No. 144. 1 583 



dented like the male screw and elongated in this driving down. 

 The guns were soon contrived so as to load at the breech, and the 

 bore tapering to the muzzle, the ball became both indented and 

 elongated, so as to preserve its true course while whirling on its 

 axis. 



Not long after that, or more than seventy years ago, some Ame- 

 rican made rifles in the Western country, and which soon bore 

 the name of Kain Tuck rifle, on a better principle than those gene- 

 rally made since anywhere. They reasoned that their barrels 

 were subject to change of figure by tlie explosion of the charge ; 

 some of them — say fowling pieces of very tough iron — would 

 swell behind the bail like tlie body of a snake swallowing a 

 toad ! Kain Tuck objected to this, as being injurious to aim. Ho 

 therefore made his rifle many times heavier and thicker, so that 

 no explosion could alter its figure in the least degree. The gun 

 was thus rendered very heavy, and required stout men to fire it 

 offhand. The barrel was about four feet long. Tlie ball was 

 placed on a small leathern patch, greased with tallow, and then 

 forced with a strong ramrod, as large as the bore of the gun. With 

 this gun the accuracy of fire was extremely superior to that of all 

 other guns, and the horizontal range must have been very great, 

 but has never been registered. I saw our men firing such rifles 

 at ^mali pieces of shingle or board, held in the hand of one of the 

 party; who, after each ball passed through it, held it before him^" 

 to mark the initial of the marksman on his bullet hole. 



The cannon of Louis XIV, were found to be excellent; longer 

 than necessary, however. For some time it was supposed that 

 brass or rather a sort of bell metal was preferable to iron, for 

 cannon. The composition was secret. The following proportions 

 are most common, viz: for 250 lbs. they put in, copper 6S lbs., 

 brass 52 lbs., tin 12 lbs. Experience has proved that iron is best. 



The size of small arms has varied from six feet to two. Spain 

 was first in ra iking the best barrels. They used the nails from 

 old hoise and mule shoes, which were made of the tonghe^t iron, 

 and thoroughly hammered. 



In 17-70, the French paid Nicholas Biz, Juan Beler, and Juan 

 Fernandez, two hundred dollars a piece for their gun bcirrels." 



