92 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



a basis, the ordnance department of the U. S. army have instituted experi- 

 ments, that have resulted in the establishment of a new model for the U. S. 

 musket, which contains all the advantages of the Minie rifle, and others first 

 united in itself. At the U. S. armory at Springfield, the manufacture of the 

 " rifle musket" has been commenced to the entire exclusion of the old " gun 

 musket." The new arm differs from the old one in the following particulars : 

 A change from the smooth bore to the rifle. The length of the barrel is re- 

 duced from 42 to 40 inches. The exterior reduced and the caliber from 0.69 

 to 0.58 of an inch. The barrel to have three decreasing grooves, with a front 

 and rear sight brazed on, graduated from one to one thousand yards. The 

 bayonet, ramrod, mountings, and stock, are much improved from the old 

 model, and the weight of the new arm completed is about 9-f- pounds, which 

 is one quarter of a pound lighter than the old model. The lock is changed to 

 a front action swivel lock with the Maynard attachment, which will contain 

 60 primers. The lock will also answer for the common service cap if neces- 

 sary. The ball is an elongated, hollow, pointed ball, weighing 497 grains, 

 which is about 60 grains heavier than the present round ball. The new 

 model rifle requires but 60 grains of powder, which is 50 grains less than the 

 present service charge of the smooth bore musket, 110 grains. Its great supe- 

 riority, however, lies in its unerring accuracy, the far greater distance it will 

 send its ball, its more severe execution, and the lighter charge of powder re- 

 quired. 



Besides the musket thus described, models of a fine rifle pistol, with 10 and 

 12 inch rifle barrels, of the same caliber as the rifle musket, 0.58 of an inch, 

 have been prepared, with a false butt, which by means of a hook and spring 

 can be instantly attached to the pistol, thereby making it a rifle carbine, which 

 will fire with accuracy 500 yards. "When detached from the pistol, the butt 

 is suspended by means of a belt and swivel ring. This wih 1 be a very import- 

 ant improvement for the cavalry service. The pistol lock also embraces the 

 Maynard primer. 



It has also been found practicable to alter the barrels of the old muskets to 

 the rifle style. Some of them have been so changed ; and it is not improbable 

 that all now on hand at the Springfield Armory some 255,000 wih 1 ulti- 

 mately receive that improvement. 



BOMB LANCES FOR WHALING. 



The extent to which gunpowder is now being employed in the manufacture 

 or rather in the capture of oil, is perhaps little suspected by the mass of our 

 readers. Guns for driving the harpoon have, we believe, been" pretty gene- 

 rally abandoned, but we are assured by a manufacturer of fuse, who has lately 

 contracted for making a quantity especially adapted to this sub-marine and 

 blubbery location, that the bomb-lance is now being quite extensively em- 

 ployed by many vessels, and that some have sent home from the Sandwich 

 Islands for further supplies. The bomb-lance is discharged from a very heavy 

 musket, and is driven point foremost into the vitals of the animals, where it 

 explodes after the lapse of a few seconds. The quantity of powder usually 



