The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1859-05-27

sporting objects, had become 80 familiar In
the hands of Americans, that it was after
wards used in our wars; and il is believed
in England that our success in the contest
with her, and more strikingly in that with
Mexico, was owing to our skill in the use of
the rifle. The first Napoleon, it is well
known, had little appreciation of mechan-
ical skill, and steadily opposed the adoption
of the rifle, or any other improved arm.-
1t was in the Algerine war that the French
first discovered the advantage which the
Arabs had over them in their long -barrelled
guns, aud which led them to adopt the rifle.
To this change, with new system Of tao
tics adapted TO their use, is attributed the
subsequent success Of the French arms IN
Africa
The Minnie gun, with its peculiar CHAM
Der and oblong, conican ball, was the next
advance made by the French. These guns
were used exclusively in the Crimea1r war,
and gave the allies many advantages but
they have their defects, and important i'm
provements have already been made in
them. Indeed, so superior is the rife now
furnished to the British army, that it is
stated that the soldier can make far better
practice at 500, or even at 1000 yards than
he could with the old musket 100 and 200
yards; and in skilled hands, perfection has
been attained which seems almost incredi-
BILE. In Prussia, a breach-loading gun is
used, the charge of which is ignited by a
needle forced by q spring through the pow
der till it strikes against patch OF deton-
ating powder attached to the ball. 1t is
believed that these arms have been exten-
sively adopted in the Austrian armies. In
the United States, the improved rifles and
pistols OF Colt, Sharp, Burnside and Others
are we'll known. The revolver OF Colt is
surpassed 10y no arms of its kind, and has
been adopted in all armies and navies. At
tempts have been made IN Europe to man
ufacture a similar weapon, bnt all have
failed, or been much inferior to Colts +
While such have been the Improvements
in small arms, 10 attempts were made upon
cannon until within the last two years
and it now appears that equal success has
attended the experiments upon them. These
Improvements are various. ln the first
place il is shown that cannon can be made
with half the weight of metal formerly used,
which are capable OF throwing six shot of
equal weight at n much greater distance;
next, that by growing the bore they will
throw shot with precision equal to that of
the rifle. Hitherto military men in Eng
land have opposed all improvements made
or suggested by civilians; now they are
most anxions 10 avail themselves Of them,
and experiments to test the advantage of
various weapons are made on a large scale.
Judging ftom those already completed, it is
believed that rifle iron gun of bore of
FIVE inches in diameter, weighing not less
than 24O0 pounds, could be made to throw
a shot ten miles, or more, with force and
accuracy. The Armstrong gun is capable
OF hitting target feet q inches III diam
eter ut 1000 yards, while the service gun
cannot be depended upon to hit a hay stack
at the same distance But its relative ae-
curacy it is shown, can he maintained at
more than two miles We learn that ri
fled cannon has lately been invented by one
of our townsmen, which performs wonders,
and upon which experiments are making by
the engineers of the United States army.