THE GUN, AND HOW TO USTC IT. 123 



within those grooves hy the ridges previously cut in it; 

 which mode of exit communicates to it the rotary motion, 

 whence its efficacy. 



In the Minie rifle, the hollow conical ball is made to 

 expand by a wedgelike appendage, forced into it by the 

 explosion of the powder, and so fills the grooves, which 

 had not previously acted on it, and cuts its way out, gain- 

 ing its motion by its exit, not by a form impressed on it in 

 its descent. In Perry's arm, the chamber, and the ball 

 inserted into it, are both larger than the grooved barrel, 

 through which the latter is to be propelled ; and the pro- 

 jectile, which enters the barrel, for the first time on the 

 discharge of the piece, a perfect sphere, is found, after its 

 emission, to be cut into an irregular cylinder, deeply 

 grooved and ribbed. The effect of this in the attainment 

 of accuracy is self-evident. 



Why the excess of friction does not, as theoretically it 

 should, diminish the velocity and force of the projectile, I 

 cannot explain. It would seem that so far from doing so, 

 it increases both. 



At all events, the matter is not one of theory, but of 

 practised and established proof. 



These guns can be made to order, at the factory in 

 Newark, N. J., of any dimensions, calibre, form, weight, 

 and finish requisite. If, happily, the manufacture had 

 been set on foot anywhere else, in the United States, the 

 arms would, undoubtedly, have long ago attained the re- 

 pute they deserve, and would have been in general use. 



But, according to the wont of the inefficient, unenter- 

 prising, pennywise and poundfoolish system of business 



