Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/349

 KIFLE 333 closes the breech lies in the receiver. To open the breech, the breech block moves upward and forward about a hinge in its front and on top of the barrel. The movement of the hinge in opening the breech block ejects the shell of the exploded cartridge by a combined cam and spring. In the rear of the breech block is a cam with an eccentric handle used for lifting the block, and so arranged that unless the block is closed the hammer cannot strike the firing pin, but will merely strike the handle. The firing pin goes through the breech block in an inclined direction from the nose of the hammer at the side to the centre of the rear of the chamber, where it strikes the head of the cartridge, exploding the fulminate when its rear end is struck by the hammer. This rifle was selected by a board of officers of the army in 1873 from about 100 competitors. Its calibre is -45 in., and it has three grooves equal in width to the lands, and a twist of 22 in. FIG. 15. Martini-Henry Gun. The rifle adopted for the military service by the British government is the Martini-Henry, in which the breech action is the invention of Martini, and the rifling that of Henry (not the inventor of the Henry gun), which has already been described. The Martini breech action appears to have been taken from the Peabody gun, an American invention. In the latter the breech block revolves about an axis at its rear end, and the front end falls to open the breech. In the act of falling it moves a bent lever which ejects the shell. The motion of the breech block in the Martini is the same as that in the Peabody ; but the Martini breech block contains the lock, differing in this re- spect from the Peabody, in which the ordinary FIG. 16. Peabody Rifle. side lock is used. Turkey has adopted the Mar- tini-Henry gun. The calibre of this rifle is -45 in., the rifling the Henry, with seven grooves. The twist is 22 in. The first step made by the British government in the direction of breech- loading small arms was in the alteration of the FIG. 17. Snider Breech Action Rifle. Enfield muzzle-loader to the breech-loading system by the Snider plan, about 1866. The breech block in this system revolves about an axis parallel to the axis of the bore, and at its right. The firing pin passes obliquely from the nose of the hammer through the breech block to the centre of the base of the cartridge. In 1869 Kussia ordered from the United States 30,000 metallic-cartridge rifles, consisting of a combination of the Springfield breech-loader and a spiral spring lock. This was the first movement in arming an enormous army like that of Kussia with metallic-cartridge arms. The questions of the kind of cartridge and diameter of bore and rifling were carefully studied by the Russian officers in the United States under Maj. Gen. Gorloff, and their re- sults were adopted by the Russian government. The calibre adopted was '42 in. ; the ball FIG. 18. Gorloff Russian Breech-loader. weighed 380 grs., the powder 77 grs. ; and the cartridge case was brass, central fire. There were six grooves, each -175 in. broad, and the twist was 22 in. Major Pieri of the French army has adopted the same calibre in a breech- loading rifle lately invented by him. In this arm the rifling is peculiar, and there is no trigger nor trigger guard on the lower side of the stock. The rifle is fired by touching a thumb piece on the upper side of the stock, behind the breech action. In other respects it is similar to the Chassepot. Afterward Russia adopted in place of the Gorloff a bolt gun which takes the same cartridge, the in- vention of the American Col. Hiram Berdan. Since the Franco-German war, Germany has changed her needle gun, with paper or linen