THE WIRE-CARTRIDGE. 



shooter next removes the remains of the caps, and 

 looks whether the powder has found its way to the 

 orifice of the pivots, and if it has, he places fresh 

 caps on ; if powder is not visible at the orifice of 

 the pivots, he removes any obstacle with a pricker, 

 and contrives to push down a few grains of powder. 

 It is very material to attend to this point, to pre- 

 vent miss-fires. 



THE WIRE-CARTRIDGE. 



The wire-cartridge was invented in 1828 by Mr. 

 Jenour. It consists of a cylindrical case or net- 

 work of wire, the meshes of which are 

 somewhat more than an eighth of an 

 inch square ; at the lower end the wire 

 partially closes ; the wire case is then 

 enveloped in fine paper, and at the 

 upper end a cork wadding, cut so as to 

 iit the guage of the gun, is affixed, 

 the case is then filled with shot and 

 bone dust. The first cartridges made, 

 though ingenious in construction, were defective 

 in operation. It was a matter of no ordinary 

 difficulty to fabricate them in such a manner 

 that the shot should leave the case at the precise 

 distance required. This at first could not be 

 done so that they might be trusted in every in- 

 stance ; every alternate cartridge might fire well, 

 but the rest would fire irregularly, being liable to 

 ball, that is, the shot would not leave the case 

 until fifty or sixty yards from the gun, and such 



