Shooting the War

THE BREECH-LOADING RIFLE
From 1857 breech-loading rifles began to appear experimentally in the British Army. These, the first military breechloaders since the Ferguson rifle, were in fact all carbines and were issued for trial to certain cavalry regiments. There were four different patterns: the Terry and the Westley Richards, which were of British design, and the Sharps And the Greene, which were American.
The Terry carbine was made by the firm of Callisher & Terry of Birmingham and 28 Norfolk Street, London. It was a new firm, for it was only established in 1855, and the mechanism invented by the junior partner was patented in 1856. It is of particular interest in that it introduced into the British Army the bolt action, which was later to become almost universal for non-automatic military rifles. The Terry bolt had a coned head which fitted into the correspondingly shaped rear end of the chamber. The bolt was opened by a hinged handle, fitted at its rear end, which was pulled, outwards to withdraw it. When the bolt was closed part of the handle filled up the loading aperture. The bolt was held in position by rear locking lugs (foreshadowing later British practice) which bore against shoulders on the standing breech.
The Terry was of the type known as a ‘capping breechloader’. That is to say, the cartridge used with it contained only the charge of powder and the bullet, the detonating mixture being contained in a separate percussion cap. The Terry cartridge was made of nitrated paper and had a wad of greased felt behind the powder charge and attached to the base. After the discharge of the cartridge this wad remained in the breech and the following round was loaded behind it. After the next shot it was thrust forward in front of the bullet, cleaning and greasing the barrel.
The Terry carbine was a very successful weapon. It was purchased extensively by the Confederacy during the American Civil war and was known as the ‘door bolt’ breech-loader. The famous Confederate cavalry leader General Jeb Stuart had one.
The American Sharps carbine was a much earlier design, having been invented by Christian Sharps in 1848. Its most noteworthy .feature was a ‘falling’ breech block. This opened vertically when actuated by a trigger guard, hinged to move forwards and downwards; but it also fell open when the carbine was held muzzle down. The cartridge case was made of treated linen; and the breech block had a sharp forward edge which, as the block was closed, sliced off the end of this case to expose the powder. The linen was consumed on the explosion of the charge. The first models had separate percussion caps, but the later ones, including those supplied to the British Government, were fitted with the Maynard tape primer, which was rather similar to the strip of caps made for toy pistols, and which  was invented by an American dentist. (It almost seems as if Maynard was more interested in ammunition than he was in teeth, for in 1856 he patented a metallic cartridge with an expanding case.)
The Sharps carbine had an interesting, if somewhat disreputable, history in the years before the outbreak of the American Civil war. The admission of Kansas as a State of the Union was the occasion of a bitter struggle between those who wished to see slave labour introduced and those who were opposed to it. In Massachusetts the New England Emigrant Aid Company was formed to send settlers to Kansas who were opposed to slavery. Many of these were established in the Kansas town of Lawrence, and here armed clashes occurred with slave-state supporters from Missouri. Considerable damage was done in Lawrence both to the homes of the settlers and the public buildings. In revenge the famous, or infamous, John Brown (depending on one’s point of view), in company with a small body of settlers and four of his own sons, seized five of the principal advocates of the slavery movement and killed them. The New England Emigrant Aid Company had supplied the settlers with Sharps carbines-, and a further twenty-five were presented on behalf of the Congregational Church of Plymouth, Massachusetts, by its minister, the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher. From this latter source of supply the Sharps carbines acquired the colloquial name of `Beecher’s Bibles’.
In 1859 John Brown, in command of a motley detachment of eighteen men, including his sons, his brother-in-law and six negroes, seized the Federal Arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. Armed with Beecher’s Bibles they then held off attacks by the local militia, until finally forced to surrender by Colonel Robert E. Lee in command of a small force of Marines. John Brown was hanged, but his name has been immortalized in a great Union song which has become one of the most rousing military marches of all time. The far greater man who captured him was to become the brilliant leader in the field of the forces which John Brown had opposed. In the meantime, amongst the relics of this episode is a Sharps ‘Beecher’s Bible’ carbine on which is engraved the name ‘John Brown Jr. .
The Greene, the other American carbine, had an entirely fixed breech and a barrel which rotated and moved forward for loading. The breech and the barrel’were locked’ together by lugs. The principle was not a new one, and the Greene does not seem to have been favourably received; for although 2000 were bought it appears that many were never issued.
The Westley Richards carbine was made by the famous-firm, the early history of which has already been given. As stated in Chapter X111, Westley Richards succeeded his father in 1855, and the name of the firm became Westley Richards & Company. Three years later he patented his capping breech-loader carbine. The mechanism of this, though rather complicated, was the most efficient of the four carbines. The breech was opened and closed by means of a long arm, the forward part of which was hinged to the rear of the barrel. When the breech was closed the rear end of the arm rested in a recess cut along the top of the small of the butt. Raising the arm vertically opened the breech. Attached to the under part of this arm was an elongated plunger, at the forward end of which was a brass breech plug. When closed, the rear end of the plunger butted against an iron shoe, which held it in position against the breech pressure. The plunger had a little free movement ‘fore and aft’ on the arm to ease the action of opening and closing. From its distinctive arm the Westley Richards acquire the nickname of ‘Monkey-Tail’. The cartridge was the same as that used with-the Terry carbine.
The Westley Richards was far the most successful of the four carbines under trial, and in 1861 it was approved as the firearm for the cavalry of the Army. Even when n the Snider was approved for all arms of the Regular Army, it was not entirely displaced; for it was issued to the Yeomanry and was the ‘Standard carbine of the second-line cavalry for many’ years. Abroad the Portuguese Government took a fancy to it and adopted it for use in the army.
Although the cavalry now had a breech-loading rifled firearm, the rest of the Army was equipped with the muzzle-loading Enfield, or (in the case of the Royal Engineers) Lancaster. Breech-loaders were, however, already a commonplace amongst sporting weapons, and it was clear that the muzzle-loader was obsolescent. Several foreign armies were now equipped or partially equipped with breech-loading rifles. Although the American Civil war had been mostly fought with muzzle-loaders, many units in the Union armies had been equipped with Sharps rifles, and several other makes were in use on both sides. On the continent of Europe the Prussian Army had adopted the bolt-action needle gun in 1848, and its superiority over the weapons of opposing armies was evident. in the wars against Denmark in 1864 and Austria in 1866.
In 1864, therefore, a Select Committee was appointed to consider the equipment of the whole Army with breech-loaders, and to study designs for this purpose. The Committee decided that the only practicable method of doing this quickly was to select a mechanism which would permit the conversion of the Army’s large stock of comparatively new muzzle-loading Enfields. Conversion could only be regarded as an interim measure, but it was considered that the selection of the best type of breech-loading rifle for the Army was of less urgency than the provision of some form of breech-loader.
The breech-loading mechanism which was chosen by the Committee was designed by Jacob Snider of New York. The breech was closed by a block which was hinged laterally on the right, and fitted into a recess behind the barrel. To open the breech a thumb piece was pressed which caused the block to swing over to the right. At first it was intended that the Enfield cartridge with its separate cap should be used, and the cap holder and ignition hole formed part of the block.
This was not, however, a very satisfactory answer, for it introduced certain weaknesses. It was decided, therefore, to use a cartridge which incorporated its own detonator. The original Enfield lock and hammer were still retained, but in. place of the nipple the block was pierced obliquely for a striker, the head of which protruded in the part of the block which had been occupied by the nipple. A centre-fire cartridge was adopted, and a claw extractor was fitted to the breech mechanism. This pulled the cartridge case partially out when the breech was opened, and it was then thrown clear by turning the .rifle upside down.
The first cartridge used had a cartridge paper body and a brass base. This was disappointing, and finally the brass-bodied cartridge devised by Colonel Boxer was adopted. This final development took place in 1.867; but in the meantime issue to the troops of the Snider-Enfield, already modified to take a centre-fire cartridge, had started in 1865.
The story of the self-contained cartridge is interesting. The first one seems to have been produced by the inventive Genevan gunsmith of Paris, Jean Samuel Pauly, whose invention of a pellet detonator in 1812 was mentioned in Chapter X. Some time between 1812 and 1815 Pauly produced a centre-fire paper cartridge, affixed to the base of which was a metal rosette containing the detonating mixture. The paper cartridge cannot have been very satisfactory, for shortly afterwards he tried a brass cartridge. The brass, however, was too thick and heavy for the casing t6 expand sufficiently to make a gas-tight seal.
It seems likely that little was required to make a success of Pauly’s invention; and yet, surprisingly, nothing further was apparently attempted for another fifteen years. In 1831 Moser, a foreign engineer, took out a British patent for a muzzle-loader which had a needle-fire cartridge. In 1836 rem Dreyse, a Prussian gunsmith. who had worked under Pauly, produced a breech-loading needle gun; and this was the bolt-action weapon which was adopted by the Prussian Army in 1848. The cartridge was made of combustible paper, and a pellet of fulminate was inserted between the powder charge and the bullet. Fitted to the bolt was a long needle-like striker which penetrated the base of the cartridge and went forward through the powder to pierce the doonator. Though successful in action, the needle gun was a dirty weapon. The needle got badly corroded and the breech became blocked with fouling.
The next major development was the invention by a Frenchman named Houillier, in 1846, of the pin-fire cartridge. The casing was made of thick coiled paper with a base of copper or brass. - Protruding at right angles from the side of the cartridge case, and at the base end where the wall was of metal, Was a pin. This pin was struck by a hammer, which drove it into a detonator inside the cartridge. The following year another Frenchman, Flobert, produced the first rim-fire cartridge. The principle of this has been explained in Chapter XIV, and it differs little from the rim-fire cartridges which are used to-day; chiefly for -22 calibre weapons.
In 185z Lancaster, who, it will be remembered, designed the muzzle-loading rifle which had been adopted for the Royal Engineers, brought out a breech-loading rifle which took a centre-fire cartridge of his own design. Inside the cartridge case, and a short distance from the base, was a perforated metal disc. Between this disc and the base was the detonating mixture: base, disc and detonator forming a sandwich. When the striker hit the base, it was indented, compressing the detonator and causing an explosion. The flash from the detonator passed through the perforations of the disc to the powder charge. The success of the Lancaster cartridge led to the adoption of a centre-fire cartridge for the Snider,
Some years previously, probably about 1839, another Frenchman, Pottet, invented a tapered expanding cartridge made of rolled paper with a metal base. In the centre of the base there was an aperture, and on the inner side of this was fixed a chamber containing a detonator, and having a small hole communicating with the powder charge. In 1857 Pottet patented his invention, but there was apparently no machinery available to manufacture it and hand manufacture would have been too expensive.
Yet another Frenchman, F. E. Schneider of Paris, patented an improved version of the Pottet cartridge, and this was introduced into England by the gunmaking firm of Witton and Daw (the successors to George H. Daw). This was the centre-fire cartridge which was selected for the Snider-Enfield. As has already-been said, it was not a complete success. The problem was then tackled by Colonel Boxer, Superintendent of the Royal Laboratory at Woolwich, with the result that he produced his very successful modification of 1867-
The Boxer cartridge hadacase made of thin sheet brass, coiled and covered with paper, and mounted on a separate base which was a disc, first of brass and later of iron. The hollow rivet which secured the cylinder to the base was the cap chamber. Oddly enough the Boxer principle was subsequently adopted by the United States of America, whilst the present bottlenecked type of cartridge now used in the British Army originated in the 187o design of Colonel Hiram Berdan of the United States Ordnance. Department.
