Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-11-03

| tends to lift the mouth of the barrel, YOU
are Obliged to aim considerably below the
mark Unless your grip Is tight this hit
Ing Is sure to take place. with the
browning pistol, on the contrary" say the
Belgians. the recoil first acts on the eject
ing mechanism and affects the barrel only
the instant after the ball has Quilted IT
There Is no necessity to aim low and the
sighting OF our pistol is on the exact level
of the mark. An examination of one OF
the best makes of revolvers showed that
at distance of thirty feet 1t was sighted
to point fifteen inches below the mark.
Another influence unfavorable to the accu-
racy of the revolver is the fact that the
ball must pass from the revolving chamber
to the barrel, the axes of which coincide
exactly. In all these automatic pistols the
ball is shot from the barrel itself as IN
the case of a rifle This prevents the loss
OF gas so obvious in the revolver that You
may burn your hand by holding 1t above
the chamber"
This Belgian arm resembles outwardlv
the first Mauser automatic pistol in its fiat
chunkmess-like some curious machine or
tool rather than a familiar revolver-ex-
'ept that 1t is more trim and compact con-
'enient and much smaller. Instead of put
ing the cartridges into the pistol itself Won
load a. fiat metal case that holds seven
You may have any number of such cases al
ready loaded as their cost is insignificant.
Load the case, slide il into a hole in Tho
bottom of the pistols handle, push it up as
far as it will go, snap the catch at the bot
tom OF the handle and 1t is ready to fire.
You nave nothing but to pull the trigger
lightly seven times.
The recoil Of the first discharge shoots
out the empty shell from hole in the side
of the pistol just above your hand, thrusts
a new cartridge into the chamber ana
cocks the weapon for the next shot. When
the last of the seven shots Is fired You
have only to pull out the empty case and
shove in a full one-if you have it. IL
makes quick loading-as long as you have
filled cases. as quick, perhaps. as the
mitrailleuse. If you are obliged to fill a
single case each time, 1 imagine it is no
quicker than the charging of modern
should one not have several ready-filed
cases? There could be no more convenient
way of carrying your cartridges.
Liquefied Gas Pistol.
P. Giffard, an ingenious Frenchman, has
invented a pistol that makes no noise that
carries a magazine capable of projecting
300 shots and that consumes no powder,
smokeless or other, and consequently makes
no smoke. 1t is operated not by COM
pressed air, but by liquefied gas, and. by
the fact, to be of such force to fire man
killing bullets far out of the range of any
known revolver.
This pistol. which appears to be the
height of up-todateness, NJ. Gffard has
baptized ballista, in honor of the stone
throwing machines of the ancient Romans.
The liquefied gas of Giffard's ballista
means the suppression of powder and full
mnate-that is to say, the dirtying of the
arm and its consequent inaccuracy. 1t
also means a slavery to a certain patent
cartridge tube
The ballista is made both in carbine and
dueling pistol form, and its cartridge
tube" is, in each case, about the thickness
and one-third the length of the barrel.
Filled with liquefied-compressed Car
bonic acid held in by its own pressure,
just soda water is held in one of those
bottles with a glass ball in the neck, 1t
1a hoy 1nl aa1y nr11
without danger of explosion. The tube is
of automatically pressed steel, tested 10 a
pressure of $50 atmoSDhereS-three times
the interior pressure of the liquefied gas.
Two tubes are given with each carbine or
pistol, and new charged ones are exchanged
fo- them at % cents apiece. AS each tube
contains gas for 300 shots, this makes the
cheapest shooting yet.
How 1t Works.
To put the baliista in condition for shoot
ing it is necessary only to screw on the
Cartridge tube" The hammer Of the arm
Is seen to strike at the same time on the
valve of the gas tube and the head Of a
screw. 1t is the position Of this screw that
determines the amount Of gas to be let out
for each charge. The charge for distance
of $50 feet, for example, may be measured
by the thickness of French 2-cent copper
coin. With the hammer down you turn in
the screw until there is just room between
it and the hammer for the 2-cent piece to
stand upright. In this way the carbine or
pistol may be set either to put into the
hands Of a seven-year-old boy for backyard
practice or to be used in the killing of big
game. it is said, and there appears to be
no reason to doubt the statement.
The charge being determined, there is
nothing but to turn lever which opens
hole in the top of the barrel just above the
chamber, drop in a single bullet, close the
hole by turning back the lever, cock the
weapon and pull the trigger. The descend
ing hammer that opens the valve of the gas
tube can only open the valve to the extent
that the screw permits it. You can al.
ways calculate the amount Of gas remain
ing in the tube by weighing it. When the
tube is empty you learn the fact readily.
The weapon ceases to shoot.
After viewing with delight and astonish-
ment these new things in the pistol line
started out on little commission of in
quiry Of my own to learn if they were
bound to take the place Of the revolver In
the palatial shooting gallery of Gastine-
Renette to which every Partisan who has
a duel on runs for advice and practice,
asked the momentous question 1t was the
great man himself who answered me.
Taking UP a beautiful revolver from the
table, he remarked: This is the one that
we are using STILL 1t had a familiar look
1t was marked ~. 8. A" 1 had my an
swer. STERLING HElLlG.