The National tribune., 1898-07-14

'That. is the story in brief of the i'm
provements in locks and means of firing il
the 500 years that firearms have been in use
The other great Improvements have beer
made III ramrods, bullets and barrels. Fo
several hundred years wooden ramrods were
used. One hundred and twenty-five year:
| ago Leopold OF Dessau. Frederick the Great:
| right-haId man, invented iron ones. and they
helped gallant little Prussia to whip the rest
of Europe.
Our forefathers found out the value oil
rifiing the barrels TO improve the range and
| accuracy of the fire. Their rifles told with
terrible effect in the contest with the French
and British. Ever since the beginning OF
this century military men of Europe have
been trying to make the rife suitable for
army use The trouble was that it was too
Slow and too hard TO load.
The American rifieman carried his pOw-
der III horn, and filed from it little
charger, winch he poured into his rifle lie
then took a bullet and piece of fine creased
linen or buckskin from his pouch, and, put
ting the patch over the muZzlc, laid the bull
iet-nicked side dOwn-upon it, pressed it
down carefully until level with the muzzle,
cut off the edges Of the patch smoothly with
his knife, and then forced the bullet home
with the rammer.
Expert sharpshooters frequently used n
false mnZzle in loading through which they
forced the bullet by blows of n mallet in
order to swage it into fitting exactly into the
grooves in the barrel This took good deal
OF time and care which could not be given it
by common soldier
The first attempt was a sharp spike put
in the bottom CT the gun-barrel Balls were
pushed upon this, and the end of the ramrod
was then hammered with small mallet
| until the spike spread the ball out so that
1T Tiled the rifles The mallet was found to
be ineonvenient, and then the ramrod was
made heavy enough to do the work by itself
The whole affair was clumsy and awkward
:" About Is years ago Maj. MIME brought
out this Improvement. His idea is to hollow
out the base of the bullet until the edges are
quite thin. The powder fills the cavity, and
when fired presses out the soft metal until
IT fits tightly into the rifles OF the barrel.
These give it a peculiar whirl. upon which
the greater accuracy of the riAe-bullet de-
| ponds; and as the fianges allow none of the
force OF the powder to escape, the range of
| the shot Is very much greater than that of
| the common smoothbore musket.
The French army tried the bullet in the
lCrlmea, and did wonders with it, Many
! shots took effect ut distance of mile. and
almost any man could be trained to easily
| pick off Russians at a third or quarter of q
mile. You know we struck the rebs pretty
close to the mark Railways, and sometimes
pretty nearly across the river, which is fully
a mile wide here. And now, ladies and gen
tlemen," said Bronson, initiating the pro-
| fcssional lecturer, ''let me in conclusion
thank you for your courtesy and the patient
attention with which you have listened to
my extended efforts"
9 move that the thanks of this meeting
be extended TO Mr.. Bronson for his very able
and entertaining address on the Develop
ment OF Firearms, said Walter and they
all gave an enthusiastic aye.