92 
THE NEEDLE GUN. 
[Nature and Ait, August 1, 18G6. 
a hollow cone, receives the end of the tube ; the 
handle being then turned round in the notch, the 
tube is, as it were, locked in close contact with the 
barrel. Fig. 3 represents the whole needle ap- 
paratus as withdrawn from the guider, B B. 
The bai'rel is rifled with four grooves, as shown 
in A (fig. 4), and the grooves have a uniform depth 
and twist, with one turn in 42 inches. The 
bullet, B, is ogival in form, weighs 451 grains, and 
is fired with a charge of 65 
grains of powder in the cart- 
ridge. The powder is separated 
from the bullet by a rolled 
and compressed paper cylinder, 
which is hollowed at the end 
next to the bullet. It has a 
cavity at C, in which is lodged 
the fulminating composition to 
be exploded by the thrust of 
the needle. 
The question of the intro- 
duction of a breech-loader into 
our own army has long been 
under consideration. We will 
not say that there may not 
have been much unnecessary 
delay in coming to any con- 
clusion in the matter. We are 
informed that one cause of 
delay — after the report of the 
committee “ on the trials at 
Woolwich of Enfield rifles con- 
verted to breech-loaders,” dated 
3rd July, 1865 — was, that not 
one of the altered arms offered 
for experiment came up alto- 
gether to the required con 
ditions. Of the eight arms 
under trial, those sent in by 
Mr. Westley Richards, Mr. 
Mont Storm, and Mr. Snider, 
approached most nearly to the 
above-mentioned requirements ; 
but Mr. Snider’s was the only 
system adapted for a cartridge 
carrying its own ignition. 
The shooting, however, of Mr. Snider’s gun was 
decidedly inferior to the Enfield rifle, although it 
was considered by the committee that this inferiority 
arose from defects in the cartridges, which might 
admit of considerable improvement. To this end, 
Colonel Boxer, of the Royal Laboratory Department 
at Woolwich arsenal, was called in, and with his 
valuable assistance a cartridge (fig. 5) was produced, 
which we have high authority for stating, entirely 
removes the objection to Mr. Snider’s system. 
Under these circumstances, we cannot but congratu- 
late the country on the fact that a decision has, at 
last, been come to, and that within a very few months 
our troops will be armed with a breech-loading 
rifle, such as is inferior to no other at present in 
existence. There is further subject for congratu- 
lation in store for us. It is, that the conversion of 
the Enfield rifle is merely a temporary measure 
Fig. 4. 
to ensure that our troops shall, at once, be pro- 
vided with an efficient arm ; but the gunmakers 
may be assured that they will shortly be called 
upon to send in specimens of 
breech-loaders designed after their 
own unfettered judgments, with- 
out their being hampered by the 
necessity to convert an old arm. 
We have no doubt but that this 
most intelligent body will respond 
cheerfully to the call, and that ere 
long a weapon will be produced 
perfectly satisfactory to the require- 
ments of the day. There is one 
most essential point that we would 
endeavour to instil into those 
who invent as well as those who 
select from the inventions, namely, 
that, for actual field-service, the 
terms simplicity and durability 
are almost synonymous. Together 
with the drawing of the needle gun 
we give one of the recently con- 
verted Enfields (Snider’s system). 
On inspection, it will be seen that 
the construction is much more 
simple. The weight, also, is a 
great consideration. Snider’s con- 
verted Enfield weighing only 9 lb. 
5 1 oz., whereas the Prussian needle 
gun weighs 10 lb. 11 oz. The 
method of conversion is as follows : 
about two inches of the upper part 
of the Enfield barrel are cut away 
at the breech, and a solid breech-stopper, working 
sideways on a hinge, is placed in the opening thus 
made. Through this stopper passes a piston, one 
end of which, when the breech is closed, receives 
the blow from the hammer, while the other com- 
municates it to the centre of the cartridge and fires 
it. There is an arrangement for withdrawing the 
old cartridge case after each discharge, by means of 
sliding back the stopper on the bar on which it hinges. 
There have lately appeared notices in the l'all 
Mall Gazette, and Army ancl Navy Gazette, upon 
Snider’s converted Enfield, and they are so clear and 
so evidently from the pen of a writer thoroughly con- 
versant with the question, that we feel no apology is 
necessary for appending copious extracts from them. 
In the Pall Mall Gazette , 30th April, we find as 
follows : — - 
“ The arm, which was subsequently improved by the 
patentee in conjunction with Colonel Dixon, the Superin- 
tendent of the Government Small Arms Factory at Enfield, 
possesses the advantages of being simple, safe, cheap, non- 
capping, and little liable (apparently) to get out of order ; 
it is free, moreover, from the objection which proved fatal 
on the preliminary trial to other ingenious systems, of re- 
quiring such a reduction of the stock as to destroy the 
efficiency of a weapon, which, for military purposes, is 
required to act as a pike as well as a fire-arm.” 
Again, on the 19th June, in the same journal, 
we find — 
“ We estimated in a previous article the accuracy of 
a Wood plug. 
b Bullet, 
c Clay plug. 
e Cartridge (thin 
rolled brass 
sheeting). 
/ Papier mache. 
g Anvil. 
li Cap. 
j Cotton wool. 
