The national Republican. [volume] (Washington City [D.C.]) 1866-1870, 1869-03-30
The Chs.sepot and Winchester Rine

NiAfter having, according TO the lnvariable
routine Of committees, ignored all the lnfor- 1
nation brought before Il as TO the relative
merits Of needle guns and percussion arms,
the artillery committee at last opened Its
ayes the light after the campaign OF sa-
dowa, and decided upon the adoption Of the
Chasscpot. The needle gun was the last
word Of science. Millions were voted by the
Chambers aud paid by the people for the i'm.
mcdiatc transformation Of tho armament Of
our. soldiers. Nothing was spared TO make
up for the losi tlmo ofthe committees and TO
give the public the most entire confidence.
Montana was made aud sldi-Cheilkh "a re-
volt In Algeria, gotten up by the French
Government to Try the effccto the Chase
pot on the Arabs) created. Every one cried
ont q miracle and, as formerly, . bulletin
was enough 70 make the souayes The first
soldiers In the world; 90 now the Chasscpot
was the best weapon known.
The oficious and independent press related
the most touching things about the love of
the soldier for his Chassepot.r Sometimes he
slept with Il, and sometimes passed entire
hours looking al II as II hung on the gun
rack, with tenderness mingled with respect
full admiration. France Is the country Of
boosters; have proved Il oftcn, and shall
|, now prove II again. The Chasscpot is IN
terior to the greater number OF weapons now
all the enthusiasm spent In Its honor are so
much actual loss. As for the enthusiasm,
do not make much account Of that value
II but little; We can remake II when we
please, Il can be had by extracting from
the laborcr's pocket certain sum Of money,
putting II In contact with the offieious press,
the bargain Is made and enthusiasm can be
again poured out hot on human folly. But
the millions which have been uselessly spent
r.. -. f.a Nnro nf m n
| Chasscpots, who will give. them back to
France which needs them
have before me the report OF several for
| eign committees appointed to make expert
| mepts as to the respective values OF differ
| emit firearms, In order TO select the best. Do
you know what rank the Chassepot oceu-
pics The last but Hree. There came ancr
| Il only the Peabody and the Howard. IL Is
/ of course understood that only speak OF
those guns which were considered worthy of
being admitted to competition. The value
of a gun consists In the accuracy and
rapldity Of It's fire and Its lightness and sim
| plicity. The accuracy Of the ChaSsepot
compared with the Winchester aud Reming-
ton Is In the following proportions:
The Winchester hit the target 10 times a
minute.
The Remington times S-l0ths, and the
| Chassepot times S-10ths. -.
As for the rapidity Of firc, which depends
essentially on simplicity In handling, the
| following were the results;
Formerly nn infantry musket took exactly
| one minute to load and fire. or these 60
seconds, 50 were spent In loading. Every
one can understand that during these 80
seconds the soldier was nothing more nor
less than q target at which any one could
arc without danger. The quicker n gun Is
loaded the less the soldier Is exposed there
fore, in this case, time Is not only money but
| dear life. The FIRST practical Improvement
| introduced into the manufacture Of weapons
of war, after ffty years Of frultless expert
| ment, was the Prusslan needle gun, invented
| some twenty years ago. This gun required
twelve motions and could be loaded and
| fired 1--WE times minute. Since then the
| Prussian gun has been further perfected.
The Remington, tho Sharp, the Peabody,
the Ballard, have reduced the number of
necessary motions and fire 10 shots to the
minute. By being very rapid and with men
thoroughly practiced, from II to IS shots
per minute might be reached. But the
American, who never halts on the road of
progress, thought that he must look In some
| other direction than that Of guns which re-
1uired to be loaded for each shot fred, and
invented the magazine arm, thus called be-
cause II contained q reservoir OF cartridges
| to be fired after the first shot.
The first result was the Spencer, which
dates from 1860. These guns contained
cartridges at the breach. They required
four motions to load and fire, and reached a
rapidity of 10 shots per minute. When
arrived in America the Spencer was In great
favor, and was certainly very superior to all
its predecessors. But In 1862 giant stride
was made by the introduction Of the Henry
rifle, which contained 10 cartridges and only
required two motions to load and fire. tt
rapidity of fire was brought up to 30 shots
per minute, so that the soldier who with the
old musket remained exposed TO the enemy
fire without defence so seconds out of the "
was now only exposed 30. have used THU
gun and seen II In use. Its effect was dis
astrous TO the enemy. Since then there hav,
been other improvements made, and tn
, Winchester, which Is at this moment the las
word of science, can be used at the sam
time as magazine arm and as q single sho
, weapon. As q magazine arm II contains Il
cartridges, which can be fired OIL one pc
second, or 20 per minute, and In exceptions
= circumstances, the cartridges being in thu
, magazine and being fired with all the rapid
ity possible, even tcO shots per second can b,
reached, which would give In certain crltlca
moments q fire of 120 shots per minute.
think II we compare this to the 10 shot
of the Chasscpot the latter will not seem
marvel The poor French soldier In tn,
presence of similar weapons would fall llk
fly without any defence, and swearing b!
all the gods that those who had placed
Chasscpot in his hand knew nothing abou
their business, and might as well have givei
} him candle. The soldier feels this 81
thoroughly that 1t will not be unlnterestlnl
10 relate the circumstances attending the In
PRODUCTION of the Henry rifle into the Amcri
can army. Some OF the Henry rifles hat
been sent by their inventor to the army to b
, tried. The effect was SO astounding tina
, the soldiers TO whom they had bcea en-
trusted would not give them back. The
paidfor them out Of their own pockets. Thei
=, comrades, astounded, In their turn did tn
+ same. The Henry ride at that time cost CSC
, Seeing this, the States ordered 10000 70
their regiments without applying to the Fed
> cral Government. In America, as else
where, routine Is the mother of committees
!, These, In all respects worthy of their Euro
t pcan brethren, thought that the transports
:. ton of the ammunition necessary to suppl
= such fire was absolutely impossible. The
j, did not see, on one side, that If rife firm
Il ten times as fast rs another requires te
i times the amount Of ammunitlon-which
l. not always truc-tcn men firing q rife tc
II times slower present ten times more surfaC
to be fired at and consume ten times I'll
n quantity of rations.
Now the rations for one man take u
: much more room than his cartridges and r,
: Qulre mucn greater Hclns OF transport, "
Q the other hand Is not the cost of maintain
+ ing man much greater than that Of h
= cartridges! Thus at equal rate of firing OIL
" man Is worth more than ten, since he cos
I less, offers less Of a mark and requires LEI
n means of transport. We might also ad
a that 1t Is easier to find one good soldier tina
:, ten. The logical consequence Of all M
: chanical progress is to lessen the number
= workmen formerly required to produce Il
&c same result. This, which is true In pr
" ductive industry is also true in destructiN
industry. We must reduce the number
/ soldiers propOrtionately to the perfection
!. weapons and obtain the same number
r shots with the smallest number of men on
ia at the smallest possible exposure. This idel
so simple that every one OF our readers wi
;, be astonished not to have discovered
ID sooner, not only was not found out by
Il committee, but when shown to one was IL
q understood.
In short, the perfecting of firearms wi
make nine out of ten soldiers useless an
Or these nine men under free government wi
be left at home. Every one who has SCI
war for any long time knows that of a
- meanE of destruCtlOn sickness and misel