34 BUEECHING. 



right angle, through the male screw or plug. This 

 perforation is apt to wear, and sometimes to get 

 damp from the oil which is used for screwing in the 

 breech-plug. It is also liable to become corroded, 

 and, therefore, sometimes difficult to be taken out. 

 Excepting for these defects, the chamber plug is 

 much to be recommended ; and having recourse to 

 it is almost the only way that an old gun can be im- 

 proved with that economy, which should be observed 

 in all expenditures on a worthless foundation. 



The solid breeching of the late Mr. Nock, No. 3, 

 is a discovery of great merit; and, as we have to 

 thank him for this foundation to all our improve- 

 ments, it would be an injustice to his memory not to 

 give him every credit for the original invention. The 

 objection, however, to the solid breeching, as first made 

 (when compared with the improvements that have 

 since" been adopted), is, that it shoots too weak, from 

 the powder in the chamber not being in a sufficiently 

 narrow compass to ignite suddenly and forcibly in 

 the centre ; and too slow, in consequence of the great 

 length, which there is through the whole communica- 

 tion, from the touchhole upwards ; add to which the 

 superfluous angles, and the difficulty of probing the 

 antechamber. Mr. Grierson's patent came the nearest 

 of any to the original. His plan was to cut off the 

 angle by shortening the antechamber and bringing it 

 to the other chamber in an oblique direction. There 

 was certainly a degree of ingenuity in his improve- 

 ment ; but yet there remained the objection of the 



