THE GREAT EXHIBITION.—COLT'S REVOLVERS.

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 582, 12 November 1851, Page 3

THE GREAT EXHIBITION.— COLT'S REVOLVERS.

(From the Times ) An. visitors of the Great Exhibition must have re* marked a kind of oasis m the desolate prairie appiopriated to the reception of the numerous consignments expected from the Unitpd States. However piofound may be the adjacent solitudes, here, at least, a knot of enterprising travellers may always be seen gathered around a kind of military trophy which is affixed to the northern side of the nave. This grim display consists of numeroui pistols of different dimensions, symmetrically arranged in rows against the wall, or in cases upon a small counter, and constitutes the most important contribution of our Transatlantic friends to the Exhibition of the Industry of all Nations. Have you a difference of opinion with a rival legislotor"? Would you clear your path of a troublesome competitor in the walkh of art or liteiature? Is it necessary to give a draft at sight for losses incurred at the gambling table 1 Would you transfer your talents to the " diggins," and secure your profits against the impure rapacity of your contemporaries? Would you enrol your name among the pioneers of civilization in Texas, or join Sir Harry Smith at the Cape?— here are the means of gratifying all your desires and carrying all your enterprises to a successful issue. You btand before the counter of the American Jenner. Here you may make yourself acquainted with the new method of vaccination as performed by the piactitioners of the Far West upon the rude tribes who yet incumber the wilderness with their presence. This, in a word, is the stand of Samuel Colt, the inventor of the six-barrelled revolving pistol, an arm which in all probability will supersede the fire-arms at present carried by the cavalry "of every military power, and which, by an extension of the invention, might be made equally applicable to the efficiency of the foot service. The weapon is of the simplest kind, although it is clear enough that a vast amount of pains must have been bestowed upon the attainment of what seems a very simple result. Two kinds of pistols have been invented by Mr. Colt — the one he terms a " holstc," the other a " belt" pistol. The weight of the first is 41b. 40c. ; of the second, 21b. 6oz. The arm in either cnse consists of a revolving cylinder, containing six charges and one barrel. Nor, as is frequently the case with inventions of this kind, are the caps which have been fitted ready for use liable to fall off, or to derangement from other sources. The position of the cones secures the caps in their places. Again, another objection to arms of this description has arisen from the uncertainty of mm resulting from Ibe inter 'erence of the bulge of the cylinder with the line of sight. There is nothing of the sort here. For the delivery of each of the six successive sbots you have as smooth a level through the sight as in an ordinary duelling pistol. The only act the marksman is called upon to perform — when the weapon is once prepared for ure — consists in raising the hammer to the full cock with the thumb, as in the ordinary pistol. He may all the wlii'e maintain his level, and keep his finger steady to the trigger. Of the terribie celerity with which fiie may be delivered with this aim nn idea may be formed from the result of the following trial, which waa performed under the eyes of the naval authorities in the United States: — A i supply of these arms was delivered to eight marines, who in five minutes' space discharged with effect no less than 184 balls. Even greater celerity could have been obtained had the men been practised with tbe weapon. One of the men had discharged thirty balls — the number with which each had been furnished — and was calling for an additional supply before the expiration of the time. It appears to us of the greatest moment, now that wo are about to despatch a cavalry regiment upon Guerilla service against the Caffres, that the policy of adopting tbis weapon should receive the careful but immediate consideration of the proper departments. There is no question here of a speculating projector. It has been proved on actual service by the United States' forces during the Mexican war that the efficiency of a body of cavalry is tripled by the use of this weapon. The Ordnance Department of the United States adopted it in use, and ordered a supply of these weapons by thousands, even without waiting for a special vote of Congress. Nor was the decision arrived at by the Ordnance authorities in tbe United States hasty or premature, as tbe following extiact from the Journal oi tbe Board will prove*.— ''Mr. Colt, by request of the Board, fired his pistol to show the penetration of the balls, and the number of times it could be [fired without the revolution of the cylinder being suspended by the clogging of the caps, the slugging of the lead, or tbe collection of dirt on tbe I base pin. " The Board directed that two of Colt's pistols be fired 200 times each, and that during the firing it be observed — " 1. What number of times the cylinder may be discharged before its revolution is suspended by the accumulation of the deposits from the smoke. " 2. Whether the exploded caps ever remain in the cone recess so as to produce any serious obstruction. " 3. How many discharges may be made before the bores become so foul as to render it difficult to force in tbe balls by tbe lever. fi 4. Whether, in firing, any lead from thejballs is thrown out at the joint between the barrel and cylinders. " To determine these points, Colt's holster pistol was fired twelve hundred times, and his belt pistol fifteen hundred times, cleaning but once a (lay, when the Board determined that no further trial was necessary ; and they have reported that ' neither of the pistols appeared to be injured by the firing.' The penetration of Colt's holster pistol was found to be through seven inches of board, and hU belt pistol through six inches, while the highest penetration of the common dragoon pistol was only through five inches." We find it stated, moreover, in the Report of the Committee on Military Affairs, made during the first session of the last Congress, that the following officers had reported in decided terms in favour of the adoption of these arms : —Major-General Taylor, General Twiggs, Major-General Quitman, Brigadier-Generals Shields and [Pieice, the Inspector-General, Colonel Croghan, j Colonels Harney, Davis, and many other officers whose j names it would'be superfluous to give at length. It is, | hewever, important to establish that the committee agreed in opinion with the officers named, '' when they state that one hundred cavalry armed with the repeating pistol would be at least as efficient as three hundred armed in the oidinary way." They recommend that all the mounted men belonging to the United States' military establishment should be supplied with these weapons. They report, finally , that, in their opinion, '• Colt's repeating pistols are the most efficient arm for mounted men and frontier troops, now known or used." As we mentioned above, the proper authoiities have actually acted upon the recommendation. It may appear at fiist sight a very questionable employment to suggest the adoption of perhaps the most terrible implement of destruction erer delivered into the human hand. We certainly have no desire to see a <> Colt's revolver" generally worn as the complement of an English gentleman's walking costume. As a military question it is different. We are bound to take care that our soldiers are supplied with the most efficient means of destroying any enemy with whom they may be brought into contest. It would be needless to indulge in commonplace for the purpose of showing that in all cases it is the most merciful course to bring against an ent'my the most efficient weapons of offence that theingpnuity of the age may have devised. Better a short than a long war — better one than twenty miles — if war and battles there must be. Be this, however, aa it may, il. is sufficient for the argument to rest it upon the ground of tbe additional security given to our own sol-

(hers by furnishing them with weapons sue!) as these. Why should not the arm which lias secured the safety of the United States' dragoon in Texas, m Flouda, in Mexico, he placed in the hands of the F-nglish Lancer at the Cape or in Upper India? In the navy, too, tho adoption of the weapon would appear equally advisable. In boarding', or at close quarters the sailor, who heretofore has discharged a single shot and then probably hurled his pistol at the enemy, could, with one of these weapons in his hand, clear his way with safety to himself. At least it would he an act of sound policy to adopt the use of the weapon in the regiment about to be despatched to the Cape. In conclusion, we would remark upon the practical proof afforded by this inyention of the folly of accumulating great stores of weapons in times such as ours, when one invention is so constantly superseded by another. Our store of carbines and holster pistols will shortly he 1 ejected as lumber, just as the thousands of old flint muskets wera before them when the percussion principle came into use.