642 



ORDNANCE. 



introduction of the cartridges, of wliich it holds 

 fifteen. Upon closing it, after filling, the spring 

 throws a cartridge upon the carrier-block, 

 which, by a forward movement of the trigger- 

 guard, is raised to a level with the chamber, 

 the hammer, by the same movement, being 

 carried to a full cock. A reverse movement of 

 the guard, bringing it to its place again, forces 

 the cartridge into the chamber, and the gun is 

 ready to fire. The ammunition is fixed, metal 

 cased, with fulminate or cap in the rear. The 

 hammer, upon falling, strikes a rod, or breech- 

 pin, upon the front of which are two sharp 

 points, which are driven into the rear of the 

 cartridge, thus exploding it. The weight of 

 the gun complete is about 10 pounds; it has 

 six shallow grooves, each T V of an inch in width, 

 with a gaining twist. The cartridge weighs 

 295 grains. In an experiment at the Ordnance 

 Department, Washington, 120 shots were fired 

 in five minutes fifteen seconds, including the 

 time spent in reloading. 



The following cuts show the construction of 

 the rifle. The little projecting piece on the 

 under side, in the first cut, directly in front of 

 the shoulder, at the breech of the barrel, is the 

 finger-piece connected with the follower on the 

 end of the spiral spring. To load the magazine 

 this finger-piece is drawn up to the lower end 

 of the sleeve, which is then turned far enough 

 to allow the follower to rest on the edge of the 

 magazine, where it is held in place till the cart- 

 ridges are dropped in. 



This gun is not remarkable 

 for accuracy at long distances, 

 but at one hundred yards or 

 thereabouts it is a very effec- 

 tive weapon. The sudden re- 

 duction of half the thickness of 

 the barrel for five inches from 

 the muzzle probably impairs 

 its accuracy at long range. 

 Its magazine, being in a thin 

 metallic tube under the barrel, 

 . is liable to be indented by a 

 < shot or accidental blow, which 

 ^ would prevent the cartridges 

 . from sliding down, and as they 



2 cannot be easily introduced 

 j| into the barrel in any other 

 * way, this would render the 

 gun nearly useless. The ne- 



3 cessity of leaving an open slit 

 "" for the finger-piece to slide in 



exposes the contents of the 

 magazine to the influence of 

 dust and wet, which would 

 tend to clog the passage and 

 rust the spiral spring. Still 

 this weapon has many excel- 

 lent points, and in its method 

 of loading, the capacity of its 

 magazine, and its rapidity of 

 firing, it surpasses any other 

 repeating rifle. It is stated on 

 good authority that Col. Nelter, while raising a 



Sections, -view of working parts, showing the operation of removing the empty cartridge and cocking the hammer. 



regiment of Kentucky volunteers at Owensboro', 

 Kentucky, sent out fifteen of his men armed 

 with this rifle on a scout. They were attacked 

 by a rebel force of two hundred and forty sol- 

 diers in an open lane where there was no 

 shelter, and owing to their capacity to main- 



tain a rapid and continuous fire, they success- 

 fully repulsed and drove from the field the en- 

 tire rebel force. Capt. James H. Wilson, Co. M, 

 12th Kentucky cavalry, was attacked in his 

 own house by seven mounted guerrillas armed 

 with Colt's revolvers. He sprang for a log cabin 



