“By means of the patent double-trigger the pistol can be held more firmly in the hand while being fired, and only one hand is required to raise the hammer and fire the pistol. A perfectly accurate and quicker aim can be taken, and the pistol discharged at the instant desired; the hammer can be raised again without lowering or removing the pistol from the object till the whole of the chambers are fired off. The chamber is held firmly opposite the front barrel before the hammer begins to fall, and also at the moment it is discharged; the chamber cannot be turned away from the front barrel by the hammer at the moment it is discharged. In cases of emergency the pistol can be fired with the greatest rapidity by pulling both triggers together. The exploded caps do not get into the works and render the pistol useless till removed. But little practice is required to enable a person to shoot with accuracy.

“The patent safety hammer spring always acts with the hammer and trigger; should anything accidentally lift the hammer, the safety-spring instantly falls under it and prevents it falling upon the cap, thereby preventing an accidental discharge. The safety-spring also facilitates the loading, by allowing the hammer to rest upon it while the chambers are being charged, and at the same time acting as a safety-spring during the operation of loading. The pistol can be carried with perfect safety when loaded, either in the pocket or holster, by allowing the hammer to rest upon the safety-spring.

“By means of the patent elongating socket, the chamber can be properly and readily adjusted to the frame of the pistol; and as the chamber with use becomes too free, and the strength of the shooting depreciated, the elongating socket enables it to be readjusted as perfectly as when first made—an important consideration with these arms.

“The patent loading lever enables the pistol to be loaded with greater facility, and fits the lubricating bullet to the chamber so exactly that the powder cannot fail to bend up the flange of the bullet and distribute the lubrication all over the inner surface of the chamber and barrel; it also fixes the bullet so firmly in its place in the chamber that it does not fall out with being carried in the pocket or holster, neither does it project forward with the firing of the pistol.

“The patent lubricating bullet, with the lubricating composition, effectually lubricates the inner surface of the chamber as far as the bullet enters, also the face of the chamber where it comes in contact with the front barrel, and the whole of the inner surface of the front barrel; thereby preventing any deposit of lead or powder that may deform the bullet, enabling the pistol to be loaded with the greatest ease after firing a number of shots, and facilitating the passage of the bullet through the front barrel. The accurate fitting of the bullet and the repellent properties of the lubrication completely protect the powder from exposure to wet or damp, and effectually prevent one chamber igniting the powder in the other while being fired. The pistol has been fired five hundred times in succession with the lubricating bullets without being cleaned or getting out of order, the last fifty shots being fired with as much accuracy as the first; the pistol could then be loaded and fired with the greatest facility, there being no deposit which interfered either with the loading or firing.

“W. Tranter has taken out another patent for improvements in fire-arms, and having combined with those improvements some of the improvements comprised in his former patents, recommends the above as possessing every requisite for a double-action cocking revolver.”

These revolvers will be found to possess the following advantages:—

“The pistol can be used with one hand, and fired with the greatest rapidity and facility by pulling the trigger with the fore finger only.

“The hammer can be raised and the pistol fired as an ordinary fowling-piece.

“The spring lock for locking the chambers enables the pistol to be carried safely, and can be released when required by the thumb of the right hand.

“The lock of the pistol is simple, and not liable to derangement. It can be easily taken to pieces when required, and as easily put together again.

“The patent elongating socket is combined with this revolver in the same manner as with the patent double-trigger revolver, and with the same advantages.

Webley’s patent revolving pistol is an improvement upon Colt’s best pistol, the cylinder rotating by the cocking of the lock. The advantages obtained are, an exceedingly simple construction in the rotating movement, enabling the patentee to manufacture them at a lower price than any of the preceding makers, and thus to produce, what is a great desideratum, a good and reasonable priced pistol.

The difficulty which Commanding Officers have to contend with in war is in restraining their men from firing too rapidly, using two shots where one would suffice; but the process of loading inculcates care of it, takes considerable trouble, and hence men husband their fire the more.

The two different principles of revolvers illustrate this. The self-acting one is apt to be fired more than once; a man in a state of excitement may pull twice before he pauses, and two shots are expended where one would have sufficed. The cocking-lock pistol, in addition to the less pull required in firing, gives time for observation, as the necessity for cocking every time creates a pause, and is an admonition to coolness: this is often very advantageous in shooting game, in which, as in the more serious affair of shooting men, deliberate coolness is required.

