The Express.
London, England, 1864-02-26 00:00:00

RIFLE COMPETITION:

The contest between the ride makers at the long
range was commenced yesterday, and, as we bad anticipated,
the results of the firing were most interesting sad important.
First, it should be stated that on calculating the average of
the targets made by the six rifle. of the five competitors the
highest was found to be in fa►our of Mr. Henry, and the
next place was taken by Mr. Whitworth's small bore, as will
be obser►ed on reference to the tabular arrangement below.
But to the surprise of those who have so long been
attributing greet advantages to the small•bore ride,
it wee seen that the average figure of merit
over the six sense of twenty rounds attained by
the Whitworth large bore, i.e., the scream bore of .577,
was equal precisely to that of the small bore. The fol-
lowing shows the complete score of the shooting at 500
yam:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. average.
Rigby, 20 rounds .7s 11 .70 ITS J 1 an
Baker, ditto
Phelps (15torni!do.
Henry, ditto
9/11ftwortb, ditto .OO .51 .36 .55 .0d .46 Id
Do., large bore, do .63 .45 .61 .50 .62 .42 .54

It is particularly necessary that it should be understood
of these figures that they are given from the first calcula-
tion of the diagrams taken on the ground, and as they have
not yet been formally checked they an not to be considered
as absolutely and finally corrected. As was mentioned
yesterday, it was scarcely expected that Mr. Rigby would
have been qualified by the diagrams of his rifle to continue
the competition, but we found on arriving at the ground
that he had not only entered with the 1,000 yards series,
but bad made very good shooting at that range ; and we
may now add that, to the surprise of every one, his rifle
came out best of the three series fired. There was a very
good reason for this, which we give, since it confirms the
remarks we made upon the use of mechanical rests.
We found that Mr. Rigby, who had been all
along using a rest made of wood and iron
nom-
Hued, upon a plan of his own, had suspended to his
rest a very heavy weight of at least sfilbs., thus giving
much greater steadiness or resistance to vibration. This
may in great measure account for the improvement is the
shooting of his ride. Mr. Rigby's ride may be described as
an octagonal bore with eight grooves on the ratchet prin-
ciple, and the bullet is a mechanical fitting on. with •
cavity filled with plaster of Paris. Mr. Henry's rifle,
had performed so well at the shorter range, was most
unfortunate in this trial. In tiring the eight trial shots
which are allowed before starting, one charge was
fired without the bullet, and, as every one knows,
this was' sufficient so to foul the bore of the
gnu as to spoil the next shot at least, if
not others. The next shot being the first of the trial series
fell short and struck the ground, making a very wild hit on
the target. This accident proved fatal to his chance, and
when the average of the three first shots came to be takes,
it was found that the Henry ride was disqualified. The
shooting of the Storm breechloader continued to be very
good even at the long range, and considering that this ride
has been fired throughout the competition with • common
lead bullet, not mechanically fitting, and from a rest which
was • machine mainly new to the maker of the
ride, its performance has been the admiration of
all who are anxious to see an efficient breechloader
introduced into our army. It should be stated also that the
rifles of this pattern used in the competition were Evntf Rdr
soldien' rides. As to the ammunition, that is a point which
it is always difficult to manage so as to make it suitable for
the rough usage of the field. But this was not tasted in
any of the rifles, as they were all fired with loon powder,
kept perfectly dry by glass tubes, and accurately weighed.
But in this respect the breech-loader had a disadvantage,
perhaps, in tiring 12 grains lees than the ordinary charge of
SS grains. It will be seen that the Storm ride was disqua-
lified, as the average of the three first diagrams was over
2.77, the limit sniped for the competition.
The Whitworth small bore made one target, the highest of
all in the three first series, but the other two were not et
all equal to it, so that the average of the three brought it
just below the score of the Rigby.
The following shows the shooting of the three series at
the 1,000 yards nage :

AIMS. 1, 6. Avenge.
Rigby, 24 rounds 1.143 2.47 LOT 2.13
Phelps Storm', ditto 3.19 3.64 287 3.23
Henry, ditto
Whitworth, ditto
Ditto, large bore, ditto 1.73 2.1 • 1.39
But now we have to notice again the extraordinary shoot-
ings, the Whitworth large bore, which we must presume
bee summed the expectations of Mr. Whitworth himself,
since he declared to win with his small bore. It was most
fortunate that on this occasion Mr. Whitworth was allowed
to ire this rifle throughout the competition. It has brought
out most distinctly the immense advantage of a large bore
as a military weapon, and especially such a ride as this,
which not only surpasses all the small bores at the long range,
but would, there is every ream= to conclude, beat the
Enfield rifle, using the ordinary service ammunition. This
Mcleod is a most evident advantage which it pomemes in
addition to its great power and range with the prow
mechanical biting bullet. Rides of this pattern might be
commenced to be made for the service without any question
ab7ut the lose of existing stock of ammunition, as this
would all be available, while the army would an
arm very far surpassing that of any other smviee is the
world. It would seem that the form of bullet has been
much improved by taking the wood plug from
the rear, leering the cavity there, and placing
the plug is front or is the head of the bullet.
By this means the centre of gravity of the projectile is
throws into the centre of the main, and the rotation attained
is thereby made more steadily. Of course also a greet in-
crease in destructive power is at the same time attained
by the heavier bullet sent at high velocity by full charges of
powder. We are only able to rive the drives of the first
two series of 20 shots with this ride, but tbe third diagram
would have given a still better radios bad it not been for
one rather wild shot. The greatest interest attaches to the
further trials of the large bore to-morrow, when the contest
will be continued between only Mr. Whitworth's small bore
and Mr. Rigby 's ride. _ _ _

- 7
The following letter has been heeded to us for publics-
tioo, in reference to the question of the baser barrel@ :

"London, 2S, Pall-mall. nib. 23.
" Gentlemen,—We ham just been informed that the
rifles of Messrs. Rigby and Remy, entered for the annual
competition of the aasociatioc, are short stocked match
rifles, with heavy barrels, weighing up to 6 lbs. 11 oz.
The council are folly aware that our match rifles are of
this description bat we have always understood that the
council required for the volunteers, in shooting for the
Queen's prize, a rifle of the military pattern. Acting on
this as the generally recognised intention of the council,
we have provided rifles to carry out their views, but in
order to do this we have been compelled to limit the
weight of our barrels to 4 lbs. 14 on. and 5 lbs. 1 on.
respectively. We therefor* put it to the council whether
we can fairly be called upon to compete with them parties
whose barrels weigh nearly 210. more Mum those we
have been obliged to furnish.—We are, gentlemen, your
obedient servants,
THE MANCHESTER ORDNANCE AND RIFLE CO.,
per Jo tarn Lock
"To the Council of the National Rifle Associatioci,
11, PaR-mall East, ii. W."

The King awl Queen of Portugal are shortly ex-
pected to arrive in Psris.