342 THE SPORTING EIFLE. 



ciple that friction is greatly diminished to such an extent, 

 they say, as to be scarcely greater than in an ordinary 

 smooth bore, while the opponents declare that, instead of 

 this, it is increased, the ball being jammed in the barrel as 

 it is converted from the circular form which it has before 

 firing to the oval section of the barrel. My own belief 

 is that the friction is very slight, and that when sufficient 

 rotation is given this rifling answers remarkably well, but that 

 in a certain proportion of shots the ball "strips" and goes nearly 

 straight through the barrel, and not having sufficient spin 

 is immediately upset. The bullet now adopted by Lancaster 

 is the solid Pritchett, with the cylindrical portion covered 

 with thin greased paper. The length of the ball is 2J 

 diameters, and the windage one five-thousandth. 



In loading the cartridge, as the ball is circular in its 

 diameter, it may be inserted without regard to the bore 

 that is to say, in any position. If the fit is carefully ad- 

 justed, I believe that the ball will rarely "strip;" but with- 

 out extreme circumspection the accident is almost sure to 

 arise. Each ball must be passed through a gauge called a 

 " swedge," and with this precaution the rifle will be found 

 to be extremely useful ; but from the high price charged by 

 Mr. Lancaster (60 to 80 guineas) it is not within the reach 

 of every sportsman. 



NEEDHAM'S RIFLE. 



This rifle is capable of being made either with two barrels 

 or one, the original principle, with a slight alteration, being 

 adopted throughout the Prussian army. In either case the 

 lock, stock, and breech are exactly similar to the shot gun 

 described at page 267. The barrel, of course, varies in being 

 rifled, and the cartridge has a ring instead of a perfect wad 

 to support the cap, so as not to interfere with the progress 

 of the bullet as it lies before it. The barrels are usually 

 2 ft. 9 in. in length, with three-quarters of a turn in three feet ; 

 bore, 30. The rifling consists of five shallow grooves without 

 sharp angles, and very similar to Mr. Boucher's plan, de- 

 scribed at page 320. In smaller bores the grooves are only 

 three or four, according to the diameter. Mr. Needham's 

 opinion is that the nature of the grooving is not of much 



