The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-28 00:00:00

The Wimbledon Meeting,

COMPETITION FOR THE MARQUIS OF
TWEEDDALE'S PRIZES.
This interesting competition was continued yes-
terday at the London Scottish ranges at Wimble-
don. No new competitor fired yesterday, the pro-
ceedings being confined to carrying on the trials of
guns which had made targets on previous days, and
to firing second guns where the competitors have
entered more than one of the same kind. The first
of the muzzle loaders to fire was Mr Rigby, who
fired his second 100 rounds. Though an excellent
shot, this gentleman has not had the training to
qualify him for shining in a match where rapid
loading forms an essential element. Profiting by
the experience of the first day he discarded the
powder-flask, and had his ammunition made up in
paper tubes, but the end stopped with a felt wad.
Iu loading the wad was withdrawn, the powder
poured in, and the ramrod passed through the tube
to ram home the bullet. Though inferior to the
Whitworth plan of cartridge, inasmuch as it in-
volved loss of time in pouring in the powder, it
enabled Mr Rigby to get through his 100 rounds in
38 minutes, as against 601 minutes with the flask.
Very gcod shooting was made; but, from the fact
of the shots " grouping," owing to the wind, en the
right plate of the target, the score was not so good
as it otherwise would have been. The same cause
led to a similar result in the case of the Whitworth,
suggesting to the observer how much better it would
be, in such a competition, to fire at a large experi-
mental target, to find the centre of the group of
shots in the usual way, and obtain the absolute value
of each rifle's performance. Mr Rigby used the
plain horizontal bar backlight, which would be so
great an improvement on service rifles, and a bead
foresight ; but as the bend had got broken off he was
obliged to make shift with the stem. The following
was the result of his practice : 100 rounds, 500
yards, 38 min. 31 sec. time, 17 bull's-eyes, 3 0 con tres,
31 outers, no ricos., 22 misses, no miesfires—making
a score of 220 marks. The ten accuracy shots made
23 marks. The rifle kept perfectly clean, the last
round loading as easily as the first. Mr. Rigby
used the shell bullets, which are found to give much
more accurate practice than the solid-fronted sere
vice projectile.
The Whitworth large-bore was fired for the third
time, but from the circumstance referred to, and
from more misses being made, the score did not
equal the first and second days' performance. Mr.
Lem) got through his 100 rounds in 24 min, 56
sec., making 20 buil's-eyes, 42 centres, 25 eaters,
and 13 misses, no ricochets, no missfires, making a
score of 256 marks. The ten shots for accuracy
produced 27 marks. Not a shot struck the left
plate of the target, and but for the " grouping"
being too much to the right, a much higher score
would have bean made. The competition as re.
gards muzzle-loaders may be considered as decided
in favour of Mr. Whitworth's large-bore, Mr.
Rigby making a good second. Indeed, eliminat-
ing from the calculation the difference due to the
skill of the men, it would probably be found that
the difference in the accuracy of the arms is very
small indeed. The present trial is as much a trial
of the skill in shooting of gun-makers, as of the
merits of different kinds of guns.
Mr. Cooper's breech-loader was the first fired.
This was the second course of 100 rounds. The rifle
worked well and rapidly, and there were no miss-
fires. The practice was not good, but it would be
unfair to condemn this or any other rifle for what
was, in all probability, more the fault of the man
behind it than of the arm itself. The time taken
in firing the 100 rounds was 13 min 19 sec. These
were no bull's-eyes ; 11 centres, 10 outers, 6 rico-
chets, and 73 misses, all pattered round the target
in a way that would have been as unpleasant to a
body of men stationed there as if every shot had
been a bull's-eye. In the ten shots for accuracy
only one hit was made, and that a bull's-eye.
Mr. Brown, as skilful an operator with the breech-
loader as Mr. Leese with the muzzle-loader, fired
the Henry rifle, and showed himself, under circum-
stances of considerable difficulty, to be the right
man in the right place. Two mishaps occurred to
his rifle while he was firing, either of which would
have been sufficient to spoil the shooting of most
men. Mr. Brown, however, lost only a few minutes
in remedying the accidents (41 minutes according
to Captain Knight, 19th Regiment, who had charge
of the trials), and finished up by making the best
score of the day. Early in the 100 rounds the
little Blaring for jerking out the cartridge cases
broke, and jammed the breech-piece ; extricating
this at the expense of a gash on the back of the
forefinger, Mr. Brown got on the target the
very next shot, and kept on until a cartridge
breaking, the ramrod had to be used to drive out
the bullet, and the loose powder wiped clean out of
the chamber. The ramrod, on the principle that
misfortunes never come singly, of course had stuck
fast. Grasping the burning hot barrel to draw this,
he severely blistered all the fingers of his left hand.
Notwithstanding this complication of misfortunes,
Mr. Brown got his next shot well on to the target,
finishing up his 100 rounds in 18 minutes 36 seconds,
and making the excellent target of 25 bull's-eyes,
47 centres, 50 outers, And 8 misses, or a total score
of 281 marks. The ten shots for accuracy gave a
score of 26 marks. This, and his first day's shoot.
ing of 259 marks in 17 minutes 12 seconds, placed
the Henry so far ahead of all other competitors as
to leave no doubt of his taking the prize for breech
loaders.

