BASTIN S BREECH-LOADER. 



265 



out, remains to be proved; and I shall endeavour to enable 

 my readers to judge for themselves. The annexed illustra- 

 tion shows the gun open, 

 in effecting which the 

 barrels slide forwards on 

 depressing the compound 

 lever (fig. 37 a). This, 

 acting on the branch c 

 fixed to the fore end of 

 the stock, while the lever 

 is attached to the barrels, 

 causes the latter to slide 

 forward exactly in pro- 

 portion to the depression 

 of the lever till they as- 

 sume the position indi- 

 cated in fig. 37. Here 

 the cartridges are repre- 

 sented at e, as if the 

 gun had just been dis- 

 charged, for after one 

 is exploded the hammer 

 is left down, and there 

 being a hole in its strik- 

 ing face, when the barrels 

 are drawn forward, the 

 pin of the cartridge en- 

 ters this hole, and so it is 

 expected that the car- 

 tridge will be left behind, 

 as shown in fig. 37 e. 



In order to show more 

 clearly the nature of the 

 slide, a view of it from 

 below is appended (see 

 fig. 38), in which d re- 

 presents the barrels, c 

 the branch of the lever 

 fixed to the stock, a the 

 lever, and b the catch in 