The immediate requirements of the Army having been provided for, consideration was now given to the type of breech-loading rifle which should replace the Snider-Enfield. Eventually,.in 1871, the Martini-Henry was selected. This rifle combined the falling breech mechanism invented by an Austrian, von Martini, and the rifled barrel with seven grooves which had been designed by an Edinburgh gunsmith named Alexander Henry.
The Martini breech mechanism consisted of a block which was hinged at its rear end, and in which was a coiled spring to actuate the striker. Behind the trigger guard was a lever, which, when it was pulled down, lowered the front end of the block to uncover the breech, extracted and ejected the cartridge case, and cocked the striker. The loaded cartridge was then inserted by hand into the chamber. In its simplicity and efficiency the Martini action is one of the best that has ever been designed, and it is still the most popular for small-bore competition shooting. From a military point of view, however, it suffered from two very serious defects. Firstly, sand was liable to jam the mechanism, and this gave great trouble in the Egyptian campaign of 1882. Secondly, it was a single-shot weapon, and it was therefore doomed once the demand for magazine rifles arose.
Another defect in the Martini-Henry was Henry’s barrel. The grooves of the rifling were deep and square cut, with the result that fouling lodged in them very readily. The bore was smaller than that of the Snider-Enfield, being only -450 instead of -577.- In spite of this the Snider-Enfield was the pleasanter weapon to fire, for the Martini-Henry had a vicious kick of a recoil.
After some experimental models had been tested in 1972, the Martini-Henry Mark I was issued to the troops in 1874. The Mark II of 1876 and the Mark III of 1879 embodied minor modifications. In 1886 a Committee, convened as a result of the troubles experienced in the Egyptian campaign, recommended certain. improvements in the rifle, including a bore of ‘402- Some experimental models were made, known as the Enfield Martini; but as magazine rifles were already under investigation nothing came of them, and they were converted to Martini-Henrys of the normal pattern and designated Mark IV.
A great student of the science of rifling, William Ellis Metford, was born in Taunton in 1824. He became a civil engineer, and at an early age worked under the famous Isambard Kingdom Brunel on the construction of the Great Western Railway. Later he went to India as a railway engineer, but returned to England when his never very robust health broke down.
Metford had been interested in shooting both in practice and theory from his youth, and after he had been forced to give up his Indian career he had more time to devote to this hobby. From notes which he has left it is apparent that he was carrying out experimental work on rifles at least as early as i85o; and in 1852 he was firing rifles at i2oo yards’ range in pursuance of his experiments. By 1854 he was satisfied that, contrary to the general belief, the expansion of a bullet into the rifling -occurred immediately after the explosion of the charge and before it started to move forward. He also discovered that the explosion caused a rifle barrel to bend, so that when the bullet left the muzzle the barrel was pointing in a slightly different direction to the original point of aim.
Metford evolved a most ingenious method of testing his theories. He fired bullets into a long box filled with sawdust, and was thus able to recover them in the condition in which they had left the barrel of the rifle. From subsequent examination it was possible to tell whether there had been any leakage of explosion gases past a bullet, and the manner in which it had taken the rifling. From such experiments Met-ford found that the common practice of constructing very deep grooving in a rifled barrel was unnecessary, and that a longitudinal bullet with a good bearing surface would not strip, or ride over, the lands even when the grooves were very shallow. He also found that the generally held theory that a bullet must be made of pure .lead to be soft enough to be expanded by the explosion into the grooves was incorrect; and that, on the contrary, a much harder bullet of lead and an alloy would do.
Metford next constructed a rifle and bullets in accordance with his ideas. The grooves were only a few thousands of an inch deep, and the lead and alloy bullet had a shallow hollow ire the base and was protected from friction by a thin paper wrapping. A great friend of Metford’s, Colonel Halford, had his own private range at Wistow in Leicestershire. Here experiments were carried out with the new rifle. They were sufficiently successful for Metford to have a special rifle made in 1865 for match shooting. This had seven grooves of a depth of four-thousandths of an inch. Armed with this weapon, a muzzle-loader, Halford, entered the-competition held by the Cambridge University Long Range Club, which included practices at i 000 and i i oo yards. To the astonishment of the many critics-of the design, Halford won the cup presented for the best score on the two days’ shoot.
Metford’s ideas had come to stay, and they were soon being copied by all gunsmiths. For military rifles, unfortunately, Henry’s barrel had been adopted before the implications of Metford’s success had been really appreciated. In due course his rifling replaced Henry’s in the weapon of the British soldier, but before this happened there was a new development in bullet design. The bore of the Martini-Henry rifle, even though considerably smaller than that of the Snider-Enfield, was still very large. A reduction in the size of the bore would allow a smaller cartridge, and this in turn would result in the soldier being able to carry a greater quantity of ammunition in his personal equipment: an important consideration in view of the increased rate of fire which would be possible with the advent of the magazine rifle. With the existing muzzle velocity of the bullet, however, its size, which was dictated by the military requirement for stopping power, could not be reduced any further. If the velocity could be increased the same stopping.power could be obtained with a smaller bullet, but the lead bullets then used were too soft to be propelled at a faster rate down the barrel. The difficulty was solved by a Swiss, Colonel Rubin, who found that if the lead bullet was encased in a covering of a harder metal it would stand up to much greater velocities.
As a result of Colonel Rubin’s discovery the calibre of British Army rifles was reduced to -303 inch in 1888, and this is still the standard for all full-bore bolt-action rifles. The increased velocity was at first obtained by using a charge of compressed black powder. In the meantime a Committee was established under the presidency of Frederick Abel, an expert in the manufacture of explosives, to devise a smokeless propellent. A solution was found in a preparation based on the discoveries of the great Swiss engineer, Alfred Nobel. It was hardened into a long cord and given the name ‘cordite’. From 1892 it was used in all Service small arms ammunition. Cordite increased the velocity of the bullet from the i 800 feet per second of the compressed black powder charge, to 2000 feet per second. This was further increased to 2440 feet per second in 1911 when a still lighter pointed bullet was adopted.
The new rifle which was introduced into the British Army in 1888 was the Lee-Metford. It had Metford’s design of rifled barrel with the ‘303-inch calibre, and a bolt-action breech and magazine, both invented by a Scottish watchmaker named James Paris Lee. Lee’s bolt is a development of the breech mechanism which had’ first appeared in the Prussian needle gun of 1848 and subsequently in the French Chassepot of 18 66. The Lee action is still in use in the British Army, and is only now, some seventy years after its first introduction, being replaced by a semi-automatic mechanism.
The function of the bolt, briefly, is to push the cartridge into the breech, close the breech, fire the cartridge, and extract and eject the empty case. The cartridge is fired by a pin which is held back by a spring inside the bolt, and which projects through a hole in the bolt-head when the pressure of the trigger releases the spring. The Lee bolt was strongly criticized by leading British gunsmiths because it is held in position when closed by lugs at the rear of the bolt. Whereas, theoretically, in order that the minimum amount of metal should be under stress at the time of firing, front locking lugs should be used, as in the German Mauser and the. American Garand. However, the Lee rear locking lugs permit the use of a separate bolt-head, which facilitates cleaning and adjustment. Moreover, the Lee action is the fastest bolt-action ever to have been devised, and its retention in the Army after the Boer war and the two World Wars is a testament to its efficiency in action.
The Lee magazine is a separate box which is inserted under the breech mechanism and held in place by a spring clip. Inside is a platform which is pushed upwards from below by a spring in the base of the box. The cartridges are inserted on top of the platform and press it downwards, so compressing the spring. As one cartridge ‘is pushed forward by the bolt from the magazine, so the spring pushes another one upwards into place. The first magazine held eight rounds of the black powder ammunition. This was increased to ten rounds when the cordite ammunition was introduced.
From 18 go a number of the Martini action rifles were given the Metford barrel instead of the Henry. These conversions were known as Martini-Metfords. Between 1891 and 1892 a large number of the Martini-Henry Cavalry carbines and. Artillery carbines were similarly converted.
In x895 the Metford barrel was modified at Enfield by reducing the number of grooves in the rifling from seven to five. The new rifle was called the Lee-Enfield. Further rifle and carbine conversions from the Martini-Henrys received this barrel and became Martin i-En fields.
No bolt-action carbines were made until 1896, when a magazine Lee-Enfield Cavalry carbine was produced. All Artillery carbines, however, continued to have the single-shot Martini action. In addition, Colonial troops at the start of the Boer war were armed with the Martini-Enfield, and the Indian Army was equipped with it until i goS.
At the time the retention of single-shot weapons did not appear as such a disadvantage  as it would now; for the magazine was regarded as a reserve, and the rifle was fitted with a cut-out which slid across the magazine so that it could be cut off from the chamber. This was the normal position for firing, the rifle being reloaded by hand with a single round after each . shot. It was probably considered that ammunition supply in the field would present difficulties if the high rate of fire, which the magazine made possible, were used too freely. The comparative effectiveness of the new magazine rifles was demonstrated, however, at the battle of Omdurman. The British troops opened fire on -the charging dervishes at a range of 2000 yards and stopped them Soo yards from their position. The Egyptian and Sudanese troops, who had Martini-Henrys, opened fire at moo yards and stopped them 300 yards away.
The limited use of the magazine was found to be a handicap in the. Boer war. Once the reserve of rapid fire had been used there was no means of re-charging the magazines quickly. Lee had, indeed, invented a charger in 1892 by means of which five rounds could be loaded simultaneously. This was not considered necessary at the time but was eventually adopted as a result of the lessons of the Boer war.
The Boer war showed that fire power by mounted troops was at least as important as shock action, and the Martini carbine, with which most of the cavalry were armed, was a very ineffective weapon compared with the magazine Lee-Enfield of the mounted infantry. After the war it was therefore decided that carbines should be abolished and that there should be one pattern of rifle for the whole Army. In order to make it suitable for use by mounted troops the Lee-Enfield was reduced in length and entitled the Short Magazine Lee-Enfield (known to generations of soldiers as the S.M.L.E.). In compensation the bayonet was slightly lengthened.

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The first new smooth-bore percussion musket was the so-called Pattern 1838 chippendale cutlery urns. Only comparatively few were made and its issue was confined to the Regiments of Foot Guards making cabriole legs with padded feet. As might be expected, in general form and appearance it was very similar to the earlier Pattern i 80 musket antique english column candlesticks. Together with the Brunswick rifle and the Victoria carbine for the cavalry, it formed a series for which Mr paw feet dining rooms table. Lovell was responsible; though whether he had an actual hand in design is not clear myott son & co. hanley. The 33-inch barrel was the shortest that had yet been issued to heavy infantry 19th century cutlery pennsylvania dutch. Serjeants of the Foot Guards were not issued with this musket, but with a 33-inch barrel version of its contemporary, the Brunswick rifle antique fluted legs.
Although the Brunswick rifle does not properly belong to a chapter on smooth-bore firearms, this may be an appropriate place to deal with it, since its issue was so closely allied with the other weapons for which Mr antique extending round dining table. Lovell was responsible art deco glass. It was intended to be the percussion replacement for the Baker rifle, and was officially designated ‘Lovell’s Improved Brunswick Pattern’ were exports scenes common in the chenghua period.
The new rifle was designed by Captain Berners, an officer in a Jaeger regiment of the Brunswick Army, and was adopted by the Board of Ordnance after trials at Woolwich in 1836 betty joel miroir antique. The rifling of the Brunswick was peculiar most valuable antique silverware. There were only two grooves, and they made one complete turn, in the length of the barrel antique oak dropleaf gateleg table. This was not a new idea by any means, for at the time of its adoption for the Army it was already the most popular form of rifling for sporting weapons can antique dressers pair with modern furniture. A special bullet was used with this two-groove rifling: spherical in shape, but having a•raised belt round the middle antique european sideboard, etagere, cabinet,. The belt fitted into the grooves, which were fairly deep, and the bullet of the sporting weapons fitted the bore sufficiently easily to be rammed home without difficulty 19th century side tables. In practice the results ob1 tained with this type of rifle were not as good as they would seem to be in theory what is antique library table worth. There was a good deal of friction in the barrel through the bullet magnificent table 18 century marble. not being able to move freely, there was a heavy recoil, and the shape of the bullet did not lend itself to accurate flight contemporary british cabinetry best examples.
