THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
303 
OUR SERYICE SMALL-ARMS; 
THEIR MANUFACTURE AND REPAIR. 
BY 
MAJOR E. S. STONEY, R.A. 
Under the Read of “ small-arms /' 9 are included all Rand weapons 
—whether firearms or otRerwise—viz., muskets, rifles, carbines, pistols, 
swords, bayonets, lances, &c.; but tRe following pages refer principally 
to rifles, as tRe most important of all. 
Firearms, following naturally on tRe introduction of gunpowder, crept 
into tRe EnglisR service in tRe 16tR century, and in Queen Elizabeth's 
reign matcRlocks superseded bows and arrows as military weapons. 
Towards tRe close-of tRe next century, flintlocks* were introduced as an 
improvement on tRe matcRlocks, and became, to tRe exclusion of pikes, 
tRe common infantry arm, and remained uncRanged for more tRan a 
century and a Ralf; in fact, tRe firearm of tRe BritisR soldier at Waterloo 
(1815) was precisely tRe same class of weapon as at tRe Boyne (1688),f 
witR tRe exception of an iron ramrod in place of a wooden one, and that 
tRe bayonet was attached by a socket over tRe muzzle instead of being 
screwed into it. 
Meantime, however, in 1800, the 95tR Regt. (now the Rifle Brigade) 
was armed with a Baker's rifle, which in 1836 was superseded by the 
Brunswick rifle—a weapon which Rad two grooves, and fired a spherical 
bullet with a belt which fitted into the grooves, and was furnished with 
a percussion cap arrangement. 
In 1842 flintlocks were abolished altogether, and “Brown Bess," 
(smooth-bore) became the arm for our infantry. 
In 1851 the Minie rifle was adopted for general use, but it gave place 
during the Crimean war to the Enfield rifle, which was an improvement 
on the Minie—the bore being only *577 in. instead of *702 in., and the 
bullet Raving a baked clay plug at the base instead of the iron cup, 
* The flintlock was at first called the Snaphaunce, as it was supposed to have been invented by 
Dutch Snaphans, or poultry stealers, who had found the lighted match a rather tell-tale contrivance 
at night. 
f See some excellent specimens of the flintlocks of William III.’s time in the Museum of Artillery 
at Woolwich. 
