The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1886-07-04
Englana's New military Rifle.
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[London Timesl
Yesterday afternoon Col. II. T. Arbuth-
not, Royal Artillery, Superintendent of the
Small Arms Factory at Enfield, read paper
in the theatre Of the Royal United Service
Iustitution on the new military rifle which
Is TO be issued 70 the troops. This weapon
had been officially dubbed the Enfield
Martini. Col. Arbuthnot gave historical
sketch Of the changes that had ensued In the
adoption Of small arms In the British service
from the date Of the discarding of "Brown
Bess." He commended that at the time of It's
adoption the Martini. Henry was the finest
military rife In Europe-America was not
included. Although he was aware differ
snces Of opinion existed as TO the merits of
the breech action Of the Martini Henry, he
had never known It to fail. Il was true
there were complaints Of jamming in the
Soudan. but that was more due to the cart
ridges than the bresch action, and with a
bolt action the jamming would have
been much worse. II WAS not till 1879
they heard doubts expressed about the su.
periority Of the Martini Henry. At ranges
under 500 yards It was inferior to other
rifles; but above that distance IL was better
than most rival weapons.
Col. Arbnthn0t then gave some teoh nical
details respecting the Enfield officials expert
ments undertaken TO ascertain the best
average bore, 80 as TO secure a low trajec
tory, accurate shooting, and great range.
The new Enfield Martini ia to be of 0. 40 cali
bre, as against o A., the size OF the present
Martini. No change is TO be made In the
length of thu barrel, but the weapon with
the tayOnst fixed will weigh 10 pounds 4
ounces, as against 10 pounds. The breech
action remains unalter,d d, but there ia an ad.
dition in the shape of safety bolt to pre-
vent the trigger falling. There are also one
or two minor alterations. In appearance.
however, the rifle is much altered. for the
thick end Of the barrel, or nearly is inches,
is incased with wood, so IA to enable the
soldier to retain his grip when the rife be-.
comes heated In action. The fore end OF the
stock has been thinned away aud grooved
from underneath the rifle, TO prevent rain
lodging between the barrel and the stock.
To give a littleless straightness To the butt the
brs.c Gu block ia also attached at more acute
angle than formerly. The bayonst, in place
of being attached TO the side, is now to be
placed under the barrel to assist III keeping
IL down during the act of firing.
At last We are to have solid drawn
metallic cartridge case. II will contain IS
grains of powder aud bullet weighing 1854
grains. Furthermore, these cartridges. for
the first time in the service, are TO be uni
form shape and size, so that they can be
used for rifle, carbins, or machinsgnn. The
new rifle is sighted mp to 1000 yards. and
at that range has lower trajectory than an,
other weapon, the maximum elevation at
that range being but 300 feet. The rifle was
not a magazine gun. but had an altachable
apparatus called "quick loader" intended
to serve for that purpose. It was designed
to assist the men in loading In cold or wet
weather, or In the dark. By means of the
Quick loader six rounds could be fred In
twenty five seconds, Us by touching spring
the cartridges tnmblsd into the soldiers
fingers ready to be pushed into the breach.
The nsw bayonsts were next explained. aud
the more stringent tests adopted to detect
inferior weapons which had become nsc+s
sary from the exps' fence gained in the
SoudAn. No claim TO originality was made
for any of the improvements in the new
riffs