306 MUZZLE-LOADERS AND BREECH-LOADERS. 
become deranged, and will last as long as the bar- 
rels. The greatest care is necessary in making the 
chamber that receives the cartridge of a proper 
shape, for if this is faulty the cartridges are apt to 
stick after explosion. 
There is no decided improvement on the original 
Lefaucheux model, except in the modification of the 
machinery, and a convenient method of separating 
the barrels from the stock ; and no other innovation 
of a like character need be particularly described. 
The needle-gun, which is made on a somewhat 
similar principle, is more curious than valuable, 
being both dangerous and complicated, and _pos- 
sesses no advantages over the other pattern. In it — 
the cartridge has a percussion-cap so disposed at its 
base that it is penetrated by a needle, which is pro- 
jected by a spring through a hole in the lower end 
of the cartridge ; but the composition of the cartridge, 
and the manner of its insertion, are altogether dif: 
ferent from the same in the Lefaucheux gun. 
According to the arrangement of some English 
guns, on a plan invented by Jeffries, the lever, 
instead of closing forward, lies under the trigger- 
guard, when the barrels are closed ; and provision 
is made for tightening the bolt, in case it wears loose 
by long usage. This invention permits of the use 
of forward-action locks, and the easy separation of 
the barrels trom the stock, and has come into vogue 
in England; it is undoubtedly convenient in both 
these particulars, and has as yet developed no cor- 
responding drawbacks. 
