Year: 1862

!


ball, known in our service under the


name of the Harper's Ferry ball.


Such is the history of what is called


the Mimic rifle, although the peculiarity


is in the ball rather than the rife. And


we will be so bold as to assert, not only
that it is the best fre-arln that has ever


been put into the hands Of troops, but


also, that il has reached the limit Of pos.


siblc Improvement in its principal fes.


lures And we SUPPORT this assertion by


the following considerations.


First as to its range. At 1900 yards


twice the point-blank range of field ar


tillery), it sends ball with sufficient


force to penetrate through two pannels OF


poplar wood two thirds of an inch thick,


and indeed third the pannels being


placed 20 inches from each other. 1t is


said, that at 1900 yards, it may send a


ball through a soldier and his knapsack,
and kill the man behind him. This may
surely be called very respectable range
and force of impulsion. An increase in
these particulars would be of no practi.
cal advantage in small arms, because it
becomes impossible to judge of their
effects. beyond 1000 yards, and even inside
of that. With artillery it is different.
Cannon balls, when they strike the
ground, throw mp cloud of dust or
earth which is visible at very great dis
tances thus affording the means of recti
flying the aim. Cannon may, in this way,
be considered as an instrument for meas
uring distances; and well trained artillery
men never require more than two or three
trial shots in order to get the range, that
is to say, the degree of elevation to be
given to the piece in order to hit the
object. But with small arms, men might
fire whole day at mark Judged by the
eye to be distant 1900 yards, but which
in reality was 16 or 100; and their balls
would all fall short without their being
able to perceive it. Greater range would
therefore be useless. ......


I'd. AS to accuracy. This is as perfect
as the nature of things can allow. The
+" Righteousness of matter" as Bacon
terms it, must forever prevent man from
drawing a perfectly straight line and from
forming any solid of which the sides shall
be perfect mathematical surfaces. But,
practically speaking, the Mimic rifle may
be said to be nearer perfection than any
other previously invented because the
causes of deviation are less. And here,
we will endeavor to correct misconcep-
ton which has been formed by some per-
sons accustomed to the use of firearms of
a certain description. A person used to
handle rifles or pistols of superior make,
with very delicate hair-trigger-locks and
fine sights, may, by practice, attain a
wonderful skillin the use of these weapons
within certain limits. If you place in his
hands service Mimic rifle made very
differently, and for very different pur-
poses, he will generally be unable to shoot
it with any great accuracy, and the re-
suits of his firing with il will be far
inferior to his ordinary practice with the
other weapons. Hence he will very often
denounce the Mimic rifle, and all such
arms as altogether wanting in accuracy.
But let us examine into the case In
the first place, those delicately made
weapons which seem so superior in accu.
racy never could withstand the wear and
tear of the service; besides which, their
cost is too great. But suppose these OBJ
jections removed. In what does the su.
periority consist? At fifty yards and
under, perhaps up to hundred yards,
very good marksman, by placing his
piece in the more careful manner, gener-
ally at dead rest, aiming as leisurely as
he thinks proper, and firing usually not
more than once in FIVE minutes, may
strike half.dollar tolerably often He
takes Mimic rifle and finds that he can
not do this, because the sights are coarser,
and the lock is not so delicate. But then
the object of weapons of war is not to
perform such feats. The marks to be hit
in active service are never 50 small, and
the circumstances in which men fire are,
generally, very different. 1t will be found
that the Mimic rifle, at one hundred yards
and under, will strike a man Just as GER
tainly as any other weapon, then go on a
little further; that fine rifle which could
strike half-dollar every shot at 80 yards,
is hardly able TO send its balls 200 yards;
at 800 yards it is as efficient as pop gun.
Its extreme range is not great enough to
be fair, practising distance for the Mimic.


Then it will be said, that at four or five
hundred yards, not to speak of 800 or
1000, it is extremely difficult to hit
man even with the Mimic. Granted.--
But where is the fault? In the human
eye itself, to which man six feet high
reduces at such distance to mere
speck. In the unsteadiness Of human
nerves and muscles, which makes it i'm
possible to keep the sights of the finest
weapon over made, bearing upon this
mere speck for over fraction of second.
These are faults which no skill can over
come When we speak of an arm of
such range as the Mimic, the accuracy
which we must expect is not one Of frac-
tions OF inches. 1t is comparable to the
accuracy of cannon. The objects to be
hit area not single men. but groups or
bodies Of men. With the Mimic, half a
company of men, or tho group standing
around field piece, may be struck every
fire at 6 or 500 yards. We have now
before US the record of an experiment
made at the Springfield armory in 1855,