The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1900-02-15
is A DEADLY RIFLE.
THE ONE THAT ENGLAND IS
NOW USING.
Holds Ten Lives Within Its Long
MaGazIne-Simple and Most Effective
Piece of Neutrality-suspicious. Firearms
Brought to Perfection. "

The rifle in use by the British forces
is a ~marvelously effective weapon. It
is the Lee-Metford and has been in use.
Tor the past foul years, replacing the
old Martini-Henry rifles. The Lee-Met-
ford, which for rapidity of fire is prac-
tlcaily a ten-chamber revolver rifle,
consists of three principal parts: The
stock, which is of the best Italian wal
nut, and is subdivided into the butt and
fore end; the barrel and the lock. or
these the woodwork is, of course. the
simplest of construction. BY a most
ingenious arrangement of the lathe the
entire butt is cut out of an oblong
piece of wood with amazing rapidly.
while the fore end is formed with equal
rapidity, the whole of the "joinery need
ing only a brisk sandpapering and pol
ishing in order to fit it for service.
The construction of the barrel is ON
siderably more complicated. The Lee
Metford barrel is made from a solid
steel bar of a circular section. The
bar is, in the first place, considerably
shorter n thicker than the shape it
Will finally assume, the necessary elon-
cation being effected by bringing it to
a white heat and passing it over a
steam anvil, where in a few minutes it
is rolled and hammered into the re-
qu1red length. In this way the clumsy
looking block of mild steel measuring
z feet by 1R inches) is speedily con-
verified into an unbored rifle barrel
nearly four feet in length and termi-
mating in a thickened end, measuring
about one-tenth of its entire length.
Next follows the process of boring out
the barrel, an operation requiring no
little skill on the part Of the workman.
The boring is conducted by means of
a pair of drills, working from either
end and meeting in the middle. They
are kept cool by means of a stream of
soap and water, which is forced into
the barrel by hydraulic pressure. AS
soon as the barrel is rough-bored it is
polished ready to receive the rifing.
The accuracy expected of the driller
n pclisher will be best appreciated
from a description of the test employed
to check his workmanship. The bar
rel is placed in a vertical position and
It's lower end made alright. A close
lifting gauge is then inserted at the
7 top of the bore, when, if the bore is
automatically correct, the gauge
should not only be supported by the
air within the bore, but, upon the re-
moval of the seal from the base of the
barrel, should drop easily through the
g. same, from top to bottom, without
wedging. Before the barrel goes to the
"rlfier" it is inclosed in a strongly pro-
tected firing cell. Here 1T is repeatedly
proved, with the aid of charges many
times heavier than it will actually be
required to carry in battle-a test
which is again repeated after the proc
ess of rifing. The process of rifing
a barrel is that by wi are cut the
spiral grooves, which run inside the
bore from breech to muzzle, and are
designed for the purpose of causing
the projectile to rapidly rotate, gimlet
fashion, in it's flight. For the benefit
of the uninitiated it may be explained
that this twist not only enables the
bullet to cut it's way further into it's
billet, but also gives it a much longer
and more accurate flight. The grooves
thus cut are seven in number, but the
process by which they are produced is
too technical for the unprofessional
reader. After polishing and brown
ing (the latter in order that no tell
tale CLINT of steel may betray the
marksman to his enemy, the barrel is
ready for attachment to the body"
bolt" and magazine The body"
is that part of the rife which holds to-
gether it's component parts, the bolt"
is a small edition, of the common or
front-door bolt of our w houses, and,
in addition to extracting the spent
cartridge, contains the Striker" by
which the cartridge is exploded. Most
important of all, however, is the mag
azine." To draw a familiar smile, the
main idea of the magazine mechanism
is an extension of the principle of the
metal coin purse. You put your ten
cartridges in, n by one, upon a spe-
cies of spring platform, which will al
ways hold the last cartridge ready to
hand. The chief difference is that,
whereas in the coin purse the coins are
withdrawn by hand, the Lee-Metford
magazine is emptied automatically. 1t,
is provided with an ingenious mechan-
ism which causes it to ~disgorge it's con-
tents, one by one, into the breech of
the rifle as soon as the preceding car
fridge case has been elected by the
action of firing. The magazine is fur
Their fitted with a "cut-off," by means.
of which the rifle can be fired and re-