What Will Burst a Gua

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 1474, 7 October 1885, Page 5 (Supplement)

What Will Burst a Gua

In bravado a young man placed the muzzle of His fowling piece under the water and fired the charge. The result was the busting of the hanvl near the breech, aud the mutilation of his han<l. Another 'placed and hejd the muzzle of his gun .square against a piece of plate window glass ami fired the chsirge powder and ballet. The glass w.m shattered, so was the gun-barrel Another instance Vas that of au experimenter who had heard that a candle eouM be fired from the barrel of a gun through an inch-board, He drove a candle into the muzzle of the gun, fired, and the explosion split the barrel almost its entire length, and did not even drive the candle from the "muzzle. Still another burst of a gun- barrel was caused l»y the use of wet grass as a wad, well rammed down over a charge of shot. But -perilling one of the most singular exhibitions m this line was a Colt navy revolver, which some years ago was sent to the factory m Harttord, Conn. This was before the adaption of these pistols to the motallic cartridges, and it is probale that m loading with open powder and ball only a small amount of powder got into (he chambers, and the hullet was not propelled with sufficient force to drive it from the muzzle ; at least the bullet did not go out but lodged. As the shooter did not know whether the bullet escaped or not, he kept on firing until the barrel burst, or bulged, and when it . was sawn m two longitudinally there were found fourteen bullets wedged one into the other, and so much "Hpset" liy the hammering of the successive explosions of the powder charges that some of them were not le:«s than one inch m diameter, flattened discs instead of conical bullets. — Manufacturer and Builder.