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

NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION.

The second annual meeting of the National Rifle
Association commenced in the Royal Arsenal
marshes on Monday, for the purpose of testing the
rifles to be used at the forthcoming Wimbledon com-
petition. Major-Gen. Hay, Captain Horatio Ross,
and Captain St. John Mildmay were present as
members of the Council, the latter gentleman act-
ing the part of secretary as heretofore. The names
of the competitors entered for tie occasion were
Messrs. Ingram, Reeves, Terry, Prince, Kerr,Whit-
worth, Bissel, Turner, Parsons, Baker, and Aston,
the first five having withdrawn before and during
the contest. Mr. Henry, who acted last year as a
most formidable competitor with Mr. Whitworth,
was present on Monday merely as a spectator, and
stated that he was ready to try his own weapon against
that of the winner, whoever he might be, at the close
of the trials. Each gunmaker was provided with his
six rifles of the same description and quality—viz.,
minimum bores, 451; maximum weight, nib.; and
minimum pull of trigger, 61b. The rifles were fired
from fixed mechanical rests, and the arrangements
were nearly similar to those of last year. The best
figure of merit is to be selected as that which shall
be used in the competition for the Queen's prize.
The following state of the targets, obtained on
Tuesday over thu 500 yards' range, will show the
various figures of merit :—Whitworth, 57 decimals;
Baker, 65; Parsons, 73 ; Turner, 74, Aston, 91 ;
Bissel, 87. The result of the 20 rounds fired by Mr.
Whitworth on Monday, was yesterday ordered by
the Council to be cancelled, and the shots to be fired
anew, on account of a breach of No. 8 Article of the
Regulations, which states that "No cleaning out
after trial shots, or during the 20 recorded shots,
shall be allowed." The breach of the article con-
sisted in Mr. Whitworth having employed a me-
chanical ramrod, having a point fitted to the bore
of the rifle. This is constructed so as to push the
lubricator down on the powder, and in doing SO
drives the fouling of the rifle down also, and-leaves
a clean tube for the bullet. This was observed by
Captain Ross, and objected to by the Council, on
the ground that it infringed the rules, which pro-
vide that no cleaning rods shall be used. The dia-
gram made on Tuesday by Mr Whitworth to stand
in the place of the objectionable one of Monday,
varied, however, but slightly from the former one.
After computing the 500 yards' range, the result of
which appear in the above scale, Mr. Whitworth
and Mr. Aston fired 20 rounds each over the long
range of 1,000 yards, at the termination of which
Mr. Aston stated his determination to withdraw
from the trials. On Tuesday the weather was ex-
ceedingly appropriate, with a slight variation and
rise of the wind towards the latter part of the day,
and which somewhat affected the flight of the
bullets over the long range. The result through-
out was highly satisfactory.
The contest was continued yesterday, the com-
petitors present being Messrs. Whitworth and
Turner, Parsons and Baker, and Mr. Bissel, who
fired alone on account of the retirement of Mr. Aston.
The range was 1,000 yards, and in order to facilitate
the proceedings the two pairs 6f competitors were
enabled to fire at the same time, a double range
having been placed at their disposal. The firing
commenced at 10, and terminated about half-
past five. Mr. -Whitworth, as usual, made the best
of the diagrams yesterday, the whole of which,
from the double target, are as follows :—Whit-
worth, 1.64ft.-2.10ft. ; Baker, 2.74-2.78 ; Par-
sons, 2.37-1.94 ; Turner, 3.02-2 65 ; Bissel, 3 40
—2.89; the calculation being the radius from the
first hit and not the centre of the target, the object
being to obtain a uniformity of aim rather than
accuracy. A portion of Mr. Parson's firing was
found to be grouped together in a singularly close
cluster, 16 of the shots falling together nearly one
over the other, the remainder falling wide of the
mark, from the fastening of the rifle becoming
somewhat loose, and the second- batch of shots all
followed another, making a similar figure tothe
first. Had not the shift taken
Sin. square. Oae of
place they would all
have struck in a space of 21t.
his targets made hadts e a
of
Ai
mearn.
Henryradial
th
The c
deviationef.3 at e
2efa
foeoo yards,
t.
flame from this year's contest was
stated
letter to the council. In it he
v i d withdrawing ihni g m his
Ina
protests against the employment of various machine
rests, and states his strong conviction that the use
of a variety of the rests cannot give the true figure
of merit of each rifle, there being as much difference
in the quality and construction of machine rests as
in the rifles themselves. The offer, therefore, that
each competitor be allowed to bring his own rest is
both useless and unfair. In his opinion, each com-
petitor should use the same rest, which should be
supplied by the Association, and manufactured by a
neutral party who would have no interest what-
ever in the competition.

THE BALLOT SOCIETY.—THE DEVON PORT ELEC-
TION.—The weekly meeting of the committee was
held on Tuesday last, Mr. Man in the chair. Commuiyea-
lions were read from Devonport, Devizes, and Cambridge,
relative to the recent elections at those places, from which
the following are extracts :—Devonport.--" The election
screw was used by dockyard officers." "If the election had
been by ballot Ferrand's majority would have been greater."
" About 300 abstained from voting for fear of consequences."
"Unless my mind is greatly altered I will never support
another candidate so little advanced in his views as Sir F.
Grey." Devizes.—" There is no doubt but that the screw
was used to a considerable extent by the Conservatives."
"Fifty electors abstained from voting, the greater part from
fear of offending their customers." Cambridge.---" I think
there was no direct bribery ; the Conservatives knew they
could carry the election without." "I do not believe the
Corrupt Practices Act is of the slightest use." " The screw
is always used here." " Had the election been by ballot
behove Mr. Fawcett would Imo been carried,"