Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1880-09-17
AFGHAN ARTILLERY.
Breech- LOadiHG Armstrong Gums
Made by Cahul smiths

In the first place, the Afghans have
always had the reputation of being
lgood gunners. They are a nation of
| lighting men, and were accounted good
marksmen, even with their old jhezoik.
Moreover, the mutinous troops of the
Wall have been trained to the use Of
artillery by us, and doubtless many Of
these deserters have joined the forces
of Ayoob. In the second place Sherc
Ali was an artillerist by nature and
had for many years been engaged in
pcrfecting his guns. shortly after his
return from visiting Lord MAYO, in
1869 he assembled all the cunning
smiths IN Cabul, and gave orders that
rltied guns were to be produced. The
members of Sherc Ais ordnance Sc
lcct committee had never had the adj
vantage of passing through an cad
vanced class" hut their intelects were
sharpcncd by tolerably shrewed no
ton of what would he the consequences
of failure, and their unguid ed skill
was thus assisted by the mother of in
vention. The president, or chief smith,
was sent to Peshawur with letters of in
PRODUCTION to our commissioner, and
was there afforded opportunities Of
visiting the workshops in the arsenal,
inspecting the breech-loading arm
strong guns, and III otherwise making
himself acquainted with the nature and
methods Of manufacture of modern
weapons He returned to Cabul with
wooden models OF various guns. in
cluding ritcd brcech-loading arm
str0ngs, and with more or less complete
working drawings 4 mandatory OF
rifled guns and SMALL arms was forth
with started in the Bala Hissar, forced
labor to any extent being proeuable
among the smiths Of Cabul, who have
ever had high reputation for native
skill. The result was some ninety III
fled guns of various culibrcs, chiefly of
| the class of mountain and field Some
of these guns were made of wrought
iron strips, laid side hy side on core,
and welded together by hand with
bands Of iron subsequently beaten on
TO keep the barrel together The gun
was then bored out by lathes driven by
water-powcr, and riticd by hand The
brcech-block, ycnt-piccc, and other
parts were forged by hand, and the re-
suit was It very fair imitation Of an
armstrong brcech-loading riiled gun.
Doubtless the weapon would not have
stood many discharges of poudre biutat,
but it was quite equal to fair charge
of Cabul powder, and when nicely pol
ished up, it made very crcditablc ap-
pcarance A large number Of small
bronze guns were also cast, and many
Of them rifled by hand. Shot and shell
were copied from specimens brought
from India, but the mysteries Of the
| time-fuse appear to have batiied the
willy Afghan. He succeededin making
very fair powder i'll large quantities,
both coarse grain and fine grain, the
percentage of ingredients being the
same as with US, and he turned ont
very respectable copper caps, but his
attempts At fuse composition were not
successful and his shells generally
either burst in themuzzle Of the gun or
IN flight, or did not burst ut ALL Large
numbers of Snider cartridges were also
made by hand in the Bala Hissal
arsenal, the cases being solid drawn.
and thus capable cf being retlled ma
NY times. 1t has been computed that
at the time Of Shcrc Ais death there
were about three hundred and eighty
guns Of different sorts III Afghanistan.
We captured two hundred and fifty-siN,
or thcrcaboutS, during 1SS9-SO, leaving
one hundred and twenty-four unac-
counted for Manyof these are konwn
TO have been sent from Cabul TO Tur-
kistan and Herat. and il is by no means
improbable that some Of Shero Ais
hreech-loading ritiod armstrong; may
have been forwarded e. The latter for
tress and that thus the presence of
hreech-loading guns with AyoobS force
may be accounted for