Therefore, excepting only the chance—the very remote chance, that may arise, requiring you to fire six shots as rapidly as possible—so rapidly that the cocking pistol would be too slow, I would myself prefer the cocking pistol; from the fact of being able to take much better aim with it, and there being less chance of missing, through the heavy pull necessary to raise the cock and fire the pistol on the self-acting principle. The almost general adoption, in the present day, of the cocking-lock, and its application in both Adams’s and Tranter’s self-acting principles, is proof of the general bias towards the same opinion.

The tendency of all revolving pistols, and of course revolving rifles also, to foul in the barrel after a few shots, is a very serious drawback to their efficiency in use. The following quotation from Lieutenant Symons’ work is one opinion which I select from a number in my possession:—

“Revolving pistols only ought now-a-days, in my opinion, to be made breech-loading; and of these the pistol of Colonel Colt is a very good specimen. I can generally hit a target the size of a man with this pistol at a distance of 150 yards when clean, i. e., with the first shot; and I on one occasion put five out of the six shots into the target successively. When foul, however, the bullets will not fly steadily and on their points. I one day, for the purpose of experiment, fired 60 rounds without cleaning, at planks placed a few yards off only, when latterly the bullets, instead of cutting the circular holes they had been doing, commenced to make marks in the planks as if nails an inch long had struck them sideways. On taking off the barrel to ascertain the cause, I found that it was nearly choked up with lead. The barrel of this pistol rapidly fouls, though the chambers do not.”

It also furnishes a complete answer to the absurd proposition of imparting spiral motion to a bullet, by means of an increasing spiral, after it is put into high velocity. The fouling of the barrel by lead to an extent (as I have seen) of a considerable portion of the bore, is absolute proof that the bullet does not follow the course of the grooving: in its passage through the directing barrel it passes straight out, with the velocity imparted to it in the chamber.

The experience of this fact induced Mr. Tranter to invent his lubricating bullet, the only form of pistol with which many shots can be fired without cleaning. There are, in reality, many defects to be overcome (though it is very doubtful whether they will ever be) before revolvers can in any degree be relied upon for constant operations. I know for a fact that at this moment Government have in store many thousands, disabled for all useful purposes, though by the most trivial circumstances; fouling with lead being one of the most prominent defects, or some trifling disarrangement of the rotating machinery, such as it might be supposed could be repaired: but they are returned to store as hopeless, in the usual course, and thus their fate is sealed as a military weapon.

The double-barrelled under-and-over pistol was entirely discarded for the new toy; but hopes are entertained that the former will soon be restored to the lost preference of all who value their own safety, and would rather depend on two certainly destructive shots than six uncertain ones. For my own personal use in any scene of combat, my reliance would be on a pair of double-barrelled pistols; or what is of more use still, on double carbines. The Emperor of the French, however, is arming his sailors with revolving pistols; and lately, in India, a squadron of Dragoons used the revolver with deadly effect on a body of rebel Sepoys.

CHAPTER XI.
ENFIELD MACHINE-MADE RIFLES.

Enfield, the seat of the Government manufacture of small arms, will become a celebrated place in future history; its productions being now one of the wonders of the present age. The term “Enfield Rifle” does not denote any one improvement, but a series of improvements; Enfield being merely the name of the place where the manufactory is situated.

The Enfield rifle differs from the original rifled musket (better known as the Minié musket) in the fact of the bore having been reduced to ·577, and the weight of the arm to 9 lbs. The regulation Minié musket was 10 lbs. 8³⁄₄ oz. in weight, so that a saving of 1¹⁄₂ lbs. has been effected by the adoption of the present gun. The size of the bore was ·702, and the weight of the bullet 680 grains, whilst the present regulation musket is only ·577 bore, the bullet being 520 grains in weight.

