period, commonly known among soldiers under the name of 'Brown Bess,' was the fire-arm of the infantry during the period at which Guthrie, Hennen, Thompson, and many of the most eminent writers on the subject of gunshot injuries practised and wrote.

In the year 1839, the flintlocks of the muskets then in use in the British army were altered into percussion locks. No difference was made either in the projectile or in the charge of powder at this time.

In 1842, a new percussion musket was adopted. The changes made had reference chiefly to the mechanism of the weapon; the size of the bore remained as before, viz., 753 inch. This large diameter of the barrel, larger than that of the muskets in the hands of the soldiers of all the chief Continental armies, gave an advantage to the British soldier; for while the large musket bullet of the British weapon could not be fired out of any of the Continental muskets, any of the Continental ammunition could be used with the British musket in case of need. This musket was sighted' for 150 yards.

Double-shotted muskets. When smooth-bore weapons were in use, it was an accident of frequent occurrence for two or more charges to be fired off at once, owing to the pieces not having been previously fired, either from carelessness or from nervousness on the part of soldiers; but double-shotting of muskets was also occasionally ordered by the military authorities under special circumstances. According to the French official reports of the Crimean war, quoted by Dr. Chenu, each infantry soldier in the field was furnished with ten spare bullets, carried loose, in addition to his 54 rounds of cartridges. The loose bullets were ordered to be employed in certain cases of fire at short distances, one being added at each discharge of the weapon. There were thus two bullets to one charge of powder.

Rifled muskets and their projectiles. The invention of spiral rifling of portable fire-arms occurred about the year 1520, but was not then turned to practical account in the military service. There was considerable difficulty and much loss of time in loading the early kinds of rifled muskets, and these inconveniences were, no doubt, the causes which prevented their adoption for army purposes. It was only at the commencement of the present century that a rifled musket was placed in the hands of British troops. In the year 1800, the 95th regiment, afterwards named the Rifle Brigade, was armed with a weapon known by the name of 'Baker's rifle.' It was fitted with seven slightly twisted grooves, and could only be loaded with great difficulty. The projectile was a spherical leaden ball, and there were 20 of them to the pound weight. In 1836, a two-grooved rifle, called the Brunswick rifle,' was issued to the same regiment instead of the

6

FIG. 16.

Baker rifle. The two grooves made one turn in the length of the barrel. The bullet, a round one, was provided, as shown in the illustration (fig. 16), with a projecting belt, which had to be placed in the terminations of the two grooves, at the mouth of the musket, in the act of loading. The weight of the bullet was 557 grains; its diameter, 696 inch; the charge of powder, 2 drachms. The

O

Brunswick Rifle Bullet, and Muzzle.

aim with this rifle was said to be accurate up to about 400 yards. The imperfection and comparative inefficiency of the 7-grooved rifle previously in use may be readily understood when it is mentioned that for loading it the soldier had at one time a mallet issued to him for driving down the bullet, which was a little larger than the bore of the rifle. Only one quarter of a turn could be given to the grooves in this rifle, owing to the danger of stripping' while forcing the ball down the barrel. With the belted ball of the two-grooved rifle a great part of the labour of inserting the bullet was got rid of, and one whole turn was given to the rifling. When this change was made, a soldier of the rifle corps was able to strike an object at 300 yards with more certainty than he had been able to do previously at 150 yards.

FIG. 17.

(a)

(6)

Minié rifle. In 1851, a rifled musket and special projectile, invented by Captain Minié, a French officer, were issued to a part of the troops of the British army. This weapon took the place of the smooth-bore percussion musket. The essential features of the bullet used with this new fire-arm were a change in its form, and the addition of a culot,' or small hemispherical iron cup, at its base. By means of the culot the lead of the bullet in the act of discharge was expanded and forced into the grooves of the rifle. The gas evolved in the explosion of the gunpowder was prevented from escaping by the side of the bullet, which completely blocked the barrel, and thus a longer range and greater accuracy of flight were ensured. The bullet used with the English Minié rifle was a very large one; it was 680 grains in weight, and its diameter was 69 inch. The form (fig. 17) was at first (a) conoidal,

Minié Rifle Bullet.

but was subsequently changed to (b) cylindro-conoidal. The charge of powder was two drachms and a half. The weapon was sighted

for ranges of from 100 to 1000 yards, and its point-blank range was 177 yards. This was the weapon with which a large number of the British troops were armed when they landed in the Crimea in 1854, and that was used by them at the battles of Alma and Inkerman. In consequence of the iron cup being occasionally driven through the bullet, leaving the latter a cylinder of lead inside the fire-arm, a boxwood plug was substituted for it, and to give additional ease in loading, the diameter was reduced from 690 to 675 inch.

FIG. 18.

