RIFLE 



using smaller bullets, which were 

 expanded into the riHing by ham- 

 mering them on to a projecting 

 stud or shoulder after they had 

 been dropped to the breech end of 

 the barrel. 



In 1835 W. Greener invented a 

 new bullet of oval shape, smaller 

 than the bore, with a hollow, 

 flat, rear end, a tapered plug of 

 hard metal being fitted in this 

 hole. The explosion of the charge 

 drove the plug into the bullet, 

 expanding the latter in the rifling. 

 In 1852 the Government adopted 

 the Minie bullet, which acted in a 

 similar way, and this was used in 

 the Kaffir War and the Crimea. 

 Muskets were not, however, really 

 displaced until the Enfield rifle 

 was adopted in 1855. The Prus- 

 sians were the first nation to 

 realize the advantages of breech- 

 loaders for military use, and intro- 

 duced the needle gun (q.v.) in 

 1841, being followed by the 

 French with the Chassepot, a 

 similar weapon. 



The first move in this direction 

 by the British Government oc- 

 curred in 1866, when the muzzle- 

 loading Enfields were converted 

 to breech-loaders by the addition 

 of Snider's breech-block. This 

 mechanism was a side-hinged 

 block through which the striker 

 passed, and which when swung 

 out gave access to the breech-end 

 of the barrel. With this rifle the 

 Boxer metallic cartridge was em- 

 ployed, and the latter made 

 breech -loading a final success by 

 preventing the escape of gas and 

 flame from the breech. Rifles of 

 this type were adopted about the 

 same time by all the powers, the 

 next advance in the way of im- 

 proved breech-blocks being the 

 British adoption of the Martini- 

 Henry rifle in 1871. 



Magazine Actions 



At this time magazine actions 

 were coming into vogue, the Win- 

 chester being introduced in 1867, 

 but the Germans were the first to 

 adopt a magazine rifle by convert- 

 ing their 1871 Mausers into a maga- 

 zine rifle holding eight cartridges in 

 the f ore-end, in 1884. In the follow- 

 ing year France followed with the 

 I Lebel, a rifle of similar construc- 

 tion, but one with a great advan- 

 tage in that it used smokeless 

 powder for the first time. 



In 1886 Austria adopted a Mann- 

 licher rifle provided with a Lee 

 box-magazine into which the car- 

 tridges were loaded from a clip, 

 thus introducing a principle found 

 on every modern military rifle in 

 practically unchanged form. All 

 these military rifles fired a ohort 

 bullet of a bore between '430 and 

 450. In 1883 Major Rubin, of the 



66 t 6 



Swiss army, introduced a small 

 calibre rifle using a longer bullet 

 composed of a lead core in a copper 

 case. The British Government con- 

 ducted experiments with this new 

 type of projectile, and, as a con- 

 sequence, adopted the '303-in. 

 Lee-Metford rifle in 1888, an ex- 

 ample followed by the other powers. 



The success of the small bore 

 rifle depended not only on the 

 lessened air resistance of the pro- 

 jectile, but also on the introduc- 

 tion of smokeless powder. Calibres 

 have varied little since this de- 

 velopment, and now all military 

 rifles are between '256 and '315 

 inch. About 1900 the rifles of all 

 the powers were about equal as 

 regards type and performance, 

 but at that time a shorter weapon 

 was successively introduced by 

 Switzerland, Great Britain, and 

 the U.S.A. These are considerably 

 handier weapons than the longer 

 type, but not quite so accurate for 

 slow deliberate shooting, and all 

 modern rifles with the exception of 

 the French Lebel are capable of 

 being loaded from clips. 

 Pointed Bullets 



The next development was the 

 introduction of the pointed bullet 

 by the Germans in 1905, followed 

 by France and the other powers. 

 Owing to its greatly lessened air 

 resistance, this bullet has a much 

 flatter trajectory, so that the range 

 with " fixed " or " battle " sights 

 is increased from about 500 to 700 

 yards, and the " dangerous space" 

 is very greatly increased. Muzzle 

 velocities have risen to about 

 2,900 ft. per second. 



For sporting purposes, as pre- 

 viously mentioned, the rifle kept 

 ahead of its military use, and many 

 are made in .much the same form as 

 sporting shot-guns with bores from 

 360 to' -600 in. Most of these fire 

 a short bullet, and the majority 

 employ smokeless powder, but this 

 is not advisable in calibres in ex- 

 cess of '450. In addition, there is 

 now a wide choice of - magazine 

 sporting-rifles of similar construc- 

 tion to the military types, with 

 the exception of the fore-end being 

 shorter and the finish better. 

 Dum-dum ammunition is usually 

 employed to give greater stopping 

 power to the small bullet. Com- 

 bination guns are also used, in 

 which a rifled barrel is used in con- 

 junction with one or two shot- 

 gun barrels, and hi other types 

 special barrels provided with a 

 short length of rifling near the 

 muzzle, or special shallow rifling 

 the whole length, are used for 

 either shot or bullets. 



In order to reduce the cost of 

 tuition the Morris tube was in- 

 troduced, but this has now been 



RIFLE 



almost entirely superseded by the 

 miniature rifle, a weapon similar 

 to the full size rifle in other re- 

 spects, but firing a cartridge of 

 22 in. calibre with great accuracy 

 up to 150 yards. 



To learn to become a successful 

 rifle-shot needs much painstaking 

 practice, and a written article on 

 the subject cannot do more than 

 indicate some of the more impor- 

 tant rules which should be ob- 

 served and applied in the actual 

 use of the weapon. The owner of 

 a rifle should make himself 

 thoroughly acquainted with its 

 mechanism and find out, not only 

 how the various parts function, 

 but also the reason for their in- 

 clusion. The care of the weapon 

 is another matter of great import- 

 ance. It must be protected from 

 rough handling, and every precau- 

 tion taken to prevent all parts 

 being attacked by rust. The best 

 preservative is vaseline, and no 

 cleaning materials should be used 

 on any part except flannelette and 

 petroleum oil, care being taken 

 that the latter is thoroughly re- 

 moved and vaseline applied before 

 the weapon is put away. In cases 

 of very bad fouling of the barrel, 

 it may be necessary to rinse the 

 latter with hot soda and water. 



Loading should be practised with 

 dummy cartridges, and aiming 

 practised with the empty rifle. In 

 aiming, the first essential is to 

 hold the rifle correctly, and 

 whether the firer is standing, 

 kneeling, sitting, or lying, the 

 body and feet should be disposed 

 so that they give the most com- 

 fortable, steady, and stable posi- 

 tion possible. No success can be 

 attained if there is a tendency for 

 the body to sway. 



Method of Holding 



The rifle should be gripped at the 

 small of the butt by the right hand, 

 the end of the first finger placed on 

 the lowest point of the trigger and 

 the other fingers extended as far 

 round the small of the butt as pos- 

 sible. The left hand should grip the 

 rifle beneath the back-sight, fingers 

 extended up the side and the rifle 

 pulled well into the shoulder, the 

 left elbow being vertically under 

 the rifle. The method of holding 

 the weapon is illustrated by a 

 sketch. The sights used on rifles 

 vary to a very considerable extent, 

 but the majority of weapons are 

 fitted with " open " sights, in 

 which the back-sight is provided 

 with a U or V groove, whilst the 

 fore-sight is either a vertical leaf, a 

 pyramid, or barleycorn. 



In addition or substitution 

 " aperture " sights are often fitted, 

 the back-sight being a disk pro- 

 vided with a circular hole and the 



