The Sun.
London, England, 1867-06-27 00:00:00

The New Breech-load.ng Competition.

The sub-committee on breech-loaders has now
concluded the first stage of the inquiry. It has
gone carefully through the whole of the arms sub-
mitted, and has fired, nominally for accuracy and
rapidity, but in reality rather with a view to ob-
serving the actual working of the guns, all
those arms which were not prinui facie inad-
missible or dangerous. By far the larger pro-
portion of the arms failed to comply in every
minute respect with the conditions laid down, and to
which the committee have very properly closely
adhered. Some were submitted too late ; others
were too long or too short or too heavy, or other-
wise outside the limits prescribed ; and all the guns
which so failed are out of the competition for the
prize. But the question of their ultimate adoption
is not prejudiced by this failure ; nor are the com-
mittee bound to recommend for adoption the arm
which may chance to gain the first prize. The course
which we understand it is proposed to. adopt is
this :—From the arms which are within the prize
competition a certain number have been selected for
further trial. For the best of these arms, whether
adopted for the service or not, £l,OOO will be awarded,
and for the arm which, "while attaining a satisfac-
tory degree of excellence in other particulars, is se-
lected for merit in respect to its breech mechanism,"
£6OO will be the prize. If the best arm appears to
the committee to be worthy of adoption, it will be
placed in competition with the Snider rifle, which it
will be required to beat before its adoption is con-
firmed. If, on the other hand, none of the prize
arms should in the opinion of the committee satisfy
the service requirements, then the best of those arms
which from failure to fulfil the conditions laid down
are out of the prize competition, will be selected on
their merits to continue the contest ; and between
the two sets of arms we may hope that a satisfac-
tory weapon will at last be found. The interest,
therefore, centres for the time upon the arms which
have been selected to compute for the prize. These
are nine in number ; and it is no longer a secret that
the fortunate competitors are Messrs. Albini and
Braendlin, Mr. Remington, Major Fosbery, Mr. Bur-
ton (two systems), Mr. Peabody, Mr. Martini, Mr.
Joslyn, and Mr. Henry. With these will probably
be tried, not as a competitor for the prize, a rifle of
Mr. Westley Richards', as the best representative
of the self-consuming or partially self-consuming
cartridge system ; the whole of the nine prize rifles
being adapted for cartridges, either of paper or coil
or copper, which have to be withdrawn after firing.
Each of the accepted competitors will be required,
within four months of his receiving the notice;
to furnish for experiment at Woolwich six
arms in strict conformity to the specimen arm
submitted, with 1,000 rounds of ammunition per
arm; and a sum of £3OO will be paid to each such
competitor to cover the expenses of the six rifles and
of the supply of ammunition. The committee may
fairly be complimented on the progress which they
have made in this important inquiry. To examine,
measure, weigh,and classify 112 arms (for the original
93 have been swelled by late additions to this total) ;
to fire 20 rounds from most of these guns, noting
the accuracy, rapidity, and every mishap and failure;
and last, but not least, to listen to all that every
inventor has to say in praise of his weapon, is a
task of no ordinary magnitude; but it is one which
Colonel Fletcher and his associates have succeeded
by zealous application in getting thrcugh in about
two months and a half.—Pall-Iliall Gazette.