The calibre of the Brunswick rifle was ‘704 and the barrel length (except as mentioned above) was thirty inches duncan phyfe buffet. It was sighted to 300 yards, was fitted with a cross-handled sword bayonet and measured three feet ten inches overall french restoration table. It was a thoroughly bad weapon; perhaps the worst ever issued to British troops antique dining fold over tables with leaves. One of the troubles seems to have been that the ball was made too tight-fitting, and another that there was insufficient power behind the bullet to keep it spinning sufficiently rapidly for straight flight deco airplane stand.
The unfortunate Rifle regiments were inflicted with the Brunswick up till the Crimean war officers campaign bed. Their opinion of it is reflected in a report submitted in 18 52 by a Select Committee on Small Arms:
`At all distances double scroll legs desk art deco. above four hundred yards the shooting was so wild as to be unrecorded rose emblem. The Brunswick rifle has shown itself to be much inferior in point of range to every other arm hitherto noticed d-form dining table. The loading of this rifle is so difficult that it is a wonder how the Rifle regiments have continued to use it so long—the force required to ram down the ball being so great as to render any man’s hand unsteady for accurate shooting empire sofas. Comment is unnecessary pierced silver hot plate made in italy.’
Lovell’s other firearm was the ‘Victoria’ carbine drop leaf carved leg table. Like the heavy cavalry carbine of 1796, it had a 26-inch barrel of musket bore chinese mother of pearl chair rosewood antique. It was issued, apparently, to the Household Cavalry only vintage chinese black lacquer card table.
At the same time as the Lovell weapons were appearing the conversion of all three types of the new flintlock musket was taken in hand george 11 antique lacquered furniture. The percussion version was known as Pattern 1839, and except for the altered lock was identical with its flintlock predecessor early nineteenth century german desk.
It is probable that there were sufficient of the flintlock muskets to equip the whole Army with converted arms seek jingdezhen plum blossom porcelain vases. However, in 1841 there was a disastrous fire in the Tower of London which destroyed many thousands of firearms awaiting conversion 1940’s mahogany dining chairs. As a result a new series of arms had to be manufactured antigue table cloths 1920. The musket was called Pattern 1842 rectangular dropleaf tables. It was similar to, and was produced in the same three barrel lengths as, Pattern 1839 federal style 18th century dresser. The only major difference was that the bayonet of the short musket was no longer saw-backed julius mihalik.
There were two percussion carbines for the cavalry: musket bore for the heavy cavalry and carbine bore for the light cavalry rectangular oak gateleg table. The carbine for the heavy cavalry retained the 26-inch barrel silver candlesticks flower. That for the light cavalry had a slightly longer barrel than the last flintlock weapon of twenty-one inches how to value lowboy queen anne.
Mr stone china george jones stoke on trent. Scurfield hag made some interesting comments on the final changeover from flint to percussion arms jockey cap caddy spoons. He says: `A tradition persists that some regiments going from India to the Crimean War were still armed with flintlocks, but I have never found any confirmation, and to me it seems rather improbable davenport cabinet desk. All the same, I do not know when the Regular Army handed in its last flintlocks, and can only suggest that it was between x 84 and i850—perhaps not long before 1851, the year of the Great Exhibition antique neoclassic furniture. The Militia went straight from the India Pattern flintlock to the Enfield rifle in the very late 18 -So’s or early 186o’s antique white chamber pot.
`In 1846 the 27th Foot (Inniskilling Fusiliers) in South Africa were still armed with a mixture of flint and percussion muskets, but two battalions of the gxst were completely equipped with percussion; it would be interesting to know whether they were Pattern 1839 or Pattern 1,842—or some of each antique tea cabinet.’
In the years following the Napoleonic wars most of the cavalry’s pistols had been withdrawn walnut baluster leg table. Lancers -carried them in place of carbines, which got in the way of the lance; and in other regiments they were retained by serjeant-majors and trumpeters, who also did not carry carbines furniture makers of the 16th century. To meet this limited need a percussion pistol was made with a musket bore and a 9-inch barrel antiques pottery made in coimbra.
The fulminating compound which was used in these first military percussion arms was made up of three parts of chlorate of potash, two parts of fulminate of mercury and single gate leg tables.one part of powdered glass antique italian rococo bedroom set marble and wood.

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The new serjeant’s pike was nine feet in length with a spear head which screwed into a socket and a cross-piece to prevent the head from penetrating too far signatures of art deco cabinet makers paris . The wooden shaft was painted white in order to show up the polished metal parts antique chinese chicken coop .
The recognition that the sword was now the officer’s primary weapon led to some apparent anxiety as to the suitability of the various regimental patterns, for the General Order which abolished spontoons said that infantry officers were to ‘provide themselves with a strong substantial uniform sword with a straight cut-and-thrust blade, an inch broad at the shoulder and 32 inches long antique bugatti table . The hilt, if not steel, to be either gilt or silver according to the buttons on the uniforms antique collectors .’ In accordance with existing policy all details of design were left to regiments, but the stipulated width at the shoulder ensured a fairly substantial blade 16th century settee .
The period of regimentally designed swords, however, was drawing to an end 1930’s austro-hungarian furniture . The first to be dealt with were the cavalry 19th century regency antique furniture .
By the 1780’s it appears that all Light Dragoon regiments had stirrup hilts to their swords, formed by bending one quillon up to join the pommel, and most blades were curved in varying degrees 18th century cabinets to hold chamber pots . They remained fairly short, for Light Dragoons, unlike the ‘heavies’, wore their swords when dismounted instead of leaving them on the horse french empire desk cabinet maker logo .
Of the heavy cavalry the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons were noted in an Inspection Return of 1777 as having ‘new swords being made’ ant cherry antique dictionary tables . These new swords had half basket-hilts, and were perhaps of similar design to the earlier Dragoon sword already mentioned scottish flame mahogany chest of drawers .
In 1788 a Board of General Officers on the clothing and equipment of the cavalry passed resolutions regarding the swords most suitable for both light and heavy cavalry modern oriental writing bureau .
That in respect of the light cavalry said: `Regimental swords and sabres for Light Dragoons veneer inlay 1940 bedroom set antique . The hilt to be of the same form as used by the Light Dragoons and to be 5 ins antique centre table with caryatid legs . long in the grip antique center tables . The blade to be 36 ins king george drop leaf gateleg table . long and the curve in the centre to be i I ins john toulouse porcelain modeller . from the straight line antique austria 1855 - 1953 statues . The breadth to be i-j- ins george i folding card table antique . long in the shoulder antique drop leaf table federal period . The blade to be I ins antique silver gravy boat . thick and to finish about II ins circular glass pedestal dining table . from the point rectangular drop leaf sofa table . Officers’ swords for all the regiments of cavalry to be uniform with those of the men 1918 1940 usa design trends creators raymond loewy .’
For the heavy cavalry the resolution was:
`That the hilts of the swords of the regiments of Dragoon Guards and Dragoons be half basket, the same as those of the 6th (Inniskilling) Regiment of Dragoons cabriole in architecture . The grip from the guard to the point of the button to be 7-r8x in antique tea kettle . The blade to be 3 ft double gate drop leaf table antique . 9 in english ironstone potteries ltd . long from the guard to the point meissen kandler . The breadth of the blade at the shoulder to be 1 5/12 in oak chamber pot chair ., and the back to be
in recognizing antiques pembroke table . thick and to finish about 14 in lovers on a swing’ meissen porcelain . from the point “antique sheffield silver dresser” .’
This was the first time that such detailed specifications had been drawn up for the swords of the Army serving epergne . There was little, if any, room for regimental variation, and even the officers’ swords had to conform to the official pattern silver forks made in italy . The most striking feature was the very great length of the-heavy cavalry sword antique music cabinete with mirror at the top .
On the 14th November 1796 a Royal Warrant was issued which contained regulations governing the design and pattern of the swords of the cavalry; and in the same year a General Order gave instructions regarding the swords to be worn by officers of the infantry irish, intricately carved lion paw, oak dining table, 1800’s, 6 leafs . Thus for the first time there were official patterns for practically all personal weapons in the Army fiddleback walnut .
The new infantry officer’s sword was described in the General Order as follows:
`The sword to have a brass guard, pommel and shell gilt with gold and the grip or handle of silver twisted wire antique english ironstone . The blade to be straight and made to cut and thrust; to be at least i in 1920s and 1930s hand painted enamel posters . broad at the shoulder and 32 in example of 18th century wooden handle silverware . in length conformable to former orders given in 178′6 types of timepieces in ancient times with pictures of it .’
Thus the dimensions of the blade ordered in, 1786 were retained, but the design of the hilt was also now governed by a regulation cylindrical crock eared handles cobalt blue . The General Order was probably accompanied by a drawing, for precisely the same pattern of hilt was common to all the regiments of Foot antique furniture marks . It had a flat ’shell’, or plate, at the top of the blade, with a heart-shaped indentation at front and rear are mahogany drum tables in demand . On the underneath side of the plate ornamental decoration connected the two indentations and surrounded the blade antique dresser teardrop mirror . From the rear indentation protruded the stump of
• quillon terminating in an acorn muller freres chandelier . From the front indentation
• single-bar popular antique american earthenware brown . knuckle guard rose in a curve to the base of the pommel old fashioned dutch dining tables . The pommel was urn-shaped antique sofas 1920 . Round the knuckle guard was twisted a crimson and gold sword-knot, ending in a tassel knife urns .
Old habits, however, died hard antique golden oak drop leaf table . Whilst in general the orders were adhered to, a practice arose in some regiments of wearing sabres, or swords with curved blades american empire sofa . In most regiments it became the custom for officers in Light companies to wear sabres fitted with a form of the Light Dragoon stirrup hilt antique table turned feet . So general did this practice become that by r 81 5 it seems to have been recognized, perhaps unofficially, by the Authorities verlys holophane .
The Warrant of 1796 directed that for the heavy cavalry:
`A new sword 35 in, long in the blade is to be substituted in lieu of that now in use, having been found unmanageable owing to the length of the blade and the weight of the hilt “u shaped” coffee table mahogany . The rivet which fixes the*back of the hilt to the middle of the handle to go through the shank of the blade and the back to be well rivetted near the guard directoire napoleon furniture . The shank of the blade to be large and the top of the scabbard to be made to take off for the easier replacing of the same value of iron table lamp made in 1940’s .
The instruction does not contain many details of the sword, but again it was probably supported by a drawing harlequin pattern period furniture . This was almost certainly the heavy cavalry sword which was used throughout the Napoleonic wars, since there is no evidence of any other pattern being introduced before 1822 antique alcove sofa . The hilt of this weapon was of steel and consisted of a flat disc which was pierced with holes, with a short projection at the rear, and the front tapering to a knuckle guard which was curved to the pommel cantagalli marks . It was an ugly design black desk curved legs . The blade was peculiar in that it finished in a hatchet point and could thus only be used for cutting viennese chairs . On the whole this was probably the worst sword which was ever issued to the British Army 18th century horoldt augsburg vases . Even the allegedly unmanageable weapon which it replaced at least gave far better protection to the hand and could be used for thrusting william hogarth + nicholas sprimont .
