The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-08-14
THE RIFLE.

THE RIFLE.
LONDON, July 80, 1861.
Whatever may be said of the "deep mouhed thunder"
OF ponderous artillery the decisions Of the God Of Battles
have in numerous instances been swayed by the rusty
death dealing messenger that is poised by the single SOL
der. OF all improvements in modern implements of war
have been greater than in the rifle For than
thirty years after the rihemen of Kentucky Tennessee
and Louisiana routed he British thousands at New Or
leans the soldiers Of England carried the musket Of the
last ccntury"Cld Brown Bess IL is called-a gun
that had little accuracy for ten rods and which
would scarcely throw ball two hundred yards al far.
thest True these were mostly piping times of peace,
and England, for the nonce had few battles fight But
the fierce in AFehanistan occurred and better
must be had. The French MIME rife, the Prus-
sian needle gun, and the American improve
mcnts by Colt, Sharp and others, demon.
strated that accurate and fatal range
for the rifle could be attained Of thousand twelve hun
dred, and sixteen hundred yards. The mythical
anecdo,e of Lundys lane where American sentry
said To have hit his British antagonist mile distant,
across the Niagara river might be reality. With
attempting to give the separate steps, naming the
their nationality, i. is sufficient to state that
the British government finally adopted the long Enfield"
rife-or what in America is often called the Enfield
muske;--snd afterwards the short Ephold," as the
regular FOR the infantry or foot soldiers With the
" short Enfield" il connected sword-bayone, short
sword, which can be used either sword alone,
bayonet attached to the gun Ghis amor rather these
two arms--in tho hands Of weldrillsd soldiers form
very efficient weapon.
The Enfield rife is we'll known, and considerable
numbers being in IN Amercs further descrip-
ton is unnecessary. The attention Of the govern
ment and Of English military men has Of late
haan lr-wa ad In hropr lO0ii p1Nc A
brcech leading rife possesses several prominent advan
tasos over mazz.e loading gun They can be loaded
and fred from three to six tmes rapidly Tho soldier
Is less exposed 20 passing bullets the range OF the gun
may be far greater and the soldier load and FIRE in
positions like lying fat on the ground in cranpsd pos
lures on horseback where mtzze- loader would be
comparatively useless Why should noun ted soldier
be Obliged 10 get over the muzze Of his gun to bail
down while the cartridge be slipped into the brooch
with the fingers in two seconds without any raurod
inconvenience, and all with hand, while the other
guides his horse? An exact and close t be attained
by having bal, inserted at the breech that s a little
smaller than the barrel and thus by having "wnd
age-a very little being sufficient to detract largely
from the force Of the powder-of course longer range
can be attained provided there is leakage behind the
cartridge.
The British government has no prejudice as to the
nationality OF arms in proof OF which it may be
mentioned that all the machinery for the manufacture
of Enfield rifles at Adersho, for the British army, was
male in Connecticut. And in the Crmean several
thousand shayps rifles prchased in America, and
used to good OBJECT in fighting the Russians. The objec
tons made to Shrps rifle by the British officers and SOL
diers several aDd these were undoubtedly based
practical observation and They leaked fire largely,
particularly aie, being short time in aud the flame
srealned out far each side to burn the faces
whskeys and clothes Of the standing in the ranks,
side by side Then the sharp edge Of the iron that
up at the breec aud which cuts the lower end OF the
Too off ten ri.
been owing lie fact that the weather much OF the
time very cold and OF course fingers would be numb and
the hands clumsy After considerable firing the gun
would get foul, anu the cartridge not gong in easily,
& large portion OF it would be cut of
outside ting the powder and dcsro, ing the force OF
the discharge The leakage Of fire also found to les
se the range very materially The large clasp iron
around the hrcerh gves the gun dumped, buiipou'
shape. and unnecessarily increases its weight.
The gun DoN i9,lei and in use in the British cavalry
is Calisher Te. or Terry's, as il is called--breech-
loading rife Dnc The barrel is twenty -four inches in
ength--ful length thirty and half inches-snd
weighs altogether trie Under SIX pounds 1t has e
fecve range Of over a thousand yards, is sighted FOR
200 yards and will carry ball rifle shell, 500
goo yards, very nearly one mile II mas none OF the
objections made 20 sharIs The bore is the same as tue
Enfield, and fires similar buiet--c,icalone weighing
about The cortrivance for loading and then
closing the brecch is that sends steel plug into the
lower end Of the barrel about third I inch.
The ball protrudes naked from one end Of the car
fridge, and, when ired entirely Ellis the bore and
grooves, entirely preventing wndage 1t is imro7s bic
for il to leak Gre BY singular and ingenious ccntgi
in the cartridge htc gun ubricaics and cleans
ITSELF and does become the least foul, even after
firing thousands Of times. AT the lower base end OF
the cartridge is wad cut Of heavy woo;ien feting
at least quarter of inch thick. This ia saturated
with grease lard or talow The powder Is between this
wad and the bullet and ate. the discharge the wad
remains the gun OF the wad goes out before
the next bullet, ard the gun grows warm by firing
the grease mes, and the gun is fabricated and cleaned
out at every discharge One OF these rifles fred
eighteen hundred times in succession without cleaning
examination under the inspection cf officers at
Portsmouth, and then pronounced clean and in
good condition when the experiment commenced
II missed fire just twice in the eighteen hundred dis
charges Terrys breech loading rinc invented six
eight years and has the enyabe distinction Of
being exclusively used by the British cavalry, hrssais
dragons and mounted rilcmen, and the only brcecl
loader In use in tho British army and service As
the london Examiner, paper Of great weight and
thority, said in review OF the late rife contest VIM
bledon:--The muZzle- leading rife is doomed and soon
the breech-loader must take the place OF the Enfield"
The Enu,e pronounccs Tcrrys the only breach loader
worth naming 1t carried of several prizes Winblo
don and has been adopted by both the Australian and
New leland colonial governments for both mounted and
foot soders. II we ask why the British government do
! not adopt IL for their foot soldiers, get very
| sufficient reasons The hls only just been in
| troduced, aud at this time the government have
hardly got through with making and distributing the
Enfield and the supply for the army has taken up
seven years complete Besides the cost o.! sna
pounds sterling gun, amounts to no less than sin or
or seven million dollars. The first step has been 10 put
Terys breech loader into The hands Of the cavalry aud
also 10 supply the navy With ia good many small arms
being required in boarding and firing from The round top
on shipboard and one is needed that vii admit Of the
most rapid loading.
several other breech loading rifles in the English