Sergeant Gray, R A., fired a navy rifle converted
to a breech loader on Messrs Green's plan, and made
a very fair target. The time taken was 24 minutes
50 seconds for the 100 rounds. The total score was
207 marks, made up of 15 eyes, 31 centres, 27
outers, 9 ricochets, Ricochets not being counted,
the misses of course amounted to 27.
The Wontstorm rifle fired was a converted long
Enfield, which had seen considerable service, both
as muzzle loader and as breech loader, the object
being to show that hard work did not impair the
efficiency of these arms. The "shooter," however,
was not forthcoming, and the' competition as re-
gards the Montstorm would have come to an end
by the rifle being withdrawn, had not Mr.
Braendlin, the representative of the proprietors,
been desirous of refuting some absurd statements
that the rifle heated so much by rapid firing as to
explode the cartridge. He therefore fired himself,
satisfactorily accomplishing his object of showing
that the rifle did not heat snore than any other, but
making a score very inferior to the performance of
all the volunteers who tried it for the first time in
the late competition at Wimbledon. The 100 rounds
took 19 minutes 26 seconds. The score was only 36
marks, being two bull's-eyes, six centres, and five
outers. There were no misefiree, if the mistake of
placing an exploded cap on a nipple be not taken
into account. The ammunition used with the Mont-
storm is Gladstone's skin cartridge, the invention of
Capt. M. Hayes, R.N. This excellent cartridge is
used exclusively in the navy for muzzle-loading small
arms. There may be some valid objection to its being
adopted for the army ; but it is certain that by the
use of this, or some other " whole"cartridge in which
bullet and powder are inserted together and rammed
down by one operation, the rapidity of fir© of the En-
field could be nearly doubled, and many advantages
of the breech-loader secured. The mervellous rapidity
of the Whitworth, four shots per minute, is due to a
great extent to the superiority of the cartridge.
Instead of the two simple operations of inserting
and ramming home, which are all that are re-
quired with a ";whole" cartridge, the service cart-
ridge for the land service requires no less than six,
and obliges the operator to be erect and motion. less
to load at all. First, the top has to be notes
.isted
and torn off. It the marksman is not excee
indin this
y
careful, he loses a few grains of pr r
operation. Next, the powder has to be carefully
poured down the barrel. Without care a little
more is spilt, and if any haste is employed the
chances are that a few grains more are left in the
powder case. Thirdly, the cartridge has to be re-
versed ; fourthly, the end
of the bullet inserted in
the barrel; fifthly, the cartridge-case broken off
and thrown away ;
and, lastly, the bullet rammed
home. This complicated performance is difficult
and slow when the soldier is s'exindieg erect, and is
almost impossible when lying down or when on the
move, It will probably be three or four years before
a breech-loading rifle for the army is decided on,