The Rival Breach-Loaders.

Cromwell Argus, Volume 1, Issue 49, 19 October 1870, Page 6

The Rival Breach-Loaders.

( Ifarper'a Weekly.) The Prussian nee Ho gun, teste! at Sidowa, on a grand scale, anil the French (Jhassepob riHe, which did wmiders at Men tana on a small one, are about to have their respective qualities put to a. severe trial. The needle gun did more than conquer the >ustrians at .Sadowa. lb kept France from intervening against Prussia when that power aggrandised itself by appropriating the territory of its helpless neighbors. ft kept France from precipitating hostilities when Bismarck refused compliance with the Emperor's demands in regard to Luxemburg. And but for the invention of the Chassepot rirle, which is claimed by the French to be superior to the needle gun, it would have kept France back from the present war. The Prussian needle gun is the invention of Herr Dreyse. a gun manufacturer, who spent thirty years in trying to construct a perfect breech-loading ritle that would be of practical use in war. The barrel is 36.0(5 inches long, and is rifled with four grooves down to tho broech, where the chamber, or bed for the cartridge, is smooth and a little larger than the bore. The bed enlarges slightly to the rear, so as to admit the cartridge freely ; and the lower part of the bore, for a distance of 6.17 inches, is enlarged so that the ball is gradually compressed into the grooves. The rear of the barrel is conical, and is called the mouth-piece. Over this part there is a six-sided cylinder, whiek holds all the meehanisra of the piece. The airchamber, next to the cvlinder, has the needle pipe screwed into its breech. The cartridge is inserted at the rear, and the ignition is produced by the intrusion of a needle into the fulminante attached to the cartridge. The ball is a spheroconical, and the powder charge is 56 grains. The weight of this gun is 11 lbs. The mechanism can be taken apart without a screwdriver, vice, &c. It can be safely and easily cleaned, and the gun being small, is particularly adapted for use in the contracted space of loopholes, on horseback, &c. The objections to the Prussian needle gun are, the dangei of weakening the spiral spring, aud the possibility that the needle may not be propelled with sufficient force to pierce the cartridge. The French claim that their gun, which is named after the inventer, M. Chassepdt, is the most efficient weapon ever put into the hands of an army. [t bears some resemblance to the needle gun, but has this advantage over it, that its mechanism is much more simple, and less liable to become clogged or to get out of order. The needle gun, after it has been discharged several times in quick succession, becomes hot and damp in the chamber, owing to the inability of the gas that comes back after the explosion of the cartridge to escape. The inside soon becomes dirty, and the soldier is required to take his piece apart and clean it. The French gun is subject to none of these disadvantages. It allows the free escape of gas after each discharge, and can be cleansed from dirt or rust with very little loss of time. The Chassepdt projectile is a rather long slug, with the end rounded aud pointed like our rifle ball. The charge, which is attached to it in a paper covering, is composed of a peculiar powder, specially manufactured for the purpose. The distance at which thisguu carries with certainty is very considerable—over 100 metres.