Battle of Sluys Slois

The Martini-Henry Rifle.

The bullet first used weighed grains and was lubricated by a wax wad between it and the powder. The bore was -45 in., with seven grooves twisting one turn in 22 in., and, after further improvement of both the car tridge and the action, this rifle was adopted in 1871, though at the time it was realized that its ejection was not sufficiently powerful. Its general design was a breech-block, hinged in rear, and containing a firing pin and spring. A lever underneath the butt, when operated by hand, moved this breech-block in a ver tical arc round its axis, so opening and closing the breech, and at the same time cocking the hammer. In 5884-85 Germany and France converted their single-loading rifles to embody a maga zine, consisting of a tube in the fore-end underneath the barrel. These improvements, and further experiments in England with reduced calibres, led the appropriate committee to recommend first the adoption of the small calibre, and later a magazine rifle of .303 bore embodying the Lee breech bolt action and box magazine, with rifling of the Metford system, namely, seven shallow grooves twisting one turn in ten inches.

The Lee-Metford and Lee-Enfield Rifles.

This rifle became known as the Lee-Metford, and was adopted in 1888. Later, when cordite was introduced in 1893, the erosive effect of this propellent was found to be such that the rifling quickly dis appeared. For this reason, a system of rifling known as the Enfield was adopted, which had five grooves of square section, twisting one turn in io in. and which has not since been changed for the British army rifle. On the change to this system of grooves, the rifle was re-named the Lee-Enfield. This was the rifle used in the Boer War of 1899-1902. A Lee-Enfield carbine, with a barrel shortened to reduce weight, was the firearm of the cavalry in that war. This shortening of the barrel caused a portion of the cordite charge to be unconsumed before the bullet left the bore, and the velocity of this weapon was appreciably below that of the rifle, which necessitated greater elevation of the carbine for corresponding ranges. The trajectories of the bullets fired from the carbine being very high and curved, the difficulty of hitting the mark was increased. In consequence, after that war a compromise was made, and a rifle, some 1 lb. 21 oz. lighter, and 41 in. shorter, was introduced for both cavalry and infantry in lieu of the Lee-Enfield. This was called the Short Magazine Lee Enfield Mk. 1, and is, with minor improvements, the weapon which is still in the hands of the troops.

In general quite similar developments may be noticed in the military small arms of other principal nations. Thus in the United States of America the flint lock, muzzle loading rifle was intro duced by the Germans and Swiss who settled in Pennsylvania, and starting as early as 173o it became the chosen weapon of the frontiersman, and was used to some extent in the American Revo lution and in the War of 1812. Its calibre varied from about .32-inch to about .6o-inch, and its barrel was usually very long. It was popularly known as the "Kentucky" rifle. After the Revo lution the government contracted from time to time for a small supply of quite similar rifles for military use until 1842 when the manufacture of military rifles was undertaken at the national armory at Springfield, Mass.

The majority of Continental troops in the Revolution were armed with the Charleville musket, Model of 1763, purchased from the French. This was a smooth bore, muzzle loading, flint lock weapon of .69 calibre, firing a spherical lead ball weighing about 44o grains. An almost exact copy of this musket, known as the Model 1799, was afterwards manufactured at Springfield Armory, and was the first standard military small arm manufac tured by the United States for its forces. This musket, with minor improvements, remained in general use until 1842, when a muzzle loading percussion lock rifle of .58 calibre shooting a spherical bullet was adopted, this year seeing the definite adoption of both rifle and percussion lock by the United States forces. Cer tain minor improvements continued, the principal weapon used in the Civil War being the Niodel of 1861, a percussion lock muzzle loading rifle of .58 calibre, shooting a 48o grain conical Minie bullet.

The year 1866 saw the adoption of the Springfield breech load ing rifle, shooting a centre-fire metallic cartridge of .5o calibre using a grooved and lubricated lead bullet of 450 grains with a powder charge of 70 grains of black powder, the muzzle velocity being 1,240 feet per second. In 1873 this Springfield breech load ing, single shot rifle was further improved and the calibre was changed to .45. The new cartridge, remaining the standard until 1892, consisted of a centre fire brass case containing 7o grains of F.G. black powder and a conical, grooved, lubricated, lead bullet of either 405 or 500 grains, the 405 grain bullet being usually used in the short barreled cavalry carbine, and the 50o grain bullet in the infantry rifle. The muzzle velocity of the rifle with 500 grain bullet was 1,315 feet per second.