullets had lodged in the saute man or horse. Targets
eannet b.. inn .e to represent accurately the effect of
artillery or iufa,ary fire upon &di "a bic.4 by any
method of appurti .... iug die Valae of the hits. Yet it
dies merit a litl too much eerier the :nark to set down
thAt the 110 bullet holes in the taiget tamale only have
paced /toes de reed./ Lei cavalry or 45 infantry. All
that Can be said ... that, generally apeaking, in •com-
petittve trial of this sit tt.e saute method ad masking
IS "really fair to tech of the rival Weilivoitil. That it
would be SO ill till. firgr. TOW., we have no doubt,
' all the hire were fit, duo uorelr at the sine
mom tit during each ilia:Loge that the stria, n let's
would have had in time to fail, or at least that their
pi ice. could hot have been loapplied by ethos in tome
to kite's rho next bullets on the same led.
But this I. nut th • manner iu which the mitrailleur
is intended to be fired against leus of horse or foot.
On the lift of the cirriage, just below the Meech of the
weapon, ii a small wheel with a handle, which, being
tweed, 'Psis • horizontal motion to the piece, awl we
have more than unce explained that the thirty.seven
carridgLa of the mitrailieur can be firal either all at
one., as in this 61.4 miles, Or one after another at what-
ever aped mar bit required. In all future tiring
through,ut the day the latter method was adopted, and
the horzontal motion given.
When the tavola unit visitors had feasted their eyes
shflicieutly on the tatgete and marked how one man
must have been shot in the heart, another in the head,
and another in the limb only, a group once inure
assembled round the mitr.illeur. Two minutes were
again givon as the limit of lime, but new the discharges
resemble file tinier, the horizontal motion being giVen
. . . . . .

KO 114 to ili,tribute the balleta The Metford bullet is
hard and heavy, and there can be 110 doubt that it will
you through floe man and kill another beliiiil him ;
many of the hits, therefore, that wire counted as only
disposing of one soldier and many of thew that were
not counted at all would very likely have killtd two,
and during this round time would have been giv.-u to
the aftd to fall and to the living to Liar the steady
voice of their utfioera cryio• "Owe up, men"- • sound
wh.cli an it I), corn,. more frequent tells that the
buiineas of di atli is Men swiftly soconiplisheil. The
advautao of tie file firing from the mitrailleor was
shown by this, that, though mishaps again occurred
through the atickin4 of cartridges in the barrsla, and
five platefuls of Millets only could be fired, there were
154 bits, and, according to the reckoning of the Corn.
mittee, 59 cavalry or 49 ml dttry would have been slain
or grievou.ly wo,intled. Four minutes' work with the
mitrailleur bad given 21;4 hits on a targi,t representing
a front of 150 infantry or 90 cavalry soldiers, at 800
yards distance.
The miimilleur requires only one now-oonitnist•ioned
officer snit fire into to work it luxuriously and three
men could easily manage it comfortably at • pinch.
The untrailleur was brought up 200 yards nearer the
txr.p t. At • rouge of 000 y ettl4 it lire.' air rounds aud
gave 127 hit*, killing or wounding, often with several
mlsl id Rut n at was

in its turn surpassed by the niuszle.loading rifled bronse
gun. firing shrapnel with time fuses, for at GOO
)ards it wet fire 4 seven times in two minutes, null
Kay, :Whits. Its slaughter was counted at 68 .vary
or 88 la...try.
. . . .

The mitrailleur was brought up to within 300 yards
of the target. Only live rounds were fired how thin
its two 333 I 3 171 bullets penetrated the target,
art, by the c .:culati .n of the counniitee, would Lave
killed Gi) cavalry awl 129 infantry soldors.

'I he nasnoi n(ib. comtattleo on tiie mitrailleur are—
C010b..1 E. Wr.y. CIL. presi.l.nt ; Bwret-
C..1.,uel .1. Sh...r, ILA. ; Capt.,n 11.. u. F. F01..y. IL N.;
1.1.utr0w,t.1:..100r4 11. C. F;etcl•nr, S •,.ts
; c*,.tam W. 11. Nolllr, IL A.; ..u.l for ikerataiy,
utiataiteColonel If. licrin4.,, It. A.—Tiutts.

*II flop MARKET.
'Manumit, Thunday.— Thu market for hopa continue, very
inanimate, in con.equence, of the favourable pm+peet..l a good
crop. Tite 41111c1.1 WV LIN: ,111.1Atiodas : —Mid and East Kent+.
47 to 1;12 ; Wmild of Kentv, tO ES ; SUSlsui, 45 fall to .06 ;
Bavarians, IX to X. 9; FIV111:11, L, to £6 inn; Anteritatu, £4 to
Eh; Yualiiigi, Li ba to Ad 2v per cwt.