If the heavy cavalry sword was the worst the Army ever had, the light cavalry sword was almost certainly the best rectangular drop leaf 5 leg dining table with 4 leaves . The Royal Warrant retained the pattern recommended by the Board of General Officers in 1788, but shortened the blade by some three inches florals in british furniture . It was described as: ‘A sabre to be of the pattern last approved by Us and the length of the blade to be 321 ins art deco regency mahogony . or 33 ins scandinavian aesthetic . measured in a straight line from the hilt to the point but not to exceed the latter measurement’ scottish chest drawers . With the shorter length, of course, the same deviation from, the straight line would result in the blade having a more pronounced curve than the 1788 pattern yabu fruit .
This light cavalry sabre was intended for both cutting and thrusting; but it was as a cutting weapon that it was preeminent, and easily the best in any army throughout -the Napoleonic wars antiques, louis xiv china . The relative merits of cutting and thrusting have been fiercely argued throughout most of the history of the British Army, and sometimes the desire to produce a weapon which will be equally good at both has led to a compromise design which has been satisfactory for neither gilded console table . At •the end of the eighteenth century military opinion was overwhelmingly in favour of cutting, and hence the light cavalry sabre was a cutting sword with thrusting as a secondary task copeland parian busts and figures . The Rules and Regulations for the Sword Exercise, issued from the Adjutant-General’s Office on the 1st December 1796, the same year as the introduction of the new sabre, was based on it and feature it in all the illustrations art deco burr walnut - antiques . The merits and uses of cutting and thrusting are explained clearly in its pages, as the following extracts show antiques antique oak sideboards dutch style .
`CUTS two tier table .
TiiERE are only six ways of directing the edge of the blade; therefore the different parts of the body, which may be exposed by the unskilfulness of a swordsman, are not to be (erroneously) conceived as admitting of so many distinct Cuts french furniture dorset . The action of the wrist and shoulder alone, directs the blade; and they admit but of six movements,- from which every cut is derived, wherever may be its particular application to the body victorian gate leg pine table . Of the six cuts, four are made in diagonal directions, and two horizontally: the whole are equally applicable against cavalry, and may be directed on either side of the horse, but their application must depend on the openings given by the adversary, and be regulated by judgement, and experience in the use of the weapon old english table leg shapes pictures .
`To make a Cut with effect, and at the same time without exposing the person, there are two points which principally demand attention yabu furniture . The first is, to acquire a facility in giving motion to the arm by means of the wrist and shoulder without bending the elbow; for in bending the elbow, the sword arm is exposed; a circumstance of which the opponent will ever be ready to take his advantage, as a cut in that quarter may be made with great security; and if it be well directed, with the most fatal effect, as it at once decides the issue of the contest interior design drawing room . thomas sheraton kidney shaped desk . set of 12 disciples silver spoon collection . jean luce arzberg china .
`From -want of habit in the exercise of the wrist in the common occupations of life, the weight of tjie sword will at first be found extremely irksome mayhew and ince tripod table . The action of the arm bears no comparison with that quickness of which the wrist is susceptible; for the motions of the arm are so wide and circuitous, that they are easily counteracted “empire designer, best known for pedestal tables with curved legs . antique occasional table pie crust top . drawing furniture by michael thonet . 0
`The PoiNT antique cedar drop leaf table .
`Ti-rE thrust has only one mode of execution, whether applied to cavalry, or infantry: but a greater degree of caution is required in its application against cavalry than against infantry; for if the point is parried, the adversary’s blade gets within your guard, which is not to be recovered again in time, as with a small sword; the weapon being too heavy to be managed with the requisite degree of quickness; for which reason the point should seldom or never be given in the attack, but be principally confined to the pursuit, when it can be applied with effect and without risk english ladys writing desk spiral legs .
, The case is different in acting against infantry, as the persons against whom you then direct your point, are so much below your own level, that the weight of your sword is not felt; consequently it is managed with greater facility than with an extended arm carried above the level of the shoulder 16th century antique chests . Therefore in many instances against infantry, the point may be used with as much effect as the edge, and with the same degree of security 1820 antique empire mahogany dining table .
`The CUT pictures of porcelain furniture . space saving rectangular drop leaf tables . frenchswiss antique pocket watches . against INFANTRY finmar desk .
`A person on horseback is elevated so much above those acting on foot, that it is necessary for him to bend his elbow, in order to take a sweep to give his cut with effect: and this may be securely done, as,the sword arm is not exposed in the contest gustav klimt porcelain .’
[Some of the comments in the Rules and Regulations on cutting with the sword point to some of the factors which have to be considered in design monastery credence tables .>
`Let the blade be sharpened six inches to the point, in order that you may be able to apply it with effect, and without this precaution, it may be difficult to judge how far the edge is carried correctly for sale louis 16th walnut sideboard cabinet .
`It should be remembered that little force is requisite to produce effect from the application of the edge, if conducted with skill, and that whether with a straight sword or scymitar blade, no cut can be made with effect or security, where the -weapon does not at once free itself from the object to which it is applied; otherwise it must turn in the hand, and give a contusion rather than a cut; for which reason those wounds are most severe, which are made nearest to the point collectors wooden racks for spoons austria . A swordsman cannot therefore be too accurate in judging the distance within the reach of his weapon, which alone can be done by habit and strict attention walnut entryway console table with mirror .
`With a scymitar not more than four or five inches of the point should meet your adversary, and still less with a straight blade, whose construction is by no means so well calculated for extricating itself furniture chests on long legs .
FIREARMS IN THE NAPOLEONIC WARS
The British infantry entered the long struggle with Revolutionary France armed with the old Brown Bess musket empire gateleg table . It was used exclusively in the first campaigns, and was probably regarded as highly as both of its nominal successors during the whole war deco chair dressing walnut .
In 1794 a replacement appeared in the form of the India Pattern musket with a universal barrel length of thirty-nine inches barley twist english antique writing desk . This was the standard firearm of the East India Company, and was by no means a new weapon construction of antique teaspoons . It was issued to the Company’s European and Native infantry, and possibly, since it differed from Brown Bess in only minor details, to some of the King’s troops in India rousseau shagreen . In fact, it is very likely that it was not a replacement in the ordinary sense of the word at all but was issued because there were few Brown Bess muskets left in the Tower armouries, whilst comparatively large stocks of the India Pattern muskets were available was there a change in arts in italy between 1920 and 1940 . This supposition is to a certain extent supported by a letter written to William Wilberforce by Lord Chatham, then Master-General of the Ordnance, in September 1803, when war had broken out anew with France vintage pembroke dining table . According to Lord Chatham, after the restoration of peace by the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, he had tried to restock the armouries with an improved pattern of ‘the old Tower musquet which our troops used to have’; but that because of ‘the naked state of our arsenals’ he had been forced to accept the manufacture of an inferior weapon brass iron half tester bed side curtains . The inferior weapon was presumably the india 18th century german bookcase . Pattern Musket which could be manufactured comparatively quickly cooking utensils from britain . The new and improved weapon of i8o2 will be mentioned later meuble d’appui value . The ‘old Tower musquet’ was of course Brown Bess ivory handle sheffield flatware antique .
Lord Chatham’s letter goes on to show how he had nearly surmounted the difficulties connected with the supply of the new musket, when war started afresh and he was faced with `this sudden and unprecedented demand for arms’ silver soup terrine makers . He continues:
`Had it not been with a view to improvement, and intending gradually to dispose of those of inferior quality through the medium of the India Company, we should not have been, previous to the war breaking out [again>, carrying on any manufacture of aims, our arsenals being overflowing, calculating on the extended scale the Department has ever been called upon to furnish 1685 bookcase . I have, however, in consequence of the extraordinary calls of the present crisis, determined to use every effort to meet it, and directions have been given to the Board of Ordnance to revert to the same arm as was made the last war U value of gateleg tables .e antique dressers yorkshire . before the short peace of 1802>, and to manufacture to the utmost possible extent the musquets of the India pattern 19th century antique furniture . You will easily believe I must have felt some reluctance in being obliged to take this step after all the pains I have bestowed, but I hope I have judged for the best 19th century american furniture . I have great satisfaction in thinking that the stock of arms we possess will enable us in the first instance to arm to a considerable extent perhaps all that is really useful, and- as arms come in, which with the exertions of the manufacturers they will do quickly, and with the aid of what we expect from abroad, the remainder will be provided before long antique cutlery whalebone . We have already one hundred thousand pikes, and can increase them rapidly, but in general there is an indisposition to take them occasional tables painted india . I should like much how much is a claw foot table worth .to talk over with you not only the subject of arms, but the whole question of volunteering, which I contemplate as a most serious one scottish chest .’
What this rather long-winded letter amounted to was that Lord Chatham had thought the peace was a genuine one and had been caught badly unprepared british vernacular . It looks as if he had gone rapidly ahead with his plans for disposing of worn-out and inferior arms to the East India Company, so fast in fact that he had been unable to await the improved musket he wanted joubert furniture maker 19th century . War had then broken out afresh, and in desperation he had ordered concentration on the manufacture of the India Pattern musket, for which -a 11 the gunmakers to the Government already had the specifications and tooling 19th century lacquered cabinet with paintings . Meanwhile he consoled himself with his large stock of pikes, and was apparently surprised at encounterincr the same lack of enthusiasm
encountering
for this weapon as a substitute for firearms, as a similar offer met some 137 years later marquetry patterns flower . It is little wonder that volunteering appeared a serious question gothic revival furnature with lions .
The result of Chatham’s action was that all the troops proceeding overseas were equipped either with Brown Bess or the India Pattern musket, the latter having a 39-inch barrel goldscheider polished stoneware germany . In addition, new India muskets were issued to all the Militia regiments german antiques furniture .
The new infantry arm of i 8o2, the plans for which had been disrupted by the reopening of hostilities, was very similar in appearance to Nock’s experimental musket of r785, and was obviously derived from it paper mache tray india . -It was produced with three different lengths of barrel porcelan rococo teapot victorian photo . The longest was forty-two inches, the standard Brown Bess length, and was intended for all the Foot except the Light Infantry: the Light Infantry, traditionally now, had a 39-inch barrel; and there was a much shorter barrel of thirty-three inches for-the Artillery musket antique armchair ardwood anglo . The bayonet had the usual socket fitting and the standard 17-inch blade antique oval tea table .

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This I iron was used exclusively in the manufacture of the better firearms; and it may have been its very quality which was responsible for the establishment of a tradition in the production of fine arms antique gateleg drop leaf table . Instead of welding a flat piece of metal into a tube, the Spanish gunsmiths formed a barrel by twisting the metal george iv fabrics . A long flat strip of wrought iron was coiled round a mandrel, heated, and knocked together from the two ends till it formed a solid tube with a spiral weld 19th century english oak urn shaped double pedestal refectory table . An additional Spanish touch was to bore out the barrel to a slightly larger diameter at both the breech and the muzzle ends english early ‘victorian upholstered round . The object of this was to give the bullet more resistance, and hence increased power, at the start of its journey; and then to increase its velocity by giving it greater freedom of movement just before it left the muzzle antique china furstenberg . It seems doubtful whether this Spanish boring added anything to the efficiency of a very fine barrel antique pemproke tables .
The first guns with twist barrels to be made in England were naturally the expensive weapons which were made for private purchase by sportsmen; and this may have happened, J jean dunand fakes vases . N 19th century american rosewood rococo console table . George suggests, some time shortly after 175o painted china cabinets + pictures . The favourite source in England for iron of a suitable quality was the metal salvaged from old worn-out horse-shoe nails doric china/tea sets/longton . This, apparently, surprising choice was due to the fact that the nails for horse-shoes were made out of the best wrought iron obtainable; and were subsequently toughened by pounding over the rocky, boggy or dusty tracks which passed for roadways in the latter part of the eighteenth century antique paper-mache desk . The strips of metal which were produced from this material were twisted in the Spanish fashion; and from the origin of the metal this type of manufacture was known as ’stub twist’ 1920s antique oak refrectory dining table .
