FIRE-ARMS 



385 



a triple-seat welded on by hand if it bo intended for a percussion lock ; and then the 

 barrel is ready to go forward to the mill to be bored, turned, and finished. 



Gun-barrels formed by this mechanical method are found to stand proof better than 

 those worked by hand, because the heat is more equalised ; and any imperfections in 

 the original mass of iron are more dispersed over the whole extent of the tube. 



Of late years large strides have been made towards increasing the efficacy of mili- 

 tary fire-arms. 



The first attempt to improve the rifle in use in the French army was that proposed 

 by M. Delvigne, an officer of the royal ex-guard (fig, 894), in which tho upper orifice 



894 



of the chamber that contained the powder took the form of a cup, wherein the ball 

 (somewhat wider in diameter) was received, and by two or three smart blows of a 

 heavy-headed rammer (also cupped out for the purpose) became expanded laterally, 

 and thus the rotatory motion was imparted to it by the spiral grooves of the barrel in 

 passing out. Colonel Poncharra suggested the addition of a wood bottom or sabot 

 under the ball and a greased woollen patch ; and Colonel Thouvesino proposed (fig. 

 895) a steel stem or pillar about 2 inches long inserted into the face of the breech- 



895 



pin ; round this pin the charge of powder was received, and the diameter of the ball, 

 when resting on the top of the pin, was enlarged by the blows of the heavy-headed 

 rammer, as suggested by Delvigne. 



This- system took the name of ' Carabine a Tige/ and has been very generally intro- 

 duced for the service of fusilier battalions in Continental armies ; very grave objections, 

 however, have been found against it in use, from the impossibility of keeping the 

 chamber (or part round the pin) clear ; and from the severe labour to the soldier in 

 ramming down and enlarging the diameter of the ball sufficiently to ensure the rotatory 

 motion desired. 



But if the ultimate results thus attained with spherical balls turned out not entirely 

 satisfactory, it was made clearly manifest, in the course of the experiments carried 

 on, that no insuperable difficulty stands in the way of rendering the fire of infantry 

 very much more accurate and powerful, by the use of rifled barrels throughout the 

 army, and thus leading to a verification of the prediction made by Robins above one 

 hundred years ago, that ' whatever state shall thoroughly comprehend the nature and 

 advantages of rifled barrel pieces, and, having facilitated and completed their con- 

 struction, shall introduce into their armies their general use, with dexterity in the 

 management of them, will by this means acquire a superiority which will almost equal 

 any thing that has been done at any time.' 



But besides smoothing the way to such an essential improvement, it has been elicited 

 of late years, that when the accuracy of flight is secured by the rotatory motion derived 

 from the rifling, the bullet, instead of being limited to 

 the form of a sphere as heretofore, may, up to certain 

 limits, be elongated with considerable increase of de- 

 structive effect ; and with an augmentation of range 

 very much beyond any thing that has hitherto been 

 considered to lie within the reach of small arms 

 placing them, in fact, with reference to artillery and 

 cavalry, in the first place instead of the last. 



An immensely-extended field has thus been opened 

 to experimenters. 1st. Mons Didion proposed a true 

 oval (fig. 896) as the best form of bullet, so that, 

 when shortened by the blows of the heavy rammer and 

 widened in its diameter, it might be brought nearer to the spherical shape before 

 leaving the barrel. 2nd. Mons. Delvigne took out a patent for a bullet (fig. 897) under 

 the designation of ' Cylindro-Ogivale ; ' it had a conical opening behind, in which he 

 imagined that the force of the powder would exert itself with sufficient energy to expand 

 the lead permanently, and so make the ball take the rotatory movement derived 



VOL. II, C C 



