Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1888-03-08
AMERICAN FIREARMS.
The Manufacture of Breecn-
Loading Rifles.

foreign legations in Washington have attach.
/ ed alert military or naval officers, or both
whose business 1t is to note and report to their
respective governments inventions aud i'm
| proponents In ordnance and ordnance stores,
SAYS IA Chicago IimeS special These foreign
officers visit our many yards and inspect the
big guns aud projectiles and targets. When
the signal service experiments with an inn
! proved heliOgraph, or portable tower, or field
! telegraph train, or other appliance for increas-
ing or lettering facilities for communication,
when ordinary means are lmpractcable, or UNI
desirable there is also TO be found the foreign
Military attache lie visits the national small
arms armory at Springfield, and the cartridge
manufacturing arsenal at F-ankford. He
taxes notes in the patent office ava keeps pace
with all modern Yankee inventions and I'm.
provemcnts In the matter of rifles, carbines
aud reyolvers From the Zalinsly dynamite
gun to the movable base Moose cartridge for
small arms, now under trial in the United
States army, lie Is on deck every time. IL III
not surprising, therefore, that American liz
yent!Ons are known and adopted or stolen by
! foreign powers In no one respect have VIZ
made more notable progress than in the mat
! ter of improvement in our breech-loadng
rifles. In 1861, the United States government
bought In Europe about 100000 rifles ard
| ChTDlntS, DeslueS nome OTuefS LOT over u I1lls
| Ion stand of small arms. In contrast with
this immense importation, the following data
Of American inventions becomes interesting.
THE LEE MAGAZINE BOLT GUN
was patented in 1879. 1t can be used as a sim
| gle loader or as a repeater. 1t claims to
Dbviate all the objections urged against the
tubular magazine rifle. Two or more maya
zines are furnished with each rifle and are
detachable Each magazines carried five car
! tridges and may be carried, charged, either
/ Ia ha Dir Iyxv In Of Of Ia
soldier. IL requires but five seconds TO charge
a magazine with fresh cartridges. From twenty
/ five to thirty shots can be fired from this gun
/ In forty seconds. Mr.. Borchardt has fired
! ten shots from the Lee in l2l4 seconds, using
I two filled magazines The inventor has fired
! hfty shots in sixty seconds. The gun weighs
when fully loaded nine pounds. The balance
/ OK the gun Is not changed when 1t Is Tired;
! thus the relative weight which one extremity
/ of the arm bears to tue other remains always
the same. This gun was stolen bv Austria
and renamed the Manlicher The plagiarzed
Lee was adopted by Austria, Austria
! hungary, and Belgium; also bY Mexico
! Denmark adopted the mechanism OF the Lee
magazine gun with smaller Gathered barrel.
The Remington rifle is another wcll-known
! American invention. IL has received i'm.
proyemcnts in this country, ami Is known
sometimes as the q. II. Remington, Hepburn
Remington, Remngton-k eene, etc. This arm
can be used either as single loader or as a
repeater The magazine is carried under the
barrel, thereby enabling it TO carry the great
est number possible of cartridges within a
given weight and length of barrel. The Rem
inglon-Lee carries ten cartridges The q. Il.
/ Remington is trippe-barreled rifle. The
magazine Remington Is ALWAYS left at half
cock. IL can be brought to the full cock read
ly and quickly while the arm is being car.
ricd TO the shoulder aud without removing
the fingers from the trigger In this last re-
spect it differs from other magazine guns,
which can only be cooked by removing the
hand from the trigger IL weighs, fully load
ed, 0$4 pounds. Mr. Whipple has fred ten
shots IN seventeen seconds.
Mr. Rcmington's gun has been adopted BY
/ Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Argentine
Republic, China, Egypt, Colombia, and Mad
Rgascar. In 1913, a MIR Mauser made, under
the patronage of Mr. Remington, at llOn, n.
Y, a rifle to which the name "Mausern was
given. After the model was completed IL was
adopted by Germany The Turkish govern
Inent has recently contracted with German
armores for the manufacture of 550,OJJ Maui
Ser repeating rifles and necessary ammunition.
American manufacturers lose $lj,OOj,OD0 by
this award. Mr. Remington disposed of his
interest in the Mauser for $500. The capacity
Of the Remington armOry is ample for the pro
duction Of one thousand military firearms pes
day, besides sporting arms ammunition, sew
! ing-maChineS, etc IL, with all its franchises,
10 To be sold at public auction, purs uant TO an
order OF the supreme court of the state OF
New York, on the LIST proXimO.
The Evans magazine rifle is an American
! invention, the general principal of which is
similar to that of the welknown Spencer and
Meigs repeater, also American arms. Used
rs magazine gun, IL Is fed by the manipula-
ton Of a 1uted cylinder in the butt-stock.
! The rifle holds thirty.eight small cartridges,
I'm magazine running the length of the butt
stock, forming I'm itself the small of the stock
/ The motion of the lever cocks the hammer
which Is concealed. AS the cartridges in the
magazine are in separate cells and can not by
any possibility come In contact with each
other, the premature discharge OF any cart
ridge Is impossible The barrel is % inches
long; weight, loaded, % pounds. The Evans
can be loaded in half a minute, and twenty
eight shots fired in from fifteen to twenty
seconds 1t has been adopted by Russia for
/ use In her navy.
The Peabody is "A fragrant instance OF the
practice of foreigners in utilizing American
inventions without due credit and proper
recompense. A Swiss named Martini derived
his breech loading system from Peabody, and
Mr.. Henry, of Scotland, united his rined bar
rel with it. Hence what is called the Martini.
Henry rifle of Great Britain. The Peabody
rifle was adopted by the English arms com
mission alter a long series of experiments
with different kinds of ri1iug. 1t was adopt
ed by the Turkish government after long and
exhaustive trials in competition with all the
prominent breech-loading rifles of the world.
1t endured the test of actual experience in
| war between Russia and Turkey. In Turkey
1t is called the Peabody Martini rifle. The
Providence Tool company made 100000 of
cheese rifles for the imperial Ottoman govern
ment The handspring OF the Peabody
breech loader is a coil. There are seven
grooves Of peculiar shape, with sharp twist,
! ono turn in twenty inches IL is not n re-
peater. 1t is used in England, Afghanistan,
Turkey, and India.
The Burton, Ward Burton, or Burton Lee
magazine rifle is the invention Of Americans.
! The magazine Is on the side of the rifle or in
the tube below the barrel, as i'm the Wnches-
ter The magazine holds eight cartridges,
and the rifle has the advantage Of what is
known rs the closed bolt action. England has
| taken this system up
Mr.. d. b. Hotchkiss, an American, exhibit
| ed at the centennial at Philadelphia the maga-
zine gun bearing his name. In 1888 he made
many changes and Improvements in the arm.
The magazine carries five cartridges The
| weapon is provided with cut off TO enable the
gun to be used as n single-loadcr, at will OF
the soldier. 1t weighs, loaded, 92I pounds.
MIR. Albce has fired ten shots in fifteen seconds.
| Twenty-three shots has been fired from the
| HotchIss I'm one minute. This test was IN
the presence of n board OF officers of the Unit
ed States army, Maj. Gen. Terry being presi-
dent Of the board. The Chaffee-Reece gun
i was tested at the same time with equally
| pOOd results. Both these reDpatinV rifles