rifle with metallic cartridge-case, which secured the perfect
obturation of the breech. The Snider breech was a hinged
block, a type much in favour at the time. The French similarly
converted their muzzle-loaders, the converted weapon
being known as the Tabatiére or snuff-box. Other breech
actions on the same principle were the Austrian Werndl and the
Bavarian Podewils and Werder rifles. But these were only
transitional arms. In 1866 France adopted the bolt-action
Chassepot (q.v.); in 1867 Sweden the Hagstrom, and Russia the
Carte; in 1868 Italy the Carcano. All these were breech loaders
Bring paper cartridges containing their own means of
ignition. After further experiments by a fresh committee the
Martini-Henry rifle (fig. 2) was definitely adopted by the British
Government in 1871, with the short chamber Boxer-Henry
ammunition. This rifle was a combination of Martini’s block action
breech mechanism with Henry’s barrel of ·45-in. calibre,
firing a papered bullet of 480 grains from Boxer cases with a wad
of wax lubrication at base of bullet, as proposed by Henry.
The Henry rifling had seven grooves with one turn in 22 in.;
the lands and the centres of the grooves were contained in the
same circle. About the same time or a little later the various
powers re-armed their infantry with breech-loaders of different
patterns and names, all of which were of about 11 mm. (·433 in.)
calibre, and nearly all of the bolt-action type.
Fig. 2.—Martini-Henry.
The next stage in the history of military firearms was the introduction of the repeating or magazine system. The Winchester rifle, an American invention which appeared in 1865, was one of the earliest magazine rifles. This weapon was used by Turkey to some extent in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, but Germany was the first great power to provide its army with a magazine rifle. In 1884 it converted the 1871 pattern Mauser of ·443-in. bore into a magazine rifle, holding eight cartridges in a tube magazine in the fore end. In 1885 France followed with the Lebel, which had an enormous advantage in its smokeless powder. In 1886 the question of the best calibre for small arms was reopened in England. In this year, 1886, Austria had adopted a Mannlicher rifle, ·433 bore, with a straight pull bolt. This rifle was the first adopted by any European nation embodying Lee’s box magazine, an invention patented in 1879 and 1882, and consisting of a box, in rear of and below the entrance to the chamber, containing the cartridges. Another important improvement, the steel clip loaders containing five cartridges, was also introduced with this rifle. In 1888 these rifles were converted to ·315 bore, firing black powder cartridges; and in 1890, on the introduction of smokeless powder, the sights were re-graduated. In 1887 the British Small Arms Committee, after experiments with the small-calibre rifle invented in 1883 by the Swiss Major Rubin, director of the Federal laboratory at Thun, recommended the small calibre for adoption into the British service. The essential features of Rubin’s system were the employment of a compound bullet with a leaden core in a copper envelope, and the use of a compressed charge of black powder. In 1888 a pattern of ·303-in. calibre rifle, rifled on the Metford system and with the improved Lee bolt and magazine, was approved for trial by British troops. The Metford rifling is as follows:—diameter of bore, ·303 in.; depth of rifling, ·004 in.; width of lands, ·023 in.; twist of rifling, one turn in 10 in. (left-hand); radial grooves, seven in number. About 1862, and later, W. E. Metford had carried out an exhaustive series of experiments on bullets and rifling. He invented the important system of light rifling, with increasing spiral with a hardened bullet. The Metford match rifle was prominent in all N.R.A. competitions from 1871 to 1894. In 1887 he laid down for the Small Arms Committee the proper proportions for the grooving, spiral and cartridge chamber of the ·303 military rifle. This weapon proved satisfactory and was adopted by the War Office as the Lee-Metford rifle, Mark I., in December 1888. It had a magazine of eight cartridges. In 1891 the Mark II. pattern was approved, with a ten-cartridge magazine, a simplified bolt, and many minor improvements. A magazine carbine with barrel 21 in. long and a six-cartridge magazine, otherwise identical with the Lee-Metford Mark II., was also approved. The Lee-Metford Mark II. rifle was subsequently further improved in its rifling to resist the wear of smokeless powder, and also in its bolt action, and became known as the Lee-Enfield rifle, and under that name was officially adopted as the rifle of the British army. The number of grooves were reduced from seven to five. Neither the Lee-Metford nor the Lee-Enfield has increasing spiral grooves, which are found inconvenient for military arms from a manufacturing point of view.[1] The L.M. and L.E. carbines are similar to the shorter models of the rifles, but are covered for the whole length of the barrel by a wooden hand guard and take only six cartridges; the fore-sights are protected by wings on the nose-cap, and the long-range sights are omitted. These, as also the Martini-Metford and Martini-Enfield carbines (falling-block action small-bores), have practically been replaced by the “short” rifle described below.
The efficiency of the modern small-bore magazine rifle is largely due to the production of smokeless nitro-compound powder. France was the first country to adopt, about 1885, a smokeless powder with the Lebel magazine rifle. It was known as “Vieille” powder, or “Poudre B” (after General Boulanger). Since then smokeless explosives have been universally adopted in all small-bore magazine military rifles. The smokeless explosive known as “Cordite” or “Cordite M.D.” (see Cordite) is used for the cartridges of the Lee-Metford and Lee-Enfield rifles and rifle-calibre machine guns. (H. S.-K.)
Military Rifles of To-day.—About 1900, the various armies were equipped with weapons of nearly equal efficiency. The weights varied between 814 and 914 ℔, the lengths between 49 and 52 in.; the calibres were ·315, ·311, ·303, with one or two ·256. None of the rifles were sighted to less than 2000 yds., and nearly all had a “fixed” or “battle” sight. All were bolt-action rifles, and had a muzzle velocity of about 2000 f.s. (the ·256 Mannlichers, about 2300 f.s.). Except France, with the tube-magazine Lebel, Denmark and the U.S.A. with the horizontal-box Krag-Jörgensen, and Great Britain, all nations used multiple-loading by clip or charger. With Lebel and Krag-Jörgensen weapons, multiple-loading is a practical impossibility, but in Great Britain the charger was deliberately rejected. It was desired to use the rifle normally as a
- ↑ Of all modern military rifles, the Italian 1891 weapon alone has an increasing twist.