THE ARMY’S FIRST RIFLE
The brief appearance of rifled firearms in war has been mentioned in Chapter II painted slant front desk . But for a hundred years after the Restoration the British Army fought wholly with smooth-bore weapons tripod pedestal . It was not till the American War of Independence that British troops encountered rifles in the field, and a halfhearted attempt was made to redress the balance design contemporary dressing table .
In 1747 a remarkable paper was read before the Royal Society by one Benjamin Robins catherine the great of russia plates . It was entitled ‘Observations of the Nature and Advantage of Rifled Barrel Pieces’, and it forms the basis of current thinking on the effect and desigq of rifling british sideboards . Robins was Engineer-General to the Honourable the East India Company, and a very distinguished mathematician kuba rugs prayer .
He explained the difference between a smooth-bored and a rifled barrel in the following terms: ‘A common piece has its barrel smooth on the inside, whereas the rifled piece has its cylinder cut with a number of spiral channels: so that it is in reality a female screw, varying from the fabric of common screws only in this, that its threads or rifles are less deflected, and approach more to a right line: it being usual for the threads with which the rifled barrel is indented to take a little more than one turn in its whole length marquetry patterns flower . The number of these threads in each barrel are different, according to the fancy of the workman, and the size of the barrel; and in like manner, the depth these channels, or rifles, are cut down to is not regulated by any invariable rule, but differs according to the country where the work is performed, or the caprice of the artificer cabriole legs basin .’
Robins pointed out that the usual method of loading a rifle was, after inserting the correct amount of powder, to put a bullet on top of the muzzle which was slightly larger than the bore had been before cutting the rifling antique mahogany round table brass feet with drawer . The bullet was then hammered down with yammer and mallet setobody . He maintained, however, that the sole function of rifling was to spin the bullet, in order to neutralize its inevitable inequalities and thus keep it straight in flight george 11 pad foot dining table . It will be remembered that it was this same theory, on the analogy of the flight of an arrow, which is believed to have inspired Augustus Cotter in his manufacture of the first rifle 1925 antique floding desk .
The contemporary view was that the main function of the grooves of the rifled barrel was to add to the resistance offered by the bullet to the explosion of the powder; and that the spin imparted to the bullet enabled it to bore its way into the target queen ann gate leg table . Robins proved that these theories were quite wrong nursing chair paw . He then went on to show that since the extra resistance of the rifling was not a factor in increasing the power of the explosion, the barrel should be as near smooth-bore as was consistent with spinning the bullet ball and claw tripod table antique . From this he deduced that instead of forcing the bullet in, it was better to have a bullet rather narrower than the bore, and to lay it on a patch of material greased on both sides, which would enclose the bullet and grip the rifling as the two were pushed up the barrel imperial gillow dining table . This method was already used in parts of Germany and Switzerland types of decoration on the shaft of a tea table .
Robins concluded with the following passage: ‘I shall close this paper with predicting that whatever State shall thoroughly comprehend the nature and advantages of rifled barrel pieces, and, having facilitated their construction, shall introduce into their armies their general use, with a dexterity in the management of them, they will by this means acquire a superiority, which will almost equal anything that has been done at any time by the particular excellence of any one kind of arms; and Will perhaps fall but little short of the wonderful effects, which the histories relate to have been formerly produced by the first invention of firearms 16 century antique english tables .’
In Germany rifles had been used as sporting weapons for very many years chippendale dining double pedestal . In 1709 the first group of German immigrants arrived in America, bringing with them a number of these sporting rifles “oliver bernard” pel . Also included in the party were some gunsmiths together with their tools gateleg table antiquequeen ann . The Germans settled down in the Lancaster Valley district of Pennsylvania, and proceeded, amongst other activities, to make rifles marquetry semi-circle drop leaf . The development of their rifles is of interest, for it was responsible for the first introduction of the rifle into the British Army art dec countries .
The German rifle of 1709 was a clumsy weapon pillars on casters . Its calibre varied from ‘75 to ‘875-, and it had a short barrel of from thirty to thirty-six inches antique silver candlesticks . The barrel was too short for the poor powder of the period, which was never fully consumed and consequently fouled the barrel badly telescopic table furniture . The ball was of the tight-fitting variety, hammered in with mallet and yammer chenghua footrims . Performance varied from rifle to rifle and was often erratic, for the type and twist of the rifling depended on the fancy of the maker bugatti oriental style desk .
The rifle which the Lancaster Valley gunmakers evolved from the original ‘Jaeger’ had a bore of 48, a barrel of forty inches in length, uniform rifling and greatly improved balance noritake earlyware . Furthermore, the bullet was of slightly smaller diameter than the bore and smeared with grease or tallow, so that it slid easily down the barrel 16th century english joyned table . In the stock of the louis xvi revival sideboard . rifle was an aperture covered with a hinged flap in which the bullets were stourbridge pink marbled overlaid on opaline glass . kept antique french inlaid dresser .
On a still later version the bore was further reduced to ‘45- inch calibre and the barrel lengthened to forty-two inches cabinet makers marks england . With the longer barrel less powder was required, range and accuracy were improved, and there was considerably less fouling due to the better combustion serpinetine leg table antique oak . The next improvement was the use of the greased patch instead of greasing the bullet porcelain wincanton . This had the effect of filling the grooves of the rifling, so that 16th century english chamber pot .the compression behind the bullet was still greater, and the patch cleaned the rifling swedish bedside tables .
By 1740 the Lancaster Valley, or Pennsylvania, as it came to be known, rifle had become almost standardized inexpensive antiques . The barrel had now an even greater length of forty-four inches; and it was flared at the muzzle and had a slightly choked bore francaise antique . This was the weapon which was used with such effect against the British troops in the War of Independence hepplewhite sofa .
The American troops used their rifles for skirmishing and guerrilla attacks, whilst for close-order fighting the bulk of the infantry were armed, as were the British, with the smoothbore musket english apostle antique teaspoons . Nevertheless the elusive and accurate riflemen formed a valuable arm of the American forces, and they were particularly formidable in broken or wooded country parts of chambersticks .
The British Army had no riflemen of its own to provide a similar harassing and protective screen oriental gated tea tables . Several of the German states, however, included Jaeger regiments, armed with the rifle, in their forces aztec “art deco” rectangle vase . The British Government therefore made inquiries and succeeded in persuading the Landgrave of Hesse to hire a body of his troops antique furniture deutch . The solution, however, was not a happy one 17th century french fashion . The peasant conscripts in the Hessian regiments were largely untrained, and the rifle with which the Jaegers were armed was of very poor quality, and did not stand comparison with the Pennsylvania rifle early 19th century upholstery fabric . It had a short barrel, rifled with six or seven grooves, and an oversize•bullet which was driven in with mallet and ramrod antique console dresser . Its rate of fire was only about one shot a minute, as compared with the two or three shots of the Pennsylvania rifle 16 century chairs caved . It was, in point of fact, very similar to the old original rifles which the Lancaster Valley settlers had brought with them from Germany antique queen anne style burr walnut coffee table .
Captain Hanger, already mentioned as the author of To 111 Sportsmen, was himself an officer in one of the Jaeger regiments; and one of the best rifle shots in England art deco antique dresser . The appreciation of the American rifle which he gives in his book is therefore worth quoting staffordshire flatback fakes . He says:
`I never in my life saw better rifles (or men who shot better) than those made in America antique armchair ardwood anglo . They are chiefly made in Lancaster, and in two or three neighbouring towns in that vicinity, in Pennsylvania de coene art deco . The barrels weigh about six pounds two or three ounces, and carry a ball no larger than thirty=six to the pound; at least I never saw one of a larger caliber, and I have seen many hundreds and hundreds 19th century side tables . I am not going to relate anything respecting the American War, but to mention one instance, as a proof of most excellent skill *of an American rifleman difference between secretaire y bureau a cylindre . If any man show me an instance of -better shooting, I will stand corrected antique british chairs .
`Coloncl, entry dressing table .now General Tarleton, and myself, were standing ,a few yards out of a wood, observing the situation of a part of the enemy which we intended to attack candelabra empire style reproduction . There was a rivulet in the enemy’s front, and a mill on it, t6 which we stood directly with • our horses’ heads fronting, observing their motions antique mantel french clocks 1800 hundred candle set . It was an absolute plain field between us and the mill—not so much as a single bush on it saxony flowers 1700s . Our orderly-bugle stood behind us, about three yards, but with his horse’s side to our horses’ tails kuba rugs prayer . A rifleman passed -over the mill-dam, evidently observing two officers, and laid himself down on his belly, (for it is in such positions they always lie); to take a good shot at a long distance tripod antique folding pie crust table . He took a deliberate and cool shot at my friend, at me, and the bugle-horn man antique dutch coffee trestle table 17th century . I have several times passed over this ground, and ever observed it with the greatest attention and I can positively assert that the distance he fired from, at us, was full four hundred yards antique dealer furniture iron louis xvi .
`Now observe how well this fellow shot sofa carved top rail . It was in the month portuguese trestle tables .
of August, and not a breath of wind was stirring antique bureau writing desk . Colonel Tarleton’s horse and mine, I am certain, were not anything like two feet apart, for we were in close consultation how we should attack with our troops, which lay 300 yards in the wood, and could not be perceived by the enemy lion paw dining room table . A rifle ball passed between him and me; looking directly to the mill, I evidently observed the flash of the powder greek designs and motifs . I directly said to my friend “I think we had better move, or we shall have two or three of these gentlemen, shortly amusing themselves at out expense antique hot water plate warmer .” The words were hardly out of my mouth, when the bugle-horn man, behind us and directly central, jumped off his horse and said “Sir, my horse is shot bureau plat charles boulle .” The horse staggered, fell down, and died lion claw dining table antique .’
In spite, however, of entering upon the American War without any riflemen or rifles at all, the British Army very shortly acquired the best and most revolutionary rifle in the world walnut gaming table with pillar legs . Its inventor was Captain Patrick Ferguson of the 71st Highlanders oak drop leaf gate leg side table . Ferguson commanded the Light Infantry company of his regiment antique brown staffordshire . One of the finest rifle shots in the Army, and convinced of its value as a military weapon, he had designed this rifle to prove his theories gustov klimt chairs . The whole of his company had been equipped with it, probably at Ferguson’s expense, and then trained as a rifle unit carpets oriental .
The great advantage of the Ferguson rifle was that it could be fired at a greater speed, not only than any other rifle, but also than any smooth-bore musket berkey & gay antique chest of drawers lion design . It was a breech-loader, and it was the ingenious loading mechanism which was responsible for its high rate of fire chicken coop shelves .
A plug, a little larger than the bore, was screwed into the barrel behind the chamber and passed from underneath the stock right through to the top, where it fitted flush with the barrel walnut ball claw gateleg table value . When this plug was closed it formed the breech-piece scandinavian wood furniture maker’s marks . It had twelve to fourteen rapid twist threads instead of a single screw thread jan van mekeren . The lower end was attached to a lever which formed the trigger guard english ironstone”, staffordshire . Swinging the trigger guard round laterally for three-quarters of a turn lowered the plug J inch and opened the aperture for loading: the top surface of the plug being now flush with the lower surface of the barrel leopold stickly table 1959 . The bullet was then dropped into the aperture and rolled forward by canting the muzzle downwafds till it touched the lands of the rifling, and the powder poured in behind it antique silver roll top warmer . Pulling the trigger guard back again closed the breech, and the rifle was ready for firing art deco representative artist . The pan was primed by a separate operation after the closing of the breech antique red leather upholstery chair with arm .
