New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-09-20
EVOLUTION OF
MODERN RIFLE
Wonderful Collection of Arms
Owned by an Englishman
Shows Rapid Development.

The death, winch occurred recently
Of DR.. Mauser, the inventor of the IA
nous rife now used by the German in
fantry, has brought home to the public
how comparatively recent is the history
Of the modern gun.
IL. H. Harrod, who has collected fire.
arms for several years, has now IN
his possession a remarkable series OF
guns and pistols dating from 100 to
the present time. Il is believed to be
the most representative collection IN
this country, and numbers some 'oOO
D eces of all countries. He has shown
them TO representative OF The
Times" to whom he gave the follow
ing description:
"The earliest of these weapons Is
the French fintlock breech-loading
musket, which has a sliding barrel
locked back to the breech chamber by
conical screw. 1t is doubtful
whether this gun was ever adopted
by any government. 1t Is Interesting
as being an early example OF tn
breech loading arm. At this time all
the nations of the world had Just
adopted the fintlock, muzzle-loadlng
smooth-bore musket, which replaced
the matchbox, a type which had sur
yiyed from the invention OF portable
firearms. The fintlock musket held
its ground from about the beginning
of the 18th century until the accession
of Queen Victoria. At that time the
British army was armed W tn weapon
practically identical with that which
il had carried in the reign of Queen
Anne, the only difference being the
substitution of a steel ramrod for
wooden one, and the fact that one
regiment, the Rife Brigade, was armed
with a 1intlock rife which had been
adopted in 1900.
During the eighteent, century we
find various sporadic and mostly un-
successful attempts to produce sat
isfactory Aintlock breech loader. Or
these eight or nine are represented IN
ths collection. The best known and
probably the most successful was the
Ferguson rifle U77GJ, so called from
the name of its inventor, Major Fer
gusou. who led loyali-t levies in the
A. crican War Of independence and
fell at the battle of Kings Mountain
in 1880. This rife has a screw plug
lowered vertically by a half turn of
tn trigger guard Another type is the
VI talambert smooth bore musket, in
vented about the same time. This has
square breech block falling verti-
cally. A very beautiful gun formerly
in the Rotunda Museum at Woolwich
is a silver mounted hintlock breech
loading rifle by Ours Egg. This was
formerly the property Of the Prince
Regent, afterward George ". 1t has .
sliding barrel.
Early Rrcech Leaders.
1t was not until 1916 that any form
of breech loader was regularly adopt
ed BY any government, and in that year
the Hall fintlock breech loading rife
was adopted by the American govern
ment and issued to the troops in large
numbers. 1t has a lifting chamber
hinged at lis rear end. This arm was
afterward converted TO a percussion
lock, and as such did good service as
late as the American Civil War. In
1918 f. II. Collier. an American who
had not met with much encouragement
in his own country, took out an Eng
lish patent for "a hintlock revolving
arm, a specimen of which is in the col
lection. This is probably the first
practical solution of the revolving
principle, though we find matchbox re-
volvcrs of an earlier period. This arm
had a revolving breech piece which
was revolved by hand, and when in the
firing position the mouth Of the cham
Der closed over the breech end of the
barrel, so as to prevent any escape of
gas. There was an arrangement for
automatic printing.
In 1907 Alexander John Forsyth, an
Aberdeenshire clergyman, invented the
percussion system. At the outset this
was merely one in which the gun was
primed with decorating powder car
ried in a magazine attached to the gun
and dropped little by little into the
pan, where it was ignited by the blow
of a striker. More than one system
was patented on this principle, and |
two of them, that of Wesley Richards
in 1921 and Joseph Eggs in lG22 ara