The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-01 00:00:00

Revolvers Superseded.

While Europe stands in arms waiting for the word to
engage in a mad conflict an amount of attention greater
than usual is necessarily given to the science of killing.
The chances of success in war do not depend solely on the
personal bravery of the troops of the respective combatants.
Place any general at the head of 1,000 of the most devoted
and heroic youth of Italy, armed with the old flint muskets,
and pit them against 500 Croats, without education,
honour, ambition, love of country, or any of the incite-
ments to heroism which move soldiers on the day of battle,
but armed with the needle breech-loading rifle, and the
thousand would fail, unless some miraculous intervention
took place in their favour.

There are certain natural laws which in the science
of war maintain their superiority over all combinations
and courage. Take the case of two riflemen skirmishing.
Both, let us suppose, have got good positions, with a rea-
sonable amount of protection in their front in the shape of
rock and gorse. We will assume them to be equally well-
adjusted weapons for long-range shooting. It is clear that
if one of these soldiers can throw ten balls for one of his
adversary the chances of victory are all in his favour.
Moreover, if the same combatant can load his rifle
without altering his position, while his opponent has to
make no end of awkward movements every time he has
to load, the chances are still more on the side of the
former. What is true of two individuals is true of any
number of individuals in a mass. A battalion which can
throw 10,000 balls for 1,000 has an immeasurable advan-
tage, which neither courage nor skill on the other side can
equalise. Nay, a hundred men with firearms able to dis-
charge 100 shots a minute are more than a match for a
battalion of 1,000 men, if their arms are only able to dis-
charge five or six per minute. In the one case 10,000 balls
would be thrown, in the other 6,000, within the same space
of time. By the processes of rifling and sighting we have
perhaps arrived at as much accuracy in hitting as can be
expected.- Whit is now aimed at by all inventors, and
what is desired by all Governments, is speed in loading, so
that the greatest number of balls can be scientifically thrown
to their destination in the 13;iefest possible time. Prussia,
believes she has accomplished much in this direction by
her needle breech loader, and no doubt she has. It
was the witnessing her performances in the Danish
war that induced our ,own Government to call in the
assistance of Mr. Jacob Snider to convert the Enfield rifle
into a breech-loader. We cannot say we are enamoured of
the scheme, not because we have any clout of Mr. Snider's
being the best possible mode of doing the work, but be-
cause it seems to us to be throwing away money to con-
vert into an indifferent breech loader a rifle of the descrip-
tion of the Eufield. The Americans have got a stage beyond
breech-loading. They have a revolver rifle upon the same
principle as Colt's pistols, the advantage on the side of such
a weapon being, that by one process you can adjust for
immediate use several bullets instead of one, and, after
having got the range, do not require to be constantly tak-
ing the rifle from the shoulder and thus losing the aim.
We have recently seen an invention which, we believe,
will go far to revolutionise the whole system of modern
firearms. The inventor is Mr. James Gale, whose system
of rendering powder non-explosive has lately been before
the country, and has, we may say, been accepted by the
Government as a most valuable invention. Mr. Gale is
blind, but he handles his models with almost the same ease
as if he had his sight, and as he t ,kes an aim with the
weapon which we are about to describe, he seems to be as
conscious of an object before hini as if his eyes were per-
fect. He is the founder and a chief supporter of the Ply-
mouth school for the blind. Like Professor Fawcett he is
almost able to convince us that blindness is not a heavy
calamity, such hopeful and loving natures enable,
them t' turn into a blessing what, to men with
less clearness of intellect and goodness of heart,
must be a perfect cloud of heaviness and sorrow.
We do not propose to enter into its merits minutely or
technically; but, speaking generally, the weapon' may be
described as a skeleton firearm. The barrel, stock, and
hammer are all in their places; but where the ordinary
revolver has its circular breech for the reception of cart-
ridges, Mr. Gale's weapon contains a blank space for the
reception of an horizontal slide enclosing the cartridges.
These are entirely distinct from the weapon, and may be
carried in one pocket while the pistol is in the other. The
slides may be made to contain any convenient number of
shots. Mr. Gale prefers them capable of holding ten cart-
ridges each. By passing the slide into the aperture left for
it in the skeleton, the weapon is at once completed, and its
fast as the trigger can be drawn the cartridges may be fired,
the slide of itself passing gradually through as each
cartridge is discharged. So soon as all have been fired,
another slide may be slipped in, and the firing re-
peated as long as there is ammunition to reload the
slides left. We are within the mark'when we say that 100
shots a minute may be thus fired. The process of reload-
ing the slides is one of great simplicity, which might be
performed by any non-combatant with perfect safety, as
without being inserted in the skeleton weapon the car-
tridges cannot explode. The principle is applicable, not
only to pistols, but to rifles and cannon ; and it is not im-
probable that in this invention may be found the means of
solving that hard problem Of big guns. Given a thick
armour plate, it requires a heavy gun to cope with it ; but
the thicker the armour and the heavier the gun, the more
unwieldy the vessel. Mr. Gale brings another principle
into play. Even where one blow with a big bolt might
produce effect upon an adversary, there is at present
great difficulty in insuring the chance of hitting, from
the unwieldy nature of the guns. Mr. Gale believes
in guns less heavy, throwing a multitude of shot with such
rapidity as to strike about the same spot when the range
has been once obtained ; and he believes he has devised
means for moving even heavy guns with momentary cele-
rity for the purpose of sighting and elevation. He con-
tends that repeated blows with a hundred-pounder bolt
would be more calculated to produce an impression than
one stroke from a six hundred-pounder, and thus the
immense calibre of the new class of guns might be reduced.
The principle is one which may possibly lead to a great
reduction in our heavy military expenditure. One soldier
armed with a weapon ou Gale'S principle would be equal
to ten provided with the Enfield, and it is cheaper for us
to lay out money on perfect weapons than to maintain
battalions.—Merning paper.