The barrel was short compared with Brown Bess, being only 35 inches long edge simplicity tub chair . The bore was 15, and the breech chambered to take a bullet of the same dimensions vintage buttterfly dropleaf tables . The bullet was -thus tight-fitting but not oversize pictures of antique tables and chairs . The rifling consisted of 8 deep grooves, twisting for about three-quarters of a turn in the length of the barrel furniture 19th century . There was a leaf back-sight which was adjustable for ranges from ioc, yards to Soo yards moser antique glass . The bayonet had a flat, single-edged sword blade 25? inches long reproduction mochaware .
In 1776 Ferguson with his company, all volunteers, was ordered to America early 17 centurey gateleg tables . While the men were preparing to embark Ferguson gave a demonstration of the rifle’s capabilities antique walnut dropleaf tables . The demonstration was reported by the Innual Register of June 1776 as follows:
`On the 1st of June, 1776, he made some experiments at Woolwich, before Lord Viscount Townshendj Lord Amherst, General Harvey, D6ragliers, and several other officers with the rifle gun on a new construction, which astonished all beholders http://antcollectors.com/antique-furniture/art-deco-cabinets-and-sideboards-british-walnut-sideboard-burled-maple-console-french-commode-french-side-cabinet-british-sideboard-british-display-cabinet-british-side-cabinet . The like had never been done with any other small arms open and closed dressing table, satinwood, english c, 1800 . Notwithstanding a heavy rain and the high wind-, he fired during the space of five minutes at the rate of four shots a minute, at a target two hundred yards distance chippendale cutlery . He next fired six shots in one minute, and also fired (while advancing at the rate of four miles an hour) four times in a minute furniture ecole de nancy . He then poured a bottle of water into the pan and barrel of the piece when loaded so as to wet every grain of powder, and in less than half-a-minute he fired with it as well as ever, without extracting the ball tall sheffield corinthian column . Lastly, he hit the bull’s-eye lying on his back on the ground, incredible as it may seem to many, considering the variations of the wind and the wetness of the weather vernacular scottish . He only missed the target three times during the whole course of the experiments british sideboards .’
Ferguson’s company sailed for America as an independent corps of riflemen anc clad in rifle green antique drop leaf table wooden hinges . Ferguson himself carried instructions authorizing him to select men from various regiments for training and incorporation in his command pier table empire . The Commander-in-Chief, Sir William Howe, did not, however, take kindly to this new force, and it does not appear that Ferguson was allowed to have much success in obtaining recruits silver apostles spoons .
The corps went into action for the first time at Elk Head on the 25th August 1777 gateleg drop leaf mahogany table . It then covered the advance of Knyphausen’s division to Brandywine antique table wooden hinge drop leaf . During this advance Ferguson, -with three of his men, was apparently carrying out a reconnaissance beyond the British encampment at Kennett Square, when the chance of changing history came within range of the Ferguson rifle paris antique pine dining furniture . The small party heard the sound of horses’ hooves approaching, and dived into cover at the edge of a wide clearing brass skimmer antique . Soon afterwards there rode into the clearing two mounted officers rare tureens . One of them was dressed in a uniform of blue and buff with, on his head, a large headdress described by Ferguson in his notes as a ‘remarkable cocked hat’ “desk”+”antique” . The antique 1920 art deco period pieces walnut china cabinet and buffet .other officer was a Frenchman in Hussar uniform art deco furniture cylinder . To fire, as Ferguson said afterwards, would have been like shooting a sitting grouse; and he and his men remained quietly watching until the pair finally rode off dressing table with porcelain figures . In a report written later, and contained in the Public Record Office, Ferguson said that, dutch walnut cabinet . ‘as I was within that distance at which in the quickest firing I could have lodged a half dozen balls in or about him before he was out of reach george 11 pier gilded table . rectangular dropleaf tables . mahogany chippendale drum table . but it was not pleasant to fire at the back of an unoffending individual who was acquitting himself truly of his duty so I let him alone’ examples of 19th century pennsylvania furniture .
Some time later a wounded American soldier, who was being treated by the British, said that on the day concerned his commanding officer had told him that General George Washington and a French officer were in the neighbourhood jacobean display cabinet . This would include the ar eawhere Ferguson had lain concealed palissy patterns . Other American wounded confirmed that the description given of the uniform of the two officers italian room art-decoration . agreed with that worn by Washington and his French officer in attendance faience porcelaine cri……france .
Ferguson heard of these statements confirming the identity of the man he had spared when he too was lying in hospital after jupe round dining table . the amputation of his right arm ltd edition catteau .
For Ferguson’s unit had been badly hit at the battle of Brandywine trestle library table . In addition to its commander, forty out of its effective strength of eighty had been killed or wounded what kind of base is most stable for drop leaf table? . Whilst he was on the sick list the rifles were withdrawn from the remainder of the company and muskets issued instead antique oak games table . On his return to duty an angry Ferguson had the rifles brought out of store and reissued deco rocket cabinet . The reconstituted rifle corps did gallant service at Stony Point, Long Island, Harlem, White Plains and Dobbs Ferry meissen marcolini group . A particularly valuable characteristic of the Ferguson rifle was that the pattern of breech mechanism allowed the firer to load it lying down decorative spindle legs from antique card table . This made it much easier to remain concealed, and on at least one occasion it resulted in an attack by a far larger American force being defeated william kent staffordshire .

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`We pelted at one another till half an hour before day, and then we heard not any noise, but saw light matches upon a wall, which our commanders observing, sent one to discover -whether they had quit the field or not, who brought news that they were gone.
“Tomas my fortune in a direct line to charge their general of horse, which I supposed to be so by his place; he discharged his carbine first, but at a distance not to hurt us, and afterwards one of his pistols, before I came up to him, and missed -with both: I then immediately struck into him, and touched him before I discharged mine; and I’m sure I hit him, for he staggered, and presently wheeled off from his party and ran. … Follow him I did, and in six score yards I came up to him and discharged the other pistol at him, and I’m sure I hit his head, for I touched it before I gave fire … but he was too well armed all over for a pistol bullet to do him any hurt, having a coat of mail over his arms and a headpiece (I am confident) musket proof, his sword had two edges and a ridge on the middle, and mine a strong tuck.’
The tuck which Atkyns referred to was a thrusting sword which was shorter than a rapier.
As a result of the lessons of the Civil War General Monk, in his Observations of 1646, listed the weapons he thought most suitable for the different branches of the Army. These may be summarized as follows:
Horseman—A flintlock carbine, or a musket with a barrel of carbine length, with a substantial stock; a stiff long tuck.
Musketeer—A musket and rest; a scourer to clean the musket; a swinefeather with the head of a rest fastened to it. (This was an iron stake with a point at each end; one to stick in the ground and the other as a defence against horse.)
Pikeman—An i8-foot pike with a small steel head, a stiff tuck, not very long (’For if you arm your men with swords, half the swords you have in your Army amongst your common men will, upon the first march you make, be broken -with cutting boughs’).

FIG. 48. SWINEFEATHERS.
Top: A Swinefeather and its Case.
Bottom: Combined Musket-rests and Swinefeathers.
Dragoon—A flintlock (not a. matchlock) musket (which I hold much better for dragoon service, being upon occasion they may be able to make use of their snaphaunces on horseback, and upon any service in the night they may go undiscovered’); a belt to hang the musket on; a long tuck; a swinefeather.

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Artillery Guns of the WWII

Running parallel with this unfolding story of piercing projectiles was the development of the hollow-charge principle into a viable weapon. This illustrates the adaptation of a well-documented scientific phenomenon to a weapon of war: almost 200 years ago a Norwegian engineer had observed that hollowing out the face of an explosive charge made it cut deeper into rock when blasting. In the 1880s an American experimenter, Monroe, found that when firing guncotton slabs against armour plate, the initials ‘USN’ engraved in the guncotton reproduced themselves in mirror-like form in the face of the armour plate. From his observations and reports the phenomenon became known as the ‘Monroe Effect’ and was a scientific curiosity for many years. Just before the First World War one or two inventors toyed with the idea of employing this effect in mines and torpedoes, but since no one really understood why it did what it did, it was difficult to engineer the idea into a practical form.
Just before the Second World War broke out, a Swiss consortium approached the British government to offer a ‘new and powerful explosive’ for anti-tank use—at a high price. The inventors refused to divulge any information until cash was forthcoming, but were prepared to demonstrate their projectile being fired. An astute observer from the Research Department of Woolwich Arsenal went to Switzerland to watch the firing; being a well-read expert on ammunition development and history, he realised that what he was watching was not a new and powerful explosive so much as a practical application of the Monroe Effect. Upon his return to Woolwich he duly reported this, and, since it appeared that the Monroe Effect could be made to work, research immediately began into applying it to a light anti-tank grenade which the infantry soldier could fire from his rifle. Before the outbreak of war, this ‘68 Grenade’ had been perfected and was in production, and carries the distinction of being the first weapon ever to reach the hands of troops which relied on the Monroe Effect, or as it came to be known, the Hollow-Charge Principle.
What is this Hollow-Charge Principle? Put simply, it consists of forming the forward surface of the shell’s explosive charge into a cone or hemisphere and then lining this with a thin metal liner. The shell is then fitted with a suitably shaped nose, for ballistic effect and also to give the vital ’stand-off’ distance. This is the distance from the target—a matter of a few inches—at which the explosive must be detonated in order for the hollow charge to work effectively. On detonating the explosive at its rear end, the detonation wave exerts an immense pressure on the metal of the liner; the cone shape virtually’focusses’the explosive energy and causes the metal of the liner to be shaped into a jet of finely-divided metal and explosive gas, shooting toward the target at speeds of up to 20,000 feet per second. The stand-off distance is necessary in order to allow this jet to form and accelerate. When the jet strikes the target plate, the pressure exerted is so great as to blast a hole through the armour, blowing splinters of metal from the inside and permitting the white-hot jet to pass into the tank where it will set fire to fuel or ammunition, and, of course, kill or injure the crew.
The great virtue of the hollow-charge shell is that its performance is always the same, irrespective of the velocity at which it strikes. Even if the shell were standing still when detonated, the penetration would be the same. Because of this, it could be fired from guns too small to fire the large cartridges needed to give the necessary velocity to normal piercing projectiles. As soon as the 68 Grenade was seen to be successful, design began on other hollow-charge projectiles. A great deal of work went into producing one for the 25-pounder, though in the end it was never issued, since the AP shot issued for that gun was quite satisfactory and there was no real need for a hollow-charge shell. Then came a request from India to produce an anti-tank projectile for the 3.7-inch Pack Howitzer, the modern version of Kipling’s immortal ’screw-gun’. This gun, a small and portable weapon, could not be made to fire a piercing projectile at anything like the velocity needed to defeat even Japanese tanks, and a hollow-charge shell was designed and placed in production. The same shell was used in the 95-mm howitzer, an abortive infantry support gun which never saw service as a towed weapon, though it was employed as a self-propelled support weapon by the Royal Marines in Normandy and by the Armoured Corps.
By 1944, though, sufficient basic research had been done into this principle for it to be seen that a spinning shell was not the ideal method of employing hollow charges, since the spin tended to spread the jet out and give poor penetration. Finned projectiles were more effective, and consequently no more artillery shells were designed around the hollow charge; it was extensively employed, instead, for infantry weapons such as the PIAT, the Bazooka, and a variety of rifle grenades.
