magazine Rifle Issued to the Troops.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 450, 1 March 1890, Page 3

magazine Rifle Issued to the Troops.

The new magazino rifle has been issued to the infantry battalions at Aldershot, and meanwhile Sir Evelyn Wood has stopped the further instruction of the younger soldiers in the use of the Martini-Henry. As two of the battalions at the camp are shortly te be sent abroad to India and Malta these will not receive the new weapon. The battalions to be immediately armed with it are the 2nd Royal Scots, the 2nd East Kent, the Ist Kings, Liverpool, the Ist Devonshire, the Ist King’s Rifles, and the Ist S. Wales Borderers, and later the Ist Royal West Surrey on arrival from Ireland in January. After its several modifications the rifle as now to be issued weighs, with magazine empty, nine pounds and a half, and the short double-edged sword bayonet adds barely another pound. The magazine easily placed position under the stock, and in front of the trigger is a handy box of sheet steel capable of holding eight cartridges, which may be inserted either when the magazine is detached or in position. By an ingenious arrangement the magazine while still attached can be separated from the general action, and until the occurrence of a critical moment, in which extra rapid firing is required, the rifle may be loaded and fired after the ordinary single shot fashion.