The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1866-10-12
Name Of rife.
Henry, (repeat'

RuxATxRs vKRsUs LOADKRG
While the Spencer rife proved its superiority the
our leading ordnance ofcors that II the cnec-
tive OF military Looking upon IL merely as mo.
merits ana W. eomue
TO conclude that the single loading brceeh loader Is not
only superior arm, but is in every respect better
adapted 70 warfare In tho rst place, the mechanical
portion Of repeater Ii too complcacd tho danger OF
injury 10 too great and the waste OF ammunition
Sgss % soas arg
during the many Spencer rifles were picked up
the battle Geds with cartridges IN the magazine the re-
worse position 10 what the should have occupied
or course II would have btsn utterly impossible
70 fire the gun as soon as cartridge thus
inserted had entered the breech piece; 1t would
have been able the barrel and the result
have break otherwise injure the internal ms
ckinery Tho mistake here mentioned arose either from
the careessness Of the soldier or from his hurry when
filing tho magazine. But in addition 70 this with the
knosledge that his gun contains seven loads each Of
which be fired without rcloadng until every cart
ridge In exhausted, the soldier INDUCES, In reckless
waste Of ammunition without doing any material dam
Spencer ride Is sppcsSs and With double force 70 the
henry or Winchester gun. Repeating rifles OF tho
last named ps,srn arc entirely too complicated for
the OF an army In the hands OF experts they VIII,
u true, become terrible weapons OF warfare but nine
Of every ten soldiers not experts In the uss o.
such Ia addition 70 requiring rapidly q s strength
ana durability are necessary To an army she Henry
and Winchester rifles would then be usses and simply
because they possess neither strength nor durability.
They arc delicate complicated weapons; ana besides,
neither they the Spencer ME be- nred - rapidly
a. any good single ends such - the Berdsn Ballard
Peabody or Cochraa. Erpcrimsnk with the Spencer
Peabody Ballard and Berdan have been made Tor one
hundred shots with the following result
Spencer100 shots In eight minutes and hall, beng
an average OF little lees than II shots per minute.
Pcabody-loo shots In seven minutes. OF lAo2 per
Ballsrd-loo shots in six minutes and half or about
IS per minute.
Berdan-ioo shots IN ak minutes, or IeoA per minute
Better averages than the above have been made with
these guns which among the rst Of American manu-
facurc but the experiment oniy proved that the length
OF time taken 10 f the magazine OF The spencer rne
neutralzcd ne merits q repeater. The assertion o.
inventors that the mmoby Of preludice on the part OF
ordnance ofce has been The cause OF repeating rne
not bong adopted by the government for the use OF ~
/ army IL simply ridiculous Patient investigations and
experimental tests proven the superiority OF single
loaders the rcpessrs And fscts which are Away
iucoptesbe have Influenced Judgment In favor OF tn
former But admitting that the repeating rise car
b. fred ofssner than the single loader, what ocnen
arises from such excessive rapidyf TO Ore twenty
or thirty per minute would render the arm OF IN
soldier utterly ussces beore he had fred my rounds
n average Of eight shots per minute could D nre
during bate the effect and slaughter would Dc night
uk This the single loader con b. made 70 penosm viii
~ utmost sass asd unisss simplicity Of construc
tson with immsnss strength tquaistss which me r
ueatsr dees not uossso. Ne hvpoehese nus aAinrs1'