The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-11-19
LOCAL MATTERS.

Arms for the totnHsssr3.-We Are ktu0 10 ln
form the volunteer infantry OF the State that
5000 smooth bore percussion muskets, pur-
chased by the Commissioners from the " 3.
Government, have been received at the Armo-
ry 10 this city. Experienced officers OF tne
regular service consider this better weapon
for volunteers than the rifed musket. Al
though its range is less and its accuracy when
firing At small objects is not so great as the
rified mus ket in the hands of good rifle shot,
yet, in firing at masses at ordinary ranges ana
with un npract ctised troops, 1t is more fflcient,
inasmuch as IL can be loaded with more rapid
ity, does not foul or lead, carries both ball and
buckshot and is not SO delicate and so liable to
get out of order as the Minnie musket.
Be this as it may, however, IL was the only
reliable n usket the Commissioners could &c L,
and they had no option but 70 take 1t. The
Government will not sell Mfnnie muskets,
/ there being no law authorizing such sale, and
no private arms company can get ready to
man NJ ufacture rilled NJ muskets which will stand
the Government proofs, sooner than 1t can be
done at the Armory here.
We are informed that requisiticn has been
made on the War Department for 900 more
of the smooth bore percussion musket, and 1t
| is supposed that there are about 1000 now in
the hands OF the volunteers. We shall soon
have, therefore, 10000 of them. 10000 fin
lock muskets, of the United States make, eq ual
10 quality to the others, and with fiints in
them, have been reserved by the Commission :
ers from the arms sold to Mr.. Anderson, u It'll
5,00e OF the new rife sket have been manu-.
tactufed. These reserved muskets are such as
he Array used III Mexico, and are considered,
b. high authority, as not at all Inferior to the
percussion muskeL.
contract has been made for the requisite
acco trements, 500 sets of which have been
deliv cred and the delivery will progress at
the ra ate of at least 800 sets a week until the
wants of the volunteers are supplied The
State, therefore. is nearly ready to send 20 600
infantry to the field.
In addition to thirty or forty bronze field
pieces already possessed by the State, the Com
misSiOpQrS have purchased thirtaan rlftgd
Held guns of the Parrot patent, With 100
rounds of the Reid shell for each, ard have
obtained BY req uisi tion six twelve pounGers,
navy hoWit1ers, one of them rified. These
last are not only provided with navy car
riages, which enable them to be put in boats
and used i'll our creeks and rivers, but will
soon have army carriages, and will constitu te
formidable battery OF mountain howitzers.
They cannot be trans ported on horses, but will
be light enough TO tr.tverse our mountain re-
gions with ease.
Without counting tbs large number OF
smooth bore iron pieces CT. various calihre in
our Arsenais, we have at 'ast sixty bronze
and rined feid-pieces and ho witZers, and can
equip ten batteries of six, or fifteen of four
pieces each. A contract has been made fol-
900 shells and shrapnel, besides those pur-
chased with the Parrot guns.
Arrap gemehtS have been made to mdnuf3c-
ture Broman fuzes here, and to purcl, ase fric-
tlon primers for the artillery, and ba. Is and
percussion caps for the infantry. And, as We
have heretofore stated, five hundred barre.s OF
Dupont powder have been purchased q. I'd
stored In magazines built for the purpose
mere and at Lexington. Nor have the cavalry
been neglected. Two thousand new sabrss
| have been purchased, and one thousaGd old
| ones, OF excellent temper, have been cut and
| seaobarded. One thousand revolver ! OF the pa t.
tern used in the English army, known as The
| Dean Il Adams pistol, have also been bought
| aud are now In the Armory undergoing .
| final lnsL lection before being paid for Two
| hundred light artillery sabres of the United
L - 49,,
"a we'll AS the cavalry sabres, were inspec ted
| under special order procured from the War
! Department, by the United States inspecting
officers ,and passed all OF the Government tests
From the foregoing statement il will oe seen
| that We car, at this present time, arm efii-
| ciently about twenty-five thousand men of al
| arms. This is about y per cent OF our entire
| popnlation-a proportion not inferior TO the
| standing armies OF the great military Powers
OF Europe, and force greater Than the State
| couid keep in the field.
We learn, also, that the model OF the ne "
| Virginia m usket has been determined on, after
| cons ltation with the Ordnance officers of the
/ regular service, with our Master ArmoreT
| Mr.. Adams, and with Mr.. Burton, the late
| Master Armorer OF the great Enfield estab.
| Iishment, in England, and after experimen Is
| at Lexington with the u. s. Minnie muske
| ana the Enfield m usket
| The Virginia muskeL will be a combinati Il
| of the u. S. rifled muskeL and the British En-.
| field musket, and IL is hoped will possess tht
| coustruc ted at Springfield, under Mr.. Adams
| supervision, and by special permission o
| the War Department, the State defraying thu
| cost. When com pleled ii Will be used in ge {.
| ting up the machinery for our Armory here
| In determining the model arm, the Com
| missioners were necessarily obliged 10 decide
| upon The relative merits of muZzIe-loadIn;
| and breech- loading arms for Infantry. Wish
| ing 10 De governed by practical experience II
| this matter, and not by theory, they applied u
| the War Department, through our Senators
| Messrs. Mason and Hunter, for information q!
| TO the usages of the European armies in thi
| particular, and learned from the Ordnance
| Bureau that so far as the Department was in
| formed, all the great armies of Europe ad
hered to the muZzle-loading musket for in
| fantry.
They then instituted a course of expert
| ments at Lexington, under the charge of Ma
| Colston, to test the relative merits OF muIZi
| and breech-loading muskets, and the resul
was a report from him, recommending mos
decidedly an adherence TO the muzzle-loadir
| musket