The model arms ordered by Lord Hardinge, the Commander-in-Chief, in 1852, of Messrs. Greener, Purday, Richards, Lancaster, and Wilkinson, formed the base from which the Enfield was constructed. The “Sight” was Westley Richards’ invention. The Expanding Bands for securing the stock and barrels (without which a machine-made musket would always be an uncertainty) are an invention of mine; several other points were also adopted on my recommendation: as, for instance, the furniture being case-hardened, as in the rifle-corps gun, and the fastenings of the bayonet. These points, however, being merely suggested improvements, and not, strictly speaking, inventions, conferred no benefit on me beyond the compliment involved in their adoption.

It is well known that, but for my evidence before a committee of the House of Commons in 1848, the swivel-lock would not have been so soon adopted as it was. Thus it is evident that much of the outer form, as well as the principle, of the present arm is due to my exertions. Much surprise was shown by the Select Committee in 1852 that I did not give in for trial some improvement upon my own principle (which, by the by, they had not at that time admitted); but prudence taught me otherwise: to have done so would have affected the soundness of my claims.

About the year 1851 it was determined to adopt some portion of the American system of manufacturing guns by the aid of machinery. A commission was appointed and sent out to the United States in order to inspect the operations of their mechanism, and to ascertain the advisability of adopting the whole, or a portion, of their machinery in England. To the selection of the members of that commission, and to their judgment, may be ascribed whatever is ill or good in the system; the majority being military men connected with military matters, and the others machinists, the bias was no doubt in favour of machinery. The Enfield manufactory, at its starting, was intended to be a moderate affair, I believe; but now it has expanded into such gigantic proportions that, if it continues in action, the manufacture of military arms must partially cease to be the trade of Birmingham: for all large establishments of machinery must be employed, to protect them from decay; and whatever may be the cost of production, machinery must go on, or be entirely given up.

The extent of the Enfield manufactory may be estimated from the fact that it now produces weekly 1,100 stand of arms complete, and employs men and boys to the number of 1,300. At this rate of production, a very few years will suffice to place such a stock of arms at the command of the Government as will render the employment of foreign artisans unnecessary. Enfield machine-made arms are undoubtedly specimens of the highest class of that description; but whether they will be found as durable as hand-made arms I very much doubt: time alone can decide this.

CHAPTER XII.
THE HARPOON GUN.

Whale shooting has now become a great fact; no other means being used to capture this monster of the deep but the harpoon gun, when it is possible to obtain it. Although little doubt remains but that whales, like “grouse,” are becoming scarce, and that in a short time they will become almost extinct, yet their great value when captured will always stimulate hardy and daring seamen to pursue them even into their remotest haunts. The following cut represents the boat and gun now in use.

Experience has proved the value of this invention; and every ship that goes to the fishing has now a full complement of six harpoon guns. Nine-tenths of the fish got within the last few years have been shot. From a calculation I made after the conclusion of a late season, the result must have been very satisfactory and profitable to the owners of the ships, and also to the gun-makers. I have every reason to know that the amount of money realised by these harpoon guns amounted to little short of 100,000l.; and this from guns of my manufacture alone: for I, like most inventors, have competitors, who manufacture upon my model and at less than my price.

Harpoon guns are similar to small swivel guns; they are of 1¹⁄₂ inch bore and 3 feet long in the barrel, which when stocked and complete weighs 75 lbs. The construction of the lock is very simple, being upon the principle of a saddle pistol lock; the caps, the nipples, and lock, are completely and effectually covered, and protected from damp, or spray from the sea. The lock is also securely bolted until the moment it is wanted; when by the removal of a pin, the trigger string is pulled, which fires the gun. The harpoon is projected with considerable accuracy to any distance under eighty-four yards; that being the greatest range ever obtained with this description of gun. The charge is very small to project 40 lbs. weight; for the harpoon itself is 10¹⁄₂ lbs., with an increasing weight of three-inch line from the gun to the extreme range, in all weighing full 40 lbs. This immense improvement is the result of calculations, deduced from the nature of gunpowder. The charge is short of an ounce of powder; but is, or ought to be, good powder, of the largest grain; fine powder will not do it, but, on the contrary, would jump up the end of the harpoon, or bend it, so that it would be of no further use until repaired.

CHAPTER XIII.
ON SHOT, CAPS, AND WADDING.

Patent shot being still produced as at the time of publishing previous editions of my works, I have no important improvement to record.

