The Express.
London, England, 1863-02-26 00:00:00

Tani oi ii iP Lig:

The competitive trial of amall bore rifles, to sneer-
taht the best weapon to be or d at the next print meeting
of the Nations! Bide Amos:dation at Wimbledon, weere-
sumed yesterday morning at the government preWee range,
Plunistead Manhes, in the promos of Major-Generel Hay,
outroandent of the Myths Schooled Musketry, whit ants
sa umpire and referee, Captain Mildmay, and other
officers of the national aelociation. In addition to
the competitors, Mr. Henry, of Edinburgh, Mr. Barr, of the
Landon Armoury Oompany, and other eminent gemmakers,
come of whom &dosed to enter the lids in consequence
' of the regulations of the easociatioa, were present to wit-
, nem the preesedisp, which were more interesting than on
the two Fremont dam as the shooting is sow so far ad-
, venal es to afford a way oeetain inclination of the final
nsult. On Monday and Towthiy, at the 503 yards range,
Mr. Whitworth hed a decided advantage, which was yes-
terday fully maintained at 1,000 yards, mid although, as
usual, discontest has bees openly manifested as to the means
by which he distances all competitors, we are bound
to state that the amen of the easociation appear to
be actuated by the desire to mete out even-handed justice
to each manufacturer. As a proof of this it may be stated,
on its being discovered that Mr. Whitworth's rifle was
cleaned after each shot by an ingeniously constructed ram-
rod, the result was deelered void, and the shooting at 500
yards with the same weapon was repeated without this
auxiliary ; but the result even then proved that Mr. Whit-
s worth could safely rely upon the intrinsic value of his rifle.
esegeset Om B. , A., the experienced meter of the
practice range acted is muter, and Mr. Smith, hos.
annourer to the council of the usociatioo, rendering
aaridance. The competitor. were Mows. Whitworth ;
Baker, of Fleet-street ; Parsons, of Arthur-sireet, London-
bridge ; Bissell, of Tooley-street ; Turner, and Ades. Two
rifles were tested by each competitor, twenty rounds being
fired with each weapon, with the exception of Mr. Aston,
eargeast annoarer at Hythe, who retired after the first
round. At the termination of the proceedings, about half-
past five o'clock, the diagrams were taken from the
target, and, after a direful computation of the result by
Yager-General Hay and the aon-comminiosted officers of
Royal Artillery who acted as markers, the weapon' tested
gained the following order of merit ,-Whitworth, 1; Par-
sons, 2 ; Baker, 3 ; Tumor, 4 ; Bissell, 5. The exact result
of each of the 20 rounds fired was as follows :

US Minds. tad 20 round&
Whitworth
Parsons 2.57
Baker 174
Turner
Buell
The first 20 made fired by Mr. Whitworth's rifles was •
remarkable nooses, as 16 shots hit the target within a
apace of three square feet; sad 10 of Mr. Parma shots
were also eentained in the same radios. It is admitted by
all parties that much of Mr. Whitworth's subarea is due to
the extraordinary mechanical precision of his rest sod slide,
sad it may be stated that Mr. Parsons threw aw his
first four shots in coosequemis of the government slide not
being properly fitted to the rest. The proceedings will be
resumed thin day at 10 o'clock, and from present appear-
ances the competition will not terminate until the end of
the week.