MUZZLE-LOADERS AND BREECH-LOADERS. 47 
The guns were classified according to their weight. 
The breech-loaders, which used one quarter of a 
drachm more powder, showed about an equal re- 
coil; the recoil differed surprisingly, ranging from 
44 to 76 Ibs., and was no indication of the power 
with which the shot wes driven—a greater number 
of sheets being pierced where the recoil was under 
the average. The patterns produced by the muzzle- 
loaders varied from those of the breech-loaders less 
than they did from one another, and far less than 
that of one barrel differed from that of the other ; in 
fact, the right-hand barrel seems to have shot much 
the best, and some of the guns that excelled at 40 
yards fell far behindhand at 60 yards. 
In penetration, which is a more valuable quality 
in a gun than even pattern, the breech-loaders took 
the lead; one pierced through 40 sheets and another 
through 39 sheets, so that the vaunted superiority 
of the old gun in this particular was found not to 
exist. It was further noted that a great improve- 
ment in this particular had taken place in the breech- 
loaders since the trial of the year previous, which 
improvement has been going on steadily since. The 
trial also proved that, although the breech-loaders 
required an extra amount of powder to give them 
force, it caused in them no additional recoil, and 
was objectionable in so far only as it entailed extra 
expense and weight of ammunition. The muzzle- 
loader was left, to offset its numerous inferiorities, 
nothing more than a claim to diminished weight of 
gun and ammunition, and a trifling saving in ex- 