The Germans, and later the Russians, embraced the hollow-charge shell wholeheartedly. The Germans began issuing shell in late 1940 and eventually almost every German field and tank weapon had a hollow-charge shell, thus giving every gun or howitzer an anti-tank capability. Indeed, so short were the Germans of anti-tank guns after the Russian invasion got under way, that they hastily collected up all the French army’s 75-mm guns and assembled hundreds of them on to redundant anti-tank gun carriages of German design. A hollow-charge shell was produced and these makeshift weapons were deployed in Russia to stem the advancing Soviet tanks until 75-mm and 88-mm anti-tank guns were in sufficient supply. Judging from appearances, the Soviet hollow-charge shells were developed as virtual copies of German designs which had been captured.
In addition to artillery shell Germany also used the principle for infantry weapons such as the Panzerfaust, rifle grenades, and even a small shell which could be fired from a signal pistol. They also employed the principle in an ingenious attempt to prolong the life of the prewar 37-mm anti-tank gun, whose piercing projectile was, by 1942, no longer effective against current tanks. A large hollow-charge bomb was fitted with a hollow tail carrying fins; within this tail was a stick which fitted snugly into the barrel of the 37-mm gun, allowing the tail and fins to slide over the barrel. A blank cartridge completed the outfit, and this was used to fire the stick bomb to ranges of 300 to 400 yards. The bomb’s warhead was about 6 inches in diameter and carried about 8 pounds of explosive, giving a devastating effect at the target. In all fairness, it must be pointed out that Lieutenant-Colonel Blacker, inventor of the PIAT and the `Black Bombard’ of Home Guard fame, had proposed a similar 60-pound stick bomb in 1940, to be fired from the 25-pounder, but the idea was turned down on the grounds that it might lead to misemployment of the gun as a purely anti-tank weapon. (This misemployment theme was not confined to the British side: many German Flak commanders bewailed the loss of their valuable 88-mm Flak guns as they were whittled away to provide anti-tank defences.)
The third subject is the application of new principles to gun design. The first of these to be unveiled was the taper-bore antitank gun, which has already been touched upon. This was the child of a German engineer called Gerlich, who, advocating his principle of attaining high velocity without attracting any buyers, had been stumping the world for several years. He was briefly employed by both the US War Department and the British War Office at various times, but his ideas on improving shoulder arms were felt to be impractical. He eventually settled in Germany and saw his idea accepted as an anti-tank weapon. The 28/21-mm came first, then a 42/30-mm and finally a 75/50-mm. Unfortunately, the lack of tungsten carbide for the special projectiles spelled the demise of these weapons, but experiments continued with coned bores and coned muzzle-adapters for guns of various calibres up to as large as 280-mm, in order to boost velocity and range. These were intended to use high-explosive shells, which were more practical in the larger calibres, though the development of a shell which would stand up to being squeezed down the gun barrel was no easy task.
The second, and more widespread, new line of thought was the recoilless gun. Like most weapon ideas, there was nothing really new about it: Commander Davis of the US Navy had produced a recoilless (RCL for short) gun during the First World War which was adopted by Britain as an anti-Zeppelin aircraft weapon. The virtue of an RCL gun is that by having no recoil one needs no complicated hydraulic buffer system to absorb the firing shock: one need only make the gun-carriage strong enough to take the weight of the gun, instead of being strong enough to withstand being fired from—an ideal state of affairs for an aircraft weapon, particularly in the stick-and-string era. Davis’s idea is worth looking at, although outside our time scale, since it is the classic recoilless weapon. He simply provided the gun with two barrels, one pointing forward which fired a normal shell, and one pointing rearward which fired an identical weight of grease and buckshot. When the central cartridge was fired the shell and countershot departed at equal speed in opposite directions and cancelled each other’s recoil. From this it can be seen that if you make the countershot (say) one-fifth of the weight of the shell and fire it out at five times the speed, then the gun will still be in balance. Taking this idea to its logical conclusion one finishes up firing out of the back of the gun a fast, light stream of gas, still balancing the recoil since the weight times speed of the gas is the same as the (greater) weight times (slower) speed of the shell.
Cutting down the recoil
This was the principle which the Germans revealed in Crete when their troops appeared armed with a 75-mm RCL gun. The shell was the standard 75-mm shell, but the cartridge case had a frangible plastic base which held for long enough to allow pressure to build up and start the shell moving, then blew out through a hole in the breech-block, releasing the balancing stream of gas. The all-up weight of the gun, on its ex-machine gun tripod, was only 320 pounds, whereas the weight of the standard 75-mm field gun was about 11/2 tons—no mean saving for airborne carriage. A 105-mm version soon followed, weighing 855 pounds as opposed to the 105-mm 1E FH18’s 4,312 pounds, and many more developments began in this field to provide light weapons for mountain troops and infantry, particularly for anti-tank use. (It ought perhaps to be pointed out that the Panzerfaust was in fact a recoilless gun, and not, as generally supposed, a rocket launcher). Eventually RCL guns of up to 380-mm calibre were under development, including many for slinging beneath aircraft to carry artillery aloft for the battle against the Allied bombers, but none of these came to fruition.

n Britain, the RCL gun development during the war is a scarcely-known story of one man’s persistence. Sir Denis Burney, airship designer and prolific inventor-engineer, began to be interested in the recoilless principle early in the war. In order to prove his theories he converted a four-bore gun into a recoilless weapon and proceeded to fire it from the shoulder with ease; it must have been the world’s most comfortable duck gun. Having proved his point he proceeded to design a series of RCL guns ranging from 20-mm to 8-inch calibre. In addition to designing the guns, he expanded his theories and designed special ammunition to take advantage of the ballistic peculiarities of the weapon. He argued that since the rearward blast was taking place, the pressure within the gun would be less than with a conventional type, and the shell would be subjected to a more steady thrust. In which case it would be possible to make shells with thinner walls, which would carry greater charges of explosive than previously possible. He then went further, and reasoned that, since the shell walls were thin, if the shell were to be filled with the then new plastic explosive, it would spread on to the surface of the target like butter; a fuse fitted in the base of the shell would then detonate this plaster and blast in the target. His envisaged target was either the concrete emplacements of the European coast, or the palm-reinforced Japanese bunker, and he called his shell the Mal I buster’.
In 1944 his designs were accepted and a 3.45-inch (the same calibre as the 25-pounder) shoulder-fired gun, a 3.7-inch towed gun, a 95-mm towed howitzer, and a 7.2-inch towed howitzer were prepared for production. The 95-mm was also jeep-mounted—the first application of what has since become a standard method of carrying these guns. The 7.2-inch soon fell by the wayside, since it had been intended solely as a means of defeating the Atlantic Wall emplacements, but other weapons were found to do all that was needed. The 3.45-inch was intended as an infantry weapon in the jungle, enabling one man to carry what was virtually a 25-pounder punch on his shoulder. The 3.7-inch was proposed as the future infantry anti-tank weapon, and the 95-mm was contemplated as the airborne field gun to replace the US 75-mm howitzer and the 25-pounder. However, before the guns were produced in sufficient quantity for issue, the war came to an end; some 3.45-inch and 3.7-inch guns were issued to selected infantry units to obtain their reaction to RCL guns as a general thing, and the 95-mm was abandoned altogether.
The principal difference between the Burney guns and the German type was that the Burneys had much longer barrels, and used cartridge cases which, instead of the plastic blow-out base, used many perforations in the sidewall to release the gas into a surrounding chamber, from whence it was passed back to a number of vents around the breech.
Concurrently with Burney’s work in Britain, American designers began on similar weapons. A 105-mm howitzer T-9 was developed on similar lines to the German 105-mm, having a blow-out base to the cartridge. Another team developed 57-mm and 75-mm weapons which used perforated cases similar to the Burney pattern but having more and smaller holes, and also had the shell driving band pre-engraved in order to reduce the pressure inside the gun. Both these latter weapons were accepted for service early in 1945, saw service with the US Army in the Pacific theatre, and remained in service for many years. A third team, this time under the auspices of the National Research and Development Council, developed a 4.2-inch RCL mortar, an unlikely-sounding weapon which so as to be able to fire direct at the target at low angles, carried a small rocket on the nose of the shell to push it down the barrel’and fire the propelling cartridge in the usual mortar fashion. Due to the blast of the rearward jet, it could only be fired at low elevations; there was a certain amount of enthusiasm for this weapon but it never entered service.
Perhaps the best summing up of all wartime development on RCL weapons was made in a wartime report: ‘Undoubtedly a number of effective recoilless weapons have been developed, but they are being accepted with reserve, and will only be considered as supplementary to older and more orthodox weapons which have proved their accuracy and reliability in service.’
There is, unfortunately, no space here to delve into more recondite stories of research and development: the British 13.5-inch gun linered-down to 8-inch calibre which, fired from Dover, reached a range of over 100,000 yards; the British and American development of flying artillery, which culminated in the mounting of a 32-pounder anti-tank gun in a Mosquito; the German V-3 multiple-chamber gun which was intended to shell London; the American 36-inch mortar ‘Little David’, designed to batter Japanese strong-points; the German rocket-assisted and ramjet-assisted heavy artillery shells which promised vast increases in range; or the Anglo-American development of the electronic proximity fuse which proved the answer to both ‘Doodlebugs’ and kamikaze pilots. These and similar stories may only interest the specialist, but they, together with what has been written here, serve to illustrate the incredible range of inventions brought into play in the war waged between the designers and inventors of each side, each endeavouring to get one step ahead of the other, if only temporarily.

Tags: aircraft, Allied, ammunition, armour plate, ARMOURED, army, artillery guns, astute observer, bomb, Britain, british government, calibres, cartridge, Commander Davis, explosive charge, first world war, Flak, Germany, grenade, guncotton, heavy artillery, infantry soldier, Lieutenant-Colonel Blacker, Panzerfaust, practical application, prewar, projectile, rifle, Russia, second world war, slabs, tank, torpedoes, velocity, weapon, world, world war one, wwii

The German Super-Guns of the WWII

The German super-guns
The heaviest field equipments seen during the war were the German self-propelled howitzers generically known as ‘Karl Morsers’. These were of two calibres, 540-mm and 600-mm, mounted on the same type of carriage. Six carriages were made and the exact disposition of barrels between them is in some doubt; the carriages were numbered I to VI; Vehicle V was captured by the US 1st Army and found to have a 540-mm barrel, yet photographs captured later showed this same carriage to have a 600-mm barrel. It is probably safe to assume that three of each calibre were made. The date of introduction is also a little vague, but it seems fairly certain that the 600-mm version was introduced in 1942 and the 540-mm in 1944.
The carriage of ‘Karl’ was a simple rectangular box, divided into three compartments. The first held the Mercedes-Benz engine and transmission; the second carried the gun; and the third held the carriage raising and lowering gear. After driving into position on its tracks the engine was used to drive the lowering gear, which rotated the anchorages of the suspension torsion bars so as to allow the chassis to be lowered to the ground until the suspension and track were relieved of the weight. For long-distance moves the gun and recoil system were removed from the carriage, dismantled, and loaded on to spec,a -,a e•s, the carriage was then winched on to a special tank-transpor-er. For very long distances the complete gun and carriage assembly could be slung between two railway flat wagons by means of special trusses.
