The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1876-08-18
oUR CENTENNIAL LETTER.

| LONSh 1OOA1uS III INC OAtAOiAAS' LII
glish shot guns without exception
are the finest in the wOrld-not
that they use better material, or a
better way of making them, but
they put a much greater amount of
work, and finer finish upon them
than is done in any other country.
There is something peculiar in the
manufacture of shot guns, which no
one has ever been able to explain.
Take two guns, made from the
same piece of material, By the same
process, by the same machinery,
by the same workman, and out
WardIy SO much the same that one
cannot be told from the other, and
one will prove to be fine gun, and
the other very ordinary one. Each
gun is tested very thoroughly, and
those that carry well and truly have
an elaborate finish put upon them
and sell for about $3.50; while the
one that did not carry SO we'll,
is given a common finish and sells
for about $50. Why there should
be this difference is not known, but
it is probably on account of some
shrinkage or imperfection in the
barrels that is two slight to be dis
tinguished, and yet makes great
difference in the manner of scatter
ing the shot. A number of very
ingenious magazine breech-loading
guns are on exhibition, but the
most ingenious of them all is one
known as the Evans Repeater. The
magazine is placed in the stock, in
stead of along on the underside of
the barrel, and instead of being
long tube from which the cartridg-
es are pushed by means of coiled
spring, the cartridges are placed in
revolving rod, which has four
grooves cut in its sides. All four
grooves are filled with cartridges,
which are then fed forward into
the rear end of the barrel by the
operating mechanism. AS SPUR
rel rifle this gun would probably
do very well, as it carries "a small
cartridges, but as a musket, think
that it is impracticable, as the stock
cannot be made large enough to
hold full size cartridges without
making it large and unwieldly.
Tie Colt Firm Arm Co. have the
finest of all the revolver exhibits.
Those who have attended number
of the Foreign Expositions say that
there is the finest display of fire
arms here that the world has ever
known.
Heretofore the Gatlin machine
guns have ranked as the deadliest
engines of war in the world, and
have had few or no competitors,
but there are two new machine
guns now on exhibition which will
prove most formidable competitors
in future. One-the Gardner gun
has stationary barrels, and the
cartridges are fed down through
grooves from above. The firing
mechanisms is like that of many
breech-loading muskets, but is OPP
Grated by turning a crank. The
other-the Bailey gums made
with revolving barrels like the Cat
lin gun, but has much simpler
firing mechanism, and will fire
much faster. The cartridges are at
tached to long belts that are made
to hook on to each other, and the
cartridges, thus affixed, register
with the revolving barrels. One
man sights, and another turns the
crank, and as long as the belts last,
the cartridges feed themselves
This gun is calculated TO fire about
500 shots minute, but as only a
half sized gun has eyer been made,
what it will do with full sized car.
tridges remains yet to be seen. II
matters very little, except in special
| emergencies, how many shots CAN
be fired in a minute, as it has been
proved that when over 200 shots 8
minute are fired from each barrel
for more than q moment or two
the barrel gets redhot, and then are
J unfit to be used.
There is no more beautiful col
lection in the whole exposition thar
the German collection of pipes and
cigar holders. 1t is utterly impos'
} sible to give any adequate idea O.
how elaborate, artistic, and finished
, the carvings or how diversified the
figures and SUBJECTS are. Were i
not for the thought that l canno
afford to buy any of them, l believe
t that would learn to smoke for the
sake of having such an object OF
beauty, as almost any of them are
+ around me, To show what can bt
f made out of amber, one of the ex-
hlbitors has made quite 8 large
, chandelier for wax candles out OF
3 it, using both the clear transparent
: ! and the clouded kinds. The price
r is only $4,000.
n Just beside these pipes is small
+ case in which is exhibited the larg-
j est and most valuable Opal in tn,
world. 1t is about as large ant
: thick as the palm of q woman
e hand, weighs COZ carats, and i
E worth $4,000. What can be don,
with it am at loss to SEE. 1t i
too large and irregular in its presen
form to be used as an ornament, ant
o to divide it is to ruin its great val
ne. In the same case with it are