(a)

Enfield rifle. In the year 1855, while the Russian war was in progress, a lighter and still more effective weapon was issued to the British army, instead of the Minié rifle of 1851, and the percussion muskets of 1842, which were still in use in some regiments. This was the Enfield rifle of 577 inch bore. It remained the weapon of the British infantry until the year 1871, when it was replaced by an entirely new rifle; but several important changes and improvements were made in it during this interval. The bullet first used with the Enfield rifle was of a cylindro-conoidal form, with a hollow base without any cup or plug. Its weight was 530 grains, and its diameter 568 inch. An iron cup was afterwards placed within the cavity of the base, similar to the cup in the Minié rifle bullet, and this was again changed for a boxwood plug. Short Enfield rifles. were supplied to the Rifle Brigade and 60th Rifles, which were 6 inches less in the length of the barrel than those issued to the troops in general. Steps were taken to ensure a perfect quality of lead for the Enfield rifle bullets, because even a slight impurity was found to affect their weight, evenness of consistence, and expansion. The new bullets were pressed into shape by machinery from rods of pure lead, and there was now found to be scarcely any perceptible difference in their respective weights. Their even density gave them greatly increased efficiency when they were compared with bullets which had been cast in moulds.

(b)

(a) Enfield Rifle Bullet, and (b) its Base with the Box

wood Plug.

A change in the shape of the Enfield bullet was made in 1859, during the Sepoy mutiny, in consequence of complaints coming from India of difficulties in loading the rifle. It was slightly decreased in diameter, and increased in length. The diameter was fixed at 55 inch, and the length 1·09 inch; the weight, with the plug, continued to be 530 grains. (Fig. 18.)

Whitworth rifle bullets.-At the time of the Crimean war, Mr. Whitworth, the well-known mechanist, advocated the use of rifles constructed on principles different from those of the Minié or Enfield rifles. The peculiarity of the Whitworth rifle, like the

FIG. 19.

Whitworth gun before alluded to, consisted in obtaining the rifling by surfaces, not by grooves, as in the other systems. The interior of the barrel was hexagonal, with one turn in 20 inches, and the bore was only 45 inch in diameter. The bullets were of two kinds: hexagonal, corresponding with the interior of the barrel; and cylindrical, with a hollow base, in which last case they were forced during their discharge to take the shape of the interior of the barrel. The cylindrical bullets had therefore to be of comparatively soft metal; but the hexagonal bullets, being independent of expansion, could have any degree of hardness imparted to them, and were usually made of an alloy of lead and tin. This caused the Whitworth hexagonal projectile to differ from all other rifle projectiles in use at the time. (Fig. 18.)

Whitworth's
Hexagonal
Bullet, and

In 1864, three rifle regiments were armed with Whitworth rifles, and other regiments were supplied with 100 Whitworth rifles each, to be tried in different climates. The reports were considered most satisfactory as to power and accuracy; but certain military objections were made to them, which need not be mentioned here. They are now no longer in use as military arms.

section of bore of rifle.

Breech-loading fire-arms. The fire-arms just referred to, both plain and rifled, were loaded at the muzzle; the change to breech-loaders has now to be noticed.

The first breech-loading small arms used in the British service were carbines, issued to a few cavalry regiments in 1858. In 1862, the Government distributed 1000 breech-loading muskets among several regiments for practical trial. The fighting advantages of these weapons were their rapidity of fire and capacity for easy loading in any position of the soldier; among their chief disadvantages were a difficulty in entirely preventing escape of gas at the breech, and the necessity for a special cartridge, such weapons not admitting of discharge with loose powder like the muzzle-loading fire-arms previously in use.

The subject was submitted for consideration to a special committee in 1864, and the result of their deliberations and trials was that arming the infantry with breech-loaders was decided upon; the only question remaining being that of the mechanical form of breech-loading which should be adopted. The proved advantages to the Prussians of the use of breech-loading fire-arms in the war of 1866 against the Austrians hastened the settlement of this point. It was found that, by a system devised by Mr. Snider, Enfield rifles could be converted into serviceable breech-loaders, and the work of transformation was shortly afterwards effected.

Snider converted Enfield rifle. The projectile for these altered rifles was changed in some few respects. The weight was reduced to 480 grains, complete with its plugs. It was 1.04 inch in length. Its hollow base carried a baked clay plug; it had four saw-shaped cannelures round the outer circumference near the base, which served to retain a thin coating of wax; and it also had a wooden plug in the head (fig. 20). The introduction of the last-named plug afforded greater length to the projectile without adding greatly to its weight, at the same time that it disposed the weight of the lead away from the axis of rotation, after the manner of a fly-wheel. From twelve to eighteen shots could be fired in a minute with the Snider converted Enfield rifle. The bullet was expanded by means of the hollow in its base, and of the baked clay plug. The clay plug took the place of the iron cup and boxwood plug which had been used with the Minié and Enfield rifle bullets.

In March 1869 it was settled that the wooden plug in the

Boxer Ammunition for Snider converted Enfield Rifle, (a) Elevation, (b) Section, (c) Clay Plug, (d) Wood Plug.

head of the bullet should be removed, the cavity in the apex being closed by spinning the lead over it. This bullet had therefore both its base and front hollowed out. This was the last form of projectile which was used with the Enfield rifle (fig. 21). It was said that this bullet had all the advantages of accuracy possessed by the previous Enfield bullet, at the same time that it was superior to it as a weapon of destruction; the wounds by this hollow-headed bullet being much more severe and extensive than any inflicted by a solid-headed bullet of the same size.

Previous investigations had tended to show that the calibre, twist, and form of rifling of the Enfield rifle, were not the most favourable for accurate shooting; and it was therefore not unknown that the Enfield would, in time, have to give place to a new breech-loading weapon of smaller calibre, notwithstanding the great outlay which would be involved in the change. A