416 
Extracts from the “ Revue d’Artillerie,” November, 1880. 
BY 
CAPTAIN A. E. TURNER, R.H.A. 
GERMANY.—ISSUE OF A REPEATING 
CARBINE TO THE RIFLE BATTALION OF THE 
GUARD. (DAS GARDE SCHUTZEN BATAILLON). 
On the 23rd and 24th October last, a weapon of this description, 
being the Manser rifle converted into a repeater on the Lowe system, was 
issued to the men of the above battalion, one company of which mounted 
guard on the Castle (Berlin) armed with it, on the first day. Some 
weeks previous, one of these carbines per company had been supplied to 
this battalion for experimental purposes, being in each case, placed in 
the hands of one of the musketry instructors (non-commissioned officers) 
who had been trained to its use at the School of Musketry at Spandau. 
The magazine consists of a box made of steel, and weighs 12 ozs.; it 
contains eleven cartridges, such as are used with the Mauser rifle; it can 
be carried either attached to the arm or not, and the latter can at any 
time be used as a single rifle. Experiments have shown, that men, 
trained to use it, can fire twelve rounds of aimed fire in 35 secs., but 
that in the hands of untrained men, no rapidity is gained over the 
single Mauser rifle. 
The troops, to whom it has been issued, are by no means partial to 
the new weapon; they complain of the difficulty of extracting the 
expended cartridge cases, and of the increased weight of their fire-arm 
caused by the addition of the magazine and its contents. 
GERMANY.—KCENIGSBERG AND KCENIGSTEIN. 
The fortifications at both the above places are being strengthened. 
At the former three new detached forts are in process of construction 