The manufacture is very simple: the lead is first tempered by the aid of arsenic, in the proportions required by the slag (a technical term) for the kind used; some lead taking more and some less. The melted metal is then poured into a perforated pan placed over the mouth of the pit, or tower (whichever may be in use.) Messrs. Walkers, Parkers, and Co. have towers in their various factories where they make shot; the cut represents the one in Newcastle. Messrs. Locke, Blackett, and Co. cast down the shaft of a pit, and by this means obtain a greater fall. The fluid metal takes a globular shape in falling, and the concentric motion of each particle round its axis keeps it in this form until its passage through the air has extracted the heat, and before it reaches the body of water placed to receive it. The only difficulty is in casting very large sizes; for if the distance the drops fall be not sufficiently great, and they reach the water in a semi-fluid state, the resistance of the water misshapes them. About three different sizes come out through one pan. These are separated by the aid of riddles, or tabled, as the process is termed. A quantity of the shot is placed on a slight incline, when those that do not run off are rejected. The whole are then polished in a machine termed a drum, with a mixture of black lead. This gives to the shot that beautiful polish which captivates the eye, but which injures the shooting of the gun, as the black lead adheres to the interior of the tube. All shot should be used unpolished; and the addition of hardness is unquestionably another advantage. Slag-lead is lighter than other lead, but it is much harder, and thus more suitable for shot. I regret the disuse of shot made with quicksilver, as it is unquestionably much superior, though more costly. A considerable improvement is yet to be introduced in the manipulation of shot-making; and I shall commence a round of experiments with that object at the earliest opportunity.

Copper caps are now a misnomer: very few are to be met with. Brass caps boiled to the colour of copper are the rule, the former the exception. Good caps are made in Birmingham, if a remunerative price is paid for them; and I have the pleasure to name several makers: Messrs. E. and A. Ludlow, Messrs. Pursall and Philips, and Mr. Cox. It must be borne in mind that cheapness means inferiority: every article is made according to price.

The mixture of fulminating mercury composition is:

The above is one of the best compounds in use.

Is the best mixture where the corrosive principle is not heeded.

Messrs. Eley, Brothers, were the first manufacturers who turned their attention to making waterproof copper caps for sporting purposes, commencing it in 1837. The principle is simple, the excellence mainly consisting in the quality of the ingredients used, and their being thoroughly secured from the effects of moisture. They are so constituted that the largest portion of the percussion powder and the weakest part of the waterproof covering which lines the inner surface of the cap, are immediately over the surface of the nipple; consequently, when the blow ignites the percussion powder, the larger portion of the explosion is forced down the nipple, and is of such intensity of heat (especially in platina-lined nipples) that it will ignite the gunpowder some distance up the barrel: in an eprouvette it will do so at four or five inches from the nipple. A miss-fire thus very seldom occurs, as the heat is sure to penetrate to the charge, even when a gun has become foul after a long day’s shooting and the powder cannot pass freely through the chambers to the nipples. It is well known that caps which do not possess these igniting qualities may be fired through gunpowder, and frequently fail to ignite it, from the want of proper attention to the constitution of the fulminate and its mixture. In all cheaply manufactured caps this inferiority is sure to prevail, and the manifold advantages to be derived from the sterling quality of all sporting adjuncts is now fully appreciated by sportsmen generally. “Penny wise and pound foolish” is a proverb more borne in mind than formerly, and the conviction is now general that a good gun only proves to be so when proper attention is paid to the loading in every particular.

Good wadding is as essential as good gunpowder: a perfect separation must be maintained between the exploded powder and the shot, or no result can be depended upon; cheap wadding, therefore, according to the above adage, is out of favour.

Cartridges of wire, or “universal,” are now so well known as to need no treatise to point out their advantages. A more striking example of the progress of knowledge in properly estimating the value of high-class manufactures cannot be adduced than in the case of Eley, Brothers, who have by unwearied industry in the production of sporting ammunition of the first quality, nearly obtained a monopoly in that department of gunnery.

I can safely refer to the Manufacturers to be found in the advertising list as able to supply the sportsman with all requisites, from a gun “to a turnscrew,” and on such terms as will be found to be advantageous to the purchaser.

FINIS.

London:
Printed by Smith, Elder and Co.
Little Green Arbour Court.