ORDNANCE. 



623 



In small-arms the breech-loading rifles have 

 supplanted the old muzzle-loaders, and con- 

 stant advances are made in the qualities of 

 rapidity of firing and ease of adjustment, the 

 velocity of the shot or their carrying power, 

 and the durability of the necessarily complex 

 and somewhat delicate mechanism for locking 

 the breech and firing, and the ease with which 

 damaged parts can be replaced or repaired. 



The musket with which the Turkish army 

 was armed in the late war is the weapon known 

 as the Martini-Henry rifle. The guns were 

 manufactured in American shops. The Provi- 

 dence Tool Company executed a contract for 

 the Turkish Government amounting to $17,- 



MABTINI-HENBY BIFLE. 



000,000, employing 2,500 men in the work, 

 and turning out 600 finished arms a day, or 

 200,000 per annum. This company were three 

 years in preparing for this vast work. The 

 guns were packed for shipment in cases made 

 with great accuracy by machinery specially 

 constructed for the purpose; these were fur- 

 nished by the Excelsior Box Company of Prov- 

 idence. Each box contained 20 guns, which 

 were laid in the grooves for the muzzle _ tip 

 and shoulder piece, without further packing. 

 American contractors furnished the Turkish 

 Government with 600,000 of these rifles. The 

 Martini-Henry arm was furnished to nearly 

 every body of infantry, both regular and re- 

 serve, in the Turkish army. The firing arrange- 

 ment and the breech-lock were invented by 

 the Swiss manufacturer Martini, of Frauenfeld ; 

 the repeating apparatus was devised by the 

 English mechanician Henry. The load is 5| 

 grammes of powder ; the ball has a calibre of 

 .45 inch, or 11 millimetres. The flight of the 

 ball is exceedingly direct ; it possesses a remark- 

 able force of penetration at the distance of 

 1,800 metres, and hits with accuracy at a mile's 

 distance. The rifling is that of Henry, used in 

 the British army guns, with seven grooves, the 

 twist being 22 inches. The Martini breech 

 action is on the block system, and is very simi- 

 lar to that of the Penbody. In the Russian 

 attacks on the redoubts at Plevna and other 

 Turkish strongholds the assailing troops melt' 

 ed visibly away before the sure and rapid fire 

 of these rifles. The Turkish arm was almost 

 certain for 200 or 300 yards. An expert marks- 

 man can load and fire this weapon once a 

 second. 



The Turks possessed some thousands of the 



"Winchester repeating rifles, called also revolver 

 or magazine rifles, made according to the sys- 

 tem of Henry Winchester. This arm was used 

 with effect in the American war. There are 

 two barrels, one over the other ; the lower of 

 the two is the magazine which holds the 15 

 cartridges. The cartridges descend one after 

 the other, as they are used, to the back of the 

 barrel, and are then lifted up and inserted into 

 the tiring barrel by the repeating apparatus. 

 The supply of cartridges can easily be replen- 

 ished in the magazine barrel at any time, which 

 can be filled up from the side with facility be- 

 fore the whole charge has been exhausted. 

 The locking apparatus is too complicated for 

 ordinary field practice, consisting originally of 

 42 different parts ; Vetterli, in Neuhansen, 

 Switzerland, has, however, improved and sim- 

 plified the lock, so that it now consists of only 

 25 pieces, as made for the Swiss army, and is 

 a strong and good campaign weapon. The 

 Turks possessed also a good number of Snider 

 guns, made over out of muzzle-loaders; the 

 Snider loading apparatus, which was added, 

 was sometimes after the English pattern, and 

 sometimes the French model, called the ta- 

 'batUre. 



The Russian infantry in the European army, 

 with the exception of the guard, were provided 

 with the Krnka musket, named after its in- 

 ventor, an Austrian gunsmith. It is locked 

 by a bronze snap-lock, containing a needle, 

 which is driven against the cap in the metallic 

 cartridge by an ordinary percussion-hammer. 

 This firing apparatus has been screwed on to 

 the muskets with which the Russian infantry 



OORLOrr RUSSIAN BRKKCH-LOADER. 



were before armed. These were made on tlie 

 Enfield system and have a calibre of 14.5 mil- 

 limetres. The shot is too heavy for the small 

 charge of powder which the gun allows, and 

 the course of the ball is a high curve ; it cnn 

 therefore, like the needle-pun, only be aiiiil 

 with accuracy when the distance of the olj 

 is known. The maximum force of penetration 

 is within 800 paces. 



The brigades of infantry and Kharp-* 

 in the guard are the only bodies of Kuwian 

 soldiery which were provided with pood 11 

 era weapons. They carried Herdan ril 

 made after the second system of Colonel I 

 Berdan of the American army. Tine mil 

 a calibre of 11 millimetres. It i* provided 

 with a common pointed bayonet. The chiol 



