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

FATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION.

The trial of small-bores was continued yesterday at
Woolwich, the wind throughout the day being most =fa-
vourable to good diagrams.- The following are the figures
of merit made on Wednesday by the fifth and sixth series
of rifles. These and all other figures as yet given are sub-
ject to correction, the diagrams not having yet been finally
examined

At 500 yards.
Figure of Merit in parts of a Foot. ' •
.•
Average on
Name 6th Shot. 6th Shot. the whole..
lOgby '99 ........ 11 ' '7B
Storm . . '95
ifenry
*hitworth 68

It must also be rameMbered that the winning average
will be taken on the first three shots only, but it would be
of no use to calculate these until the absolutely correct
figures of merit for each series of shots are issued by the
Council.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth series of the largo-bore Whit-
worth kept up the surprising repgtation that 'weapon has
already gained, They were respectively .59, .62, and '45.
Mr. Baker having retired, there were only four competi-
tors at the 1,000 yards yesterday, in addition to NV hi t -
woith'e large-bore. Four rifles of each maker were tried
at this range, the figures of merit being :
Ai; 1,90) Yards.

Name. Ist Rifle. 2d, Rifle. 3d Rifle. Average.
Feet. Feet. Feet.
Whitworth ; 2.48 .. 2.29 .. 1.90 .; 2.22
Henry .. 3.56 .. 2.74 .. 221 .. 2.83
Rigby

Storm

These figures are also uncorrected, but it is pretty certain
that Whitworth's small.-bore carries off the palm of victory.
Mr. Henry, the only competitorfrom whom he had anything
to fear, although first at the 500 yards rAnge,.Made a most
:disastrous diagram with his first rifle at the long range,
greatly endangering hiS Chance of winning. This was
owing to a very unfortunate ticcident. 'ln loading for one
of the five trial shots, his assistant omitted to put in the
;bullet. The piece,,of course; *tia so seriously affected by
the fouling consequent on the. Wank cartridge being fired
that nairy tiliOt went ;vide of the centre; the.reault'7,
ing diagram giving 3.56 feet as the mean radial deviation.
The accident had so greatnn-iiiflubnee on the nerves of the
,assistant that during the trial of the second iifto' Only part
of the, powder was put into the piece at the first shot.. The,
wide shot caused by this secozid 'accident Sent the figuro of
merit of the second rifle up to 214 feet,.aliowing Mr., Whit...,
Worth to win It is.a singular fact that Rigby, who
made such comparatively bad shooting. at 500 yard's,' beat
oven WhOottla the lOng'range:With a figure of merit.of
2.13 feet. Btorm, although out:Of, the liSt from haVing',9x-
ceeded the maximum figure of merit, 217 .feet; made a very
excallent score.-4he litist;'OtliOnt a dotibt, that has eVerb6en
made by any breech-loading rifle in:a.pablic competition.
1 With respect to the SYstetia tir*Agureinehthl4t9:l".
the Association, it seems most unfortunate that. they should
hive ohosen decimals of a foot wherewith to • express the'
Lean 'radial deviation. • Not only do decimal's of a fOOt con-
vey no informatiorewhdtevevto theibrdinary reader,'but the
Government and all private yersons„ almost without excep-
tion, express their measurements in inches and decimals of
an inch.', Every One; therefore, .;Vlio readS tl!etables.already.
published has tureduee,the.nuthberargivou ipclawbefere
lie can gain any correct notion of the measurement indi-
cated.., .

`The by-plot of the drama has in this instance been the
t. t hspectator, th' f most ruteres mg ot e general e per ormances
of Mr. Whitworth's large bore ,being watched with the
greatest excitement. This riff: not only cabae out second as
cemparedrwith the five which competed. at, 500 yardii, bnt
actually beist'thent all at'the long range, its average figure
of merit, 1-891 t, being lezi-than that Of either ItigbY's or
Whitworth's small bore. If other trials of this-weapon bear
out the charisterif has thus gained, it will be a riost im-
portant matter, as no-obstacle exists to, its j.being
ately inyedticed as d military weapon. As before stated, the
ordinary Enfield ammuaition 'cAu be, used with a
'better result than with the Enfield arm. To bring out its
full merits, it,iS iieatOrY,to use Mr, Whitworth's
ammunition, consisting of 85 grains of powder awl a bullet
'of peculiar, construction, Thii3 bullet, Which haS just been'
patented.by Mr. Whitworth, is, of the usual hexagonal, or
rather dodecagonal form, and differs from the ordinary
bulletin having to bole made in its, conical,, end of such a
size as to throw the centre of gravity into the exact centre
of thi bull'et, a woeden plug, being inserted in the front
cavity, and trimmed off carsiully so as to, afford no ret-,
ance to the atitiosi)liere.
The following letter ,was, addressed on Tuesday
,to the
ooulaCil of the D.Tat iona I Rita Association.by the .Matrehester
Prcinance and itiflo Pompany

28, Palb,mall, Feb. 23.

"Gentlemen,-We haie jug. liden'infOrmedlhat the rifles
of Messrs. Rigby, and Herrry,,ontered for the annual compe-
tition of the association, are short stocked match rifles with
heavy barrels, weighing up to 61b lloz.
" The Council are fully aware that our match rifles are of
this description, but 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
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 41b 14oz and 51b loz re-
spectively.
" We therefore put it to the Council whether- we can
fairly be called upon to compete with those parties whose
barrels weigh nearly 21b more than.those we have been
obliged to furnish ?
" We are, Gentlemen, your obedients servants,
"THE MANCHESTER ORDNANCE AND 1 IFLE
COMPANY, PER JOSEPH LEECH.

"To the Council of the National Rifle Association."

The two remaining rifles belonging to Whitworth, Henry,
and Rigby, will be teased to-day at the 1,000 yards range.

MARKETS—This Day.