Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/347

RIFLE 331 clamped so that its bore and that of the barrel were coincident, and it made the chamber. To load the piece, the front end of the chamber Fio. 8. Hall's Rifle. was thrown up by a trigger under the stock. The cartridge was then inserted, the chamber pressed back to its place, where it was held by a trigger and spring, and after priming or capping, the piece was ready for firing. A breech-loading rifle was invented in Norway about 1838, and between 1839 and 1845 ex- tensive preparations were made with it by the government of Sweden, resulting in the conclu- sion that it was superior in all respects to muz- zle - loading arms. In 1841 Prussia decided to arm the troops with the Zundnadelgewehr or nee- dle gun, and in the course of a few years its whole army was furnished with this arm. Its first uses in actual service were in the revolution of 1848 and the first Schleswig- Holstein war, where its superiority to the muz- zle-loader was demon- strated. The decisive Prussian victory of Sa- dowa in the Austrian war of 1866 was at first attributed wholly to the fact that the Prussians had the needle gun, while the Aus- trians had only muzzle-loaders ; and a great impetus was given to the introduction of breech-loaders in all European armies. In France a needle gun was adopted which was a bolt to which is attached a handle which acts in keeping the breech closed, precisely as does the handle of a door bolt in keeping the bolt in place when it is shot. The bolt traverses forward and back in an iron receiver which is screwed to the barrel. The lock and needle are enclosed in the bolt. The spring, like that in nearly all bolt guns, is of spiral steel wire. Supposing the piece unloaded, to load it, the needle is pulled back by the thumb piece in rear ; then the handle is turned to the left, the bolt withdrawn, and the cartridge insert- ed. The bolt is pushed forward, the handle turned to the right against its stop in the re- ceiver, and after cocking by pushing forward the thumb piece, it is ready for firing. The fulminate is just in rear of the wad at the base of the bullet, so that the needle passes through the whole powder charge before it strikes the fulminate. The cartridge envelope is papier mach6. The calibre of the rifle is about '6 in., 1. Gun complete. Fia. 9. Prussian Needle Gun. 1. Gun complete. 2. Section showing working parts of lock, gun ready to fire. 3. Cartridge. in all respects an improvement on that of the Prussians, called the Chassepot after the inven- tor. The needle-gun breech action consists of FIG. 10. French Chassepot. 2. Section showing lock and rifling of gun ready to fire. S. Cartridge. and the number of grooves is four. There is a great leak of gas from this rifle. The gas check is made by the contact between the bolt and the rear part of the chamber, and is not sufficient, particularly as this contact be- comes more imperfect as the gun is used. In the Chassepot, or French military rifle, the breech action is in several respects like that of the preceding, having a bolt handle by which the bolt is held in place, the latter containing the lock and needle. The fulminate is in a paper wad which forms the rear of the cartridge en- velope. The gas check is a cylindrical ring of vulcanized India rubber, which is pressed against the surface of the cham- ber when the explosion takes place, and theoret- ically forms an efficient obstacle to the passage of the gas. The car- tridge envelope is silk or linen, and the cali- bre is '433 in. (11 millimetres). The num-