MACHINE-GUNS, OR MITRAILLEUSES. 393 
as they are discharged, and the firing proceeds at a high rate 
of speed. The whole machine-gun is so mounted as to have 
both vertical and horizontal movements, and the discharge of 
bullets can therefore be made as a volley by firing all nearly 
simultaneously by one sudden turn of the handle ; or single 
shots can be separately fired, and by moving the gun horizon- 
tally during deliberate firing, the whole front of an enemy 
could be struck along a line. Major Fosbery considered ten 
full discharges, or 370 shots, a minute to be within practical 
attainment ; but this speed has not been maintained at the 
recent trials at Shoeburyness. It is only right, however, to 
state, that the performance of the Montigny weapon has been 
largely influenced by defective cartridges. The exact details 
of the example under trial are — barrels 37 ; calibre of each 
0*534 inch ; rifling, Metford’s, 5 grooves of 0*011 inch depth, 
and 0*224 inch width, the intermediate lands being 0*112 inch, 
the pitch of the rifling one turn in 24 inches (final). The car- 
tridge-charges are 115 grains of gunpowder, and the bullets, 
made of hardened metal, upon Metford’s expanding principle, 
with hollow of 0*15 inch in base, are each 600 grains in 
weight. The weapon is temporarily mounted on an ordinary/ 
heavy six-pounder field-gun carriage, with axle-boxes in- 
geniously fitted by Major Fosbery for carrying ten plates 
ready filled with cartridges ; the limber boxes having a reserve 
of 888, or 24 sets, together 34 volleys. In the waggon 1776 
rounds, or 48 volleys. Total, 3,034 rounds, or 82 volleys. The 
Belgian Montigny mitrailleuses have been made of various 
sizes, and varying from nineteen to thirty-seven barrels. 
The other class of machine-weapons under trial are the 
“ Gratling guns,” which differ altogether in principle from the 
Montigny mitrailleuses, the barrels being fixed apart from each 
other, but parallel, and the cartridges discharged by a bundle of 
barrels revolving upon the inclined face of a permanent breech- 
block, the entire apparatus being most aptly regarded as a 
huge Colt’s revolver. It has as many locks as there are barrels, 
and all the locks revolve with the barrels. The gun is fed 
with cartridges through a slot from tin cases containing a 
specified number, according to the size of the gun. The for- 
ward motion of the locks in turning places the cartridges in 
the rear ends of the barrels, and closes the breech at each 
discharge, the cartridge shells after firing being extracted in 
the return movement. The classes of this weapon made at 
present are, we believe, four. The smallest has ten steel 
barrels, and is made of any calibre suitable for the musket 
cartridges used by different nations ; the second size has also 
ten barrels of 0*75-inch calibre, and discharges solid lead bullets 
of 4 J oz. in weight ; another medium size is similarly made of 