In the use of railway artillery Germany virtually had the field to herself. This class of weapon is really the prerogative of the Continental nation with a well-developed rail system by which it can readily deploy them to any front. In contrast, Britain and the USA, while possessing railway guns. used them solely as mobile coast defence units, since the problem of transporting two or three hundred tons of railway mounting across the Channel was not a trick to be undertaken lightly. Indeed, the British and American weapons were almost entirely relics of the First World War which had been in mothballs. 1940 saw a few more mountings hastily cobbled together from available spares and hurried to cover the Channel, just as in similar fashion American guns were mobilised and deployed in 1941. In 1944 reports from France indicated that heavy railway artillery might be of use in demolishing strongpoints to be expected in the final assault in Germany, and designs were hastily prepared by the Americans for a number of 16-inch guns, but within a few weeks it was seen that heavy artillery of this class had been rendered superfluous by the quality and quantity of air support available, and the demand was cancelled.
The German army had a vast range of railway guns from 150-mm upwards, but two were really outstanding and deserve closer examination. The first was the 28-cm K5(E)—Kanone, Model 5, Eisenbahnlafette —which became their standard super-heavy railway gun and was probably the finest design of its k;nd in the world. The basic arithmetic and paperwork had been done in the late 1920s and early 1930s, and work began on the gun in 1934. (It is worth noting that every German railway gun was designed and built by Krupp— Rheinmettal did design two, but they were never made.) First, a 150-mm barrel was produced for tests; it had been decided that to obtain the great range demanded, a conventionally rifled barrel was out of the question. A design was prepared with 12 deep grooves and having a shell carrying 12 ribs, or splines, to match. The theory behind this was that the engraving of a conventional copper driving band on the shell gave rise to very high pressure in the gun chamber; by using the spline and groove method to spin the shell, this resistance was removed, and the shell would step off more smartly, allowing a bigger propelling charge to be used without over-straining the gun. The 150-mm test barrel proved that the theory was right, and a full-calibre 280-mm barrel was built.
The mounting was a simple box-girder assembly carried on two six-axle bogies, with the front bogie slung so as to allow the front of the box-girder to be swung across it for aiming the gun. For large angles the whole weapon was mounted on a special portable turntable built at the end of a short spur of track laid at the desired firing point. Each gun was supplied with a special train which included wagons for carrying the turntable, light-antiaircraft guns for local defence, air-conditioned ammunition wagons, living quarters and kitchen for the gunners, and flat wagons to carry their entitlement of motor transport.
By 1940 eight of these complete equipments were in service, and production continued throughout the war, 25 being built in all. The German gunners called them ‘Slim Bertha’, but to the Allies in Italy one at least became famous as ‘Anzio Annie’.
With the 561-pound pre-rifled shell the gun could reach to 68,000 yards. A rocket-assisted shell was later developed which increased this range, with a certain loss of accuracy, to 94,000 yards. Finally, the Peenembride Research Establishment designed a 300-pound dart-like projectile which was fired from a special 310-mm smooth-bore barrel and which ranged to 170,000 yards. Although coming too late for general issue, these ‘PeenemOnde Arrow Shells’ were issued for troop trials in the field, and some were fired against the US 3rd Army at ranges of about 70 miles.
The second railway gun, ‘Gustav’, was the biggest gun the world has ever seen —the Krupp-designed 800-mm Kanone. The idea was conceived in 1937 of a pair of super-guns; they were of quite conventional design, except for their immense size. Too large to be moved in one piece, they were transported piecemeal in special trains and assembled at the selected sites by travelling cranes. When assembled, the mounting straddled two sets of standard-gauge rails, with 80 wheels taking the 1,350-ton weight. An armour or concrete-piercing shell of 7 tons was propelled by a 13/4-ton charge to a range of 23 miles, or a 5-ton high-explosive shell to 29 miles. The first equipment, ‘Gustav’, was proved at the Rugenwalde range in March 1943, in Hitler’s presence. The only record of its use was at the siege of Sebastopol; the gun was sited at Bakhchisary and fired some 30 to 40 rounds. One shot is recorded as having penetrated through 100 feet of earth to destroy a Soviet ammunition dump at Severnaya Bay. The subsquent history of the gun is unknown (it was presumably captured by the Red Army).
The second equipment, ‘Dora’. so far as is known, never left the proving ground, though what happened to it at the end of the war is a minor mystery (some ammunition and a spare barrel were found at Krupp’s proof establishment at Meppen near the Dutch border).
The detachment necessary to man. maintain, and give local protection to Gustav was 4,120 men strong. commanded by a major-general. The actual fire-control and operation of the gun demanded a colonel and 500 men, and the construction or dismantling of the weapon took between four and six weeks. A long-range ‘PeenemOnde Arrow Shell’ was developed for Gustay. but, so far as is known, was never fired. This was to weigh 2.200 pounds and range to 100 miles. There was also a proposition to mount a 520-mm gun on the same carriage to fire rocket-assisted shells and ‘PeenemOnde Arrow Shells’ to a range of 118 miles for cross-channel bombardment, but this never got past the drawing-board.
If it is accepted that it is not a good idea to tamper with a good gun design in the middle of a war, then the only way to render the gun more effective is to improve the ammunition, and this technique was frequently adopted during the war. And in no field is this seen to greater effect than in the battle against the tank. The reason for this is fairly self-evident: personnel targets remain more or less the same—once the anti-personnel projectile is perfected it can stay as it is. On the other hand, once a new anti-tank projectile appears, it is only a matter of time before the enemy put thicker armour on his tanks.
At the outbreak of war there were two types of anti-tank projectile: the armour-piercing (AP) shot, and the AP shell. The difference is basic. Shot are solid, with no explosive filling, and rely purely on their speed to smash through the armour and do damage inside the tank by their impact, the fragments of plate they knock off during penetration, and their own effect when they penetrate the plate and bounce around inside the tank. AP shells, on the other hand, have a small cavity filled with high explosive and are fitted with a fuse in the base. The shell penetrates, similarly to shot, by brute force, but the fuse is activated by the impact and, after a short delay to allow the shell to pass through the plate and enter the tank, the explosive is detonated, shattering the shell into fragments and adding to the shot-like damage already caused. On paper the shell is the better proposition, since there is the bonus of the explosive filling. But paper figures tend to be deceptive, and in fact the shot is probably the more practical projectile, because the high-explosive (HE) cavity weakens the shell, and the fuse is precariously supported against the hammer-blow of impact. Britain held firmly to the shot theory for anti-tank work, though many years of experience in producing AP shells for naval use was available. Several other nations preferred AP shell, bewitched by the HE bonus.
Most of the belligerents entered the war with a plain shot or shell and relied on throwing it hard enough to penetrate the opposing tanks. So long as the target was relatively lightly armoured this was successful; but, naturally, each side began to increase armour thickness on each succeeding generation of tank. The quick answer to this was to increase the gun charge or even the calibre, and thus throw the projectile harder, but there comes a time when the impact is too much for the projectile, and instead of piercing, it merely shatters on the outside of the target without doing any damage.
The answer to this was to protect the tip of the shot or shell with a softer cap, which tended to spread the impact stresses over the shoulders of the projectile, instead of concentrating them into the tip. This preserved the piercing action to higher velocities, and the gun was again winning the battle. The next move belonged to the tank designers who made their armour thicker, and so it went on until the projectile was once more shattering, cap or no cap. At this point the projectile designers were faced with a new problem: if it was futile to throw the projectile harder, might it not be possible to throw a harder projectile? And what was harder than an armour-piercing projectile? Tungsten carbide, a diamond-hard alloy, provided an answer, but it was about one-and-a-half times as heavy as steel, so that it could not easily be made into a projectile. Furthermore, it was expensive and in short supply.
The first application of tungsten to an anti-tank projectile was by the German army in their 28-mm Schwere Panzerbuchse 41, a weapon with a unique tapered barrel. The shot consisted of a small core of tungsten carbide held in a light alloy casing of 28-mm calibre. As the shot was fired down the gun barrel, so the calibre diminished and the light alloy casing was ground down, until it emerged as a 21-mm shot. This squeezing enhanced the velocity and changed the ratio of shot diameter to weight. The velocity reached was 4,000 feet per second, and, on impact with the target, the hardness of the core was impervious to impact shock and penetrated successfully.
About the same time—late 1940—a similar idea had been put forward by a Mr Janacek, a Czechoslovakian weapon designer working in England. While his idea was still under consideration, a specimen of the German weapon was captured in North Africa and flown home for trials: the idea was seen to be feasible. The British version was in the form of a taper-bore adapter to be fitted to the existing 2-pounder gun, together with a special tungsten-cored shot, known under the code name of ‘Littlejohn’, an Anglicised version of Janacek. The advantage here was that the adapter could be removed to permit firing normal explosive shells, but could be refitted quickly for the special shot, whereas the German design required a special pattern of high-explosive shell to be developed, a difficult feat in such a small calibre. The ‘Littlejohn’ attachment and its shot were not used in towed artillery, since by the time they were ready for service the anti-tank units were armed with 6-pounders, but it was used on 2-pounder and American 37-mm guns mounted in armoured cars.
To use tungsten in a conventional gun, a different approach was needed. The first attempt, for the 6-pounder, was the ‘AP Composite Rigid’ (APCR) shot, a tungsten core mounted in an alloy sheath of approximately the same dimensions as the conventional steel shot for the gun. By virtue of its light alloy content the APCR shot was somewhat lighter and thus had a higher velocity when fired. Unfortunately the ratio of weight-to-diameter was unfavourable, giving a poor ballistic coefficient or ‘carrying power’, and while the short-range performance was impressive, the velocity soon dropped, and at ranges over 1,000 yards, steel shot was just as good, sometimes better. Some German weapons were also provided with the same type of projectile, and one was designed for use in the Soviet 76.2-mm field gun which the Germans captured in large numbers and converted into an anti-tank gun. Unfortunately for them, by early 1942 the shortage of tungsten in Germany began to be felt, and in the middle of that year a ban was placed on the use of tungsten in ammunition; what scarce supplies there were had been earmarked for machine tool production, not for throwing about the Russian steppes. After strong remonstrations, the 5-cm Pak 38 anti-tank gun was specifically exempted from this ban, since at that time it was the only weapon capable of stopping a Russian T-34 tank, provided it was supplied with tungsten-cored shot.
Although the 6-pounder APCR shot seemed reasonably successful, it was not the ideal answer. The ideal, in fact, sounded ridiculous: what was wanted was a shot which in the barrel was large-calibre and light, so as to pick up speed quickly and leave the gun at high velocity, but which outside the barrel should be small in diameter and heavy, so as to have good ‘carrying power’ and keep up its high velocity for a long range. These two conflicting requirements were fused into one projectile by two British designers, Permutter and Coppock, of the Armaments Research Department. Even before the 6-pounder had received its APCR shot they were at work, and in March 1944 their ‘AP Discarding Sabot’ shot was provided for the 6-pounder. In this design, the tungsten core is contained in a streamlined steel sheath or sub-projectile; this in turn is carried in a light-alloy framework or ’sabot’ of the full gun calibre. On firing, this sabot holds the sub-projectile centralised in the bore and gives the whole thing the combination of light weight and large area which is wanted for velocity. But firing actually ‘unlocks’ the sabot, and as the shot leaves the gun muzzle, so the sabot is thrown clear, allowing the sub-projectile to race to the target at velocities of the order of 3,000 feet per second. Now, since the sub-projectile’s sheath is virtually a skin round the tungsten core, it follows that the weight is high in relation to the cross-section—the ideal condition for good carrying power and thus long-range performance. A similar projectile for the 17-pounder followed in September 1944, and one was under development for the 20-pounder tank gun when the war ended.

Tags: ammunition, anchorages, armour, ARMOURED, army, artillery, calibre, carriage assembly, carriages, chassis, czechoslovakia, defence units, first world war, german army, gunners, heavy artillery, Krupp-designed, long distance, mercedes benz, railway guns, red army, Shells, tank units, target, torsion bars, trusses, wagons, wwii