The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-27 00:00:00

flask and fired with Lunch greater deliberation than
the rest, relying apparently upon steady shooting
rather than excessive speed. Accordingly, his 100
shots extended over 60 min. and 35 sec., and the
following was the score which he obtained from
that number of rounds :-27 balls'..eyes, 41 centres,
19 (Alters, 2 ricochets, 11 misses,—total, 269 marks.

This was a result better by 76 marks than the

score of Mr Turner, who stood second on the list

the previous day, but it was of course open to

the comment that Mr. Turner's 100 rounds were

fired in 41 min. 2 sec. The .ffhitworth rifle in the

hands of Mr. Leace more than repeated its wonder.,

ful performance of the previous day. The time
occupied was indeed longer by a few seconds, bus;

the second 100 rounds were still fired in the is -

credibly short period of 24 min. 54 sec. The scor e
made in that time consisted of 36 bulls' eyes, 4 6

centres, 16 outers, ricochets, 0, misses, 2; tots .1
marks 314, being an improvement of 10 marks upo: a

the result achieved on Monday, when every one vas

taken by surprise. As`this striking and insurmount-
able evidence of what can be done with a muzzle■
loader is certain to be adduced in argument when-
ever the comparative merits of muzzle and breech
loaders are discussed in future, it is right to state
that in the handling of Mr. Whitworth's rifle the
time occupied in loading was reduced to a minimum
by the use of cartridges specially prepared. These
were of a similar description to those patented for

use with his small-bore rifle, save that they wer(3
made of the regulation size. A paper cylinde r
contains both the powder and bullet, in the ordc x
in which these aro to descend into the barrel. Tte

bullet acts as a plug at one end of the cylinder; at
the other the powder is confined by a little calico
and pasteboard slide, which can be pulled away the
moment the cartridge case is placed on the top of
the barrel. A single downward motion of the
ramrod through the cylinder sends the bullet home
after the powder; the cartridge case then slips off

over the head of the ramrod, and this there is never

any occasion to turn, because the point, hollowed
_ _

slightly into the shape of a cup, gives all the farce
that is the necessary to the charge in ramming
home, and immediately that the rod is withdrawn
from the barrel it is in the right position to be
thrust into the stock. Mr. Whitworth also is for-
tunate in his representative Leace, with whom, for

quickness, steadiness, and confidence of aim, there
is not another man neon the ground who can
compete. This explanation involves no disparage-

went whatever of Mr Whitworth'i, rifle, On the

contrary, it shows that having made up his mind to
forward what he believed to be the best weapon, he
took care to surround it with the very best appli-
ances. A point was raised on the part of one of the
competitors that sufficient notice was hardly given
of the time at which the prize would be shot tor.
It must, however, be borne in mind that the condi.,
tions under which the prize was offered were pea.-
liar, and unless a certain number of competitors
entered in both classes no competition was to take
place. The last competitor, therefore, whose par-
ticipation in the contest was requisite to make up
the quorum by delaying to bead in his name, was,
in fact, limiting the extent of notice which it was
possible to forward to him and his fellows. The
Turner rifle in its second trial did not fulfil the ex•
pectations of its friends. The time occupied in
firing the 100 rounds from this weapon was 40m.
47 sec., and the score which it made was as follows :
Bull's-eyes 15, centres 22, °titers 20, ricochets 3,
misses 40—total marks 166. The great merit
claimed for it of not fouling was hardly sustained,
for towards the close of its prescribed operations the
difficulty of loading became obviously greater. The
result of the 10 shots fired separately to test the
accuracy of the rifle convinced Mr Turner that in
the face of the large score already made by Mr
Wbitworth it would be needless to prolong the con-
test, and he accordingly withdrew his name. The
10 accuracy shots fired without reference to rapia
dity by the competitors respectively exhibited the
following results—Whitworth, 32; Rigby, 26;
Turner, 9.
Simultaneously, and at the range immediately
adjoining, the great problem of combining accuracy
with rapidity of fire was also being worked out with
the materials supplied by various breech loading
firms and inventors. The favourite Mont Storm
pattern was the first tried, and the experiment
was of a disappointing character. The weapon
certainly could not have fallen into hands capable
of displaying it to advantage, for in the last 50
rounds the man who fired with it struck the target
only three times, whereas Mr. Brandlin, the
manager of the Mont-Storm Works, immediately
that the stipulated number of rounds was ended,
reloaded the weapon, and in presence of General
Hay made a ball's-eye upon the same target at
which his delegate had fired. In consequence of
the explosion which occurred during the Wimble-
don meeting, and as to the cause of which at the
time much controversy existed, the performance of
the piece in this respect was watched very narrowly.
In the 130 rounds fired in the course of the trial
there was not a single case of explosion or miss-fire.
It is right to add that the patentees of the Monte
Storm invention do not lay so much stress upon any
particular description of barrel or cartridge as °a
the breech itself, which they say
every description of firearms, but would be more
especially valuable in converting En The 100 roundsfield rifles into
breech-loaders at a trifling cost. is applicable to
score recorded--. 6 10 centres, 14 enters,
I took 22 minutes to fire, and the following was the
6 ricochets, 64 misses ; total marks, 82. The Snider
rifle is one that has latterly come a good deal into
notice. It uses a cartridge carrying its own ignio
twiohnic—that
ist on ato say, having a central cap upon
to explode the charge, and the
time and labour
m lasslel,s.eyes, 20 centres, 30
45 misses; of capping being thereby done
away with considerable saving is of course effected.
It accomplished its 100 rounds in the remarkably
short and the following
was
outers, 1 ricochet, total marks, 136.
There was one misssfire with this rifle. The next
bull's-eyes,
e.,
piece tried was the Matthews rifle, which possesses
he period
ee'. e o
f 2
de min.
:4 O
a very light recoil and rather peculiar action. A
handle on the right side of
the weapon, just beyond
the socket of the nipple, communicates with a bolt
sliding across the end of the barrel and fitting
into a groove, so that when drawn out a cartridge
can be pushed in, and when locked it forms a per-
fect breech. Greased cartridges, somewhat similar
to those introduced by Mr. Westley Itict.ards,
are
need with this rifle. The 100 rounds were fired in
26 minutes, and the following was the score: Twelve
ricochets, 39
bull's-eyes, 17 centres, 27 outer., 5
hisses; total marks 153. Five miss fires took place
with this weapon, but four of them occurredi in con-
nection with the same cartridge, n which there
was evidently some defect.
Lord Elcho and Gen. Hay were present as on the
tormer day, and Captains Page (London Scottish)
and Knight (19th Regiment) continued to superin-
tend the firing with perfect iinparttality and satisd
faction to all parties.