The Needle Gun. 9 
missing fire; last week he fired off sixty cartridges which - 
for two years had been lying in a damp place. 
“Tt is said the barrel heats after seven or eight shots. 
Every one acquainted with guns will know that barrels will 
become warm with successive discharges. The ‘needle- 
gun’ is actually less liable to heating, because it uses less 
powder in its peculiar mode of firing. 
“Tt has been said that gas escapes from the breech. This 
can only take place in imperfectly constructed pieces. The 
double edge of the cylinder is wedged tightly into corres- 
ponding spaces in the barrel, and closes air-tight, the 
needle itself, thickening towards the centre, passes through 
a felt-packing, secured by perfected screws, and closes the 
“aperture entirely. Moreover, the powder itself, igniting 
backwards, protects the opening until it is burned to the 
bréech, so that the moment of pressure upon, the aperture 
is infinitesimally short. 
“The gun is said to become foul rapidly. As every 
succeeding shot cleans the barrel, it remains bright; the 
cylinder certainly becomes a little discoloured, but never 
fouls. The writer has fired hundreds of shots out of the 
same gun without cleaning it. 
“The accuracy of the gun at long ranges has been ques- 
tioned. An Enfield range at 690 or 1,000 yards, for rifles 
accurately sighted to a foot, does not afford a good field to 
a foreign rifle sighted on a different plan, in an at random 
and crowded sporting match. The Prussian riflemen, on 
their ranges, make as good a practice at long distances as 
the Enfield riflemen on an Enfield range. 
“ Other theories have been advanced against the gun. It 
is said, for instance, that it can only be fired eight or nine 
times a minute, while certain American breech-loaders can 
be fired twenty times. You cannot fire any gun twenty 
times a minute without heating it excessively. The 
Spencer rifle is much lauded on account of its rapidity. 
Why have the United States rejected it? Rapidity of 
fire, &c., is not the only qualification necessary to an effi- 
cient weapon of war, as campaigns only can prove. 
“In conclusion, it may be observed that the Prussian 
Government, the most intelligent and active in such 
matters, has tested breech-loaders of all kinds, for the 
last twenty-five years. It actually discarded needle-guns 
after the first five years of trial, and took again to Minié 
rifles. Since 1858, however, the needle-gun has been so 
much improved, and has established its efficiency in cam- 
