The Sun.
London, England, 1841-03-15 00:00:00

THE NEW RUSSIAN MUSKET.

A meeting of several military and scientific gentle-
men took plaice recently at Chalk Farm, for the pur-
pose of testing the comparative merits of the detonat-
ing musket, now about to he generally introduced into
the British service, and that invented by the Baron
Heurteloupe for the use of the Russian army. Though
the day was wet and boisterous in the extreme, 160.
rounds of ball cartridge were fired from the Baron's
gun in an inconceivably short space of time, without a
single failure or hang-fire ; and, indeed, from the forma-
tion of the piece itself, which has the lock uliced
under the barrel, immediately before the trigger, and
which is further, by a most ingenious contrivance, com-
pletely secured from the action of the weather, the
priming being contained in a continuous thin flat metal
tube, impel vious to moisture, and inclosed in the stock of
the gun itself, rain or wet can have no effect on the action
of a musket so constructed. It is,however, tlie composition
contained in this tube, and the simple manner in which
it is acted upon, that gives the invention its great supe-
riority over all the other fire-arms now in use. The
tube in question, which is about eight inches long, and
about k of an inch wide, contains detonating powder
sufficient for 30 primings, and is in the first place in-
serted in the body of the stock, under the barrel. A
very simple mechanism causes the extremity of this
tube to advance over a fiat topped nipple, and the cock
which strikes it is so constructed as to cut from the
tube that portion which lies over the nipple, and the
hammer acting upon it almost simultaneously produces
the discharge. Leming out of the question the che-
mical merits of a composition, which will admit of a
part being cut off and exploded, without igniting the
remainder of the contents of the tubc, the mechanical
merits of the gun as a military engine are extraordinary ;
it combines within itself all the desiderata of cheapness,
strength, simplicity, certainty of fire in all we ithers, and
capacity for rapid execution, which are required in a sol-
dier's weapon, and it as great an improvement over the
common copper cap lock as that is over the old flint and
steel principle. Many old officers have doubted the
wisdom of adopting the copper cap for soldier's fire-
arms, and there can be no doubt that in a military
point of view it is subject to many grave objections on
the score of inconvenience to the soldier using it in
wet weather, or with cold hands, from its liability to fall
off and split when exploded, to the injury of the man
standing next, from its great insecurity from dampness,
its chemical affinity for moisture, and its liability to be
injured by hygrometric changes, not to mention its di.
fficulty of management in the clumsy and awkward
hands of a soldier, acting in haste, under the excitement
of fire. The whole of these drawbicks are said to be
avoided in the Baron's invention, which, in the opinion
of the military men present at the experiment, was by
far the best adaptation of the detonating principle to the
common musket that has yet been seen. We are in-
formed that the gun in question has lately been sub-
milted to the inspection of the Master-General of the
Ordnance, with a view to its adoption in the British
army. The recent experiments convince us thet the
Baron's invention can be applied to all fire-arms, and it
is, without exception, the greatest improvement yet ac-
complished.—Times.

DRURY-LANE THEATRICA L

FUND DINNER.

The festival of this company will precede that of
Covent-garden company this year. This fund was
established by Garrick in the year 1776, since which
time its members have never been so scattered as they
are at the present moment.
The following gentlemen have been formed into a
Committee, to manage the affairs of the Fund :
Messrs. William Bennett (Secretary), J. Bland, Cooke,
Cooper, Fitzwilliam, Harley (Treasurer), Honner, C.
Jones, J. Vining, W. Vining, 0. Smith, Wilmot, and
Webster (the lessee of the Haymarket Theatre).
A deputation from the ahove-named gentlemen warted
on his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge a few
da)s since, and requested that the Illustrious Prince
would take the chair at the approaching festival, which
he most kindly condescended to do, and named Wed-
nesday, the 31st of this month, as the day upon which
he could conveniently attend, and that day has conse-
quently been fixed for the dinner of the Society, at the
Freemasons' Tavern.
Several of the Committee have met in the room in
Drury-lane Theatre, known as Kean's dressing-room,
for the purpose of furthering the objects of the Insti-
tution, and receiving communications from noblemen
and gentlemen patronising the drama, from the follow-
ing of whom munificent donations have been received,
with a request that the names of the donors might be
placed upon their books as Vice. Presidents :—the Duke
of Bedford, Marquis of Normanby, Earl of Lonsdale,
the Earl of Belfast, Viscount Palmerston, Lord Robert
Grosvenor, Lord Charles Fitzroy, Lord Tenterden,
Lord Prudhoe, W. J. Denison, Esq., M.P., the Hon.
T. S. Carew, B. Botfield, Esq., M.P., E. G. Bernard,
Esq., M.P., Harrison Ainsworth, Esq., A. W. Roberts,
Esq., Charles Dickens, Esq., Colonel Fox, &c.