Breechloader

“ The introduction of breechloaders has made shooting a luxury, and has obviated the necessity of a large battery of guns. For military purposes the breechloader has manifold advantages—as the soldier can load while lying down, and keep up a rapid fire from a secure cover. It was remarked during the Crimean War that a large proportion of wounded men were struck in the right arm, which would have been raised above the head when loading the old-fashioned rifle, and was thus prominently exposed. ”

“ The ultimate armament of the infantry with breech-loading weapons is determined upon. It would be done at a comparatively small cost by conversion, but it is now well known that the calibre, twist, and form of rifling of the ‘Enfield’ is not the most favourable for fine shooting, and it is quite certain that no converted arms can possess the precision which will be easily attained in a new breechloader of smaller gauge and quicker twist. ”

“ I may here remark, that the increased length of gun necessary to produce the best effect is causing even those who have possessed breech-loaders for many years to rearm, just as completely as we are now beginning to do. All the old short breech loading guns are becoming obsolete. Another great advantage of breech-loading is the facility afforded for enlarging the powder chamber of the gun, so that a comparatively short, thick cartridge may be I employed, without any definite restriction due to the size of the bore. ”

“ The easily fatal range of the bullet of two hundred and forty grains is a thousand yards; and farther than that, no bullet can be relied on as against single men.
In breech-loading guns, much must be sacrificed, in point of accuracy, to mere facility of loading; and here there seems room for doubt whether a breech-loader offers any advantage compensating for its complication of mechanism and the danger of its being disabled by accident in hurried loading. No breech-loading gun is so trustworthy in its execution as a muzzle-loader ”

“ The latest improvements in cannon indicate that the old smooth-bore muzzle-loader guns are to be entirely superseded by breech-loaders, just as in small arms the muzzle-loading musket has given way to the breech-loading rifle.
A single lever is now employed, a single turn of [Pg 265] which will close or open the breech, and when opened expel the shell by the same movement. Formerly breech-loaders were confined to the heaviest ordnance; now they are a part of the lightest field pieces. ”

“ As to the comparative value of breech-loaders and muzzle-loaders, we shall not offer an opinion. No doubt a muzzle-loader is the stronger weapon, because its breech is solid; but our cousins, the Germans, urge very justly that, since their guns do not burst, they are quite strong enough. Advocates of the muzzle-loading system argue again that their weapon is more simple in construction, and for this reason is to be preferred; but on the other hand the sponging and loading of a gun is more easy to effect if it opens at the breech. ”

“ When momentarily expecting a bird to rise, and obliged to have the gun cocked, it should be carried across the breast with a sharp upward slope to the left. This is the only way the gun should be carried cocked. A breech-loader is so easily unloaded that there is no excuse for getting into a wagon or boat, or going around a house, without unloading. Never hand a loaded gun to any one who asks to look at it. Whenever you pick up any kind of a gun to examine it, always open it and see if it is loaded, and the habit will grow so that you will do this almost without knowing it. ”

“ Breech-loaders do not shoot nearly so well, and are not half so safe, as muzzle-loading guns.
It is said, and truly, that a breech-loader can be charged more rapidly than a muzzle-loader; but I hold this to be no advantage, for this reason: all guns can be loaded more quickly than they are fired, and the tendency of all barrels to absorb heat, puts a limit to rapidity of firing; indeed, after ten rapid shots with each barrel, both guns would be about on an equality. Another question is, can breech-loaders be used longer than muzzle-loading guns, without cleaning? ”

“ In modern warfare, breech-loading guns have largely supplanted the old muzzle-loading patterns, and the skill of the inventor has been applied to perfecting the mechanism whereby the breech may be effectually closed, to prevent the escape of gas, and at the same time rapidly and easily opened and thrown back for the reception of another cartridge. Various forms of breech-block are used, but the patent in suit relates to what is known as the mutilated or slotted screw form, which consists of a circular plug of metal, with equal parts of its threads cut away. ”

“ So far as small-arms are concerned, we know there is but one opinion; some nations prefer one breech-loader to another, but all agree in the employment of breech-loaders. In the case of cannon, however, it is different. Germany relies upon breech-loading ordnance, while Great Britain has forsaken the system and gone back to muzzle-loaders; Austria makes her guns of bronze, Germany of steel, Russia favors steel and brass, America cast-iron, while England has cannon of steel encompassed with iron, and France weapons of iron girt with steel. ”

“ The facility with which breech-loaders can be charged is generally trumpeted forth to the world as an advantage of vital importance; but let us carefully examine this point and see if it has not been exaggerated—whether, in fact, a solid gun cannot be charged and discharged as rapidly as a breech-loader.
In the first place, all guns recoil; this necessitates the relaying of the gun after every discharge, in order to obtain accuracy of aim; and if facility of loading is to be obtained at the expense of aim, it can scarcely be called an advantage. Aim consumes more time than loading. ”

“ A large majority of men prefer the breech-loading arm, but there are those who still adhere tenaciously to the old-fashioned muzzle-loading rifle as preferable to any of the modern inventions. Among these may be mentioned the border hunters and mountaineers, who can not be persuaded to use any other than the Hawkins rifle, for the reason that they know nothing about the merits of any others. My own experience has forced me to the conclusion that the breech-loading arm possesses great advantages over the muzzle-loading, for the reason that it can be charged and fired with much greater rapidity. ”

“ Modern Shot Guns.—The modern sporting breech-loaders may be said to have originated with the invention of the cartridge-case containing its own means of ignition. The breech-loading mechanism antedated the cartridge by many years, the earliest breech-loading hand guns dating back to 1537. Another distinct type of breech-loader was invented in France about the middle of the 17th century. During the 17th and 18th centuries breech-loading arms were very numerous and of considerable variety. The original cartridge, a charge of powder and bullet in a paper envelope, dates from 1586. ”

“ From the necessity for rapid firing, the immense advantage of a breech-loader must be apparent; the tide rarely serves for over two or three hours, and to kill more than a hundred birds in that time with a muzzle-loader is a remarkable feat, as it requires almost the entire time for the mere loading and firing of the gun; but the breech-loader may be charged in an instant, and enables the sportsman to improve{195} the lucky chance of coming upon a goodly collection of birds, and make the most of the scanty time permitted to him. ”

“ In 1864 and 1866 committees were appointed by the British War Office to report on breech-loading arms, and after protracted experiments, Jacob Snider’s method of conversion of the muzzle-loading Enfield to a breech loader (fig. 1) was adopted, with the metallic cartridge-case improved in 1867 by Colonel Boxer, R.A. All available Enfield rifles were thus converted, and new arms made with steel barrels instead of iron. Great Britain was the first to adopt for her army a breech-loading rifle with metallic cartridge-case, which secured the perfect obturation of the breech. ”

“ There is yet one more point in which breech-loading has recently been found, in the Royal Gun Factory, to possess a great advantage over muzzle-loading as regards ballistic effect. With a shot loaded from the front, it is clear that it must be smaller all over than the bore, or it would not pass down to its seat. A shot thrust in from behind, on the contrary, may be furnished with a band or sheath of comparatively soft metal larger than the bore ”

“ Another of the principal defects in the breech-loader is the flat surface of the breech, which scientific and practical experimenters have proved to be erroneous, by reason of the much greater power and extra force which may be obtained from the conical interior form of solid breech—the rule being that ‘force cannot be expended and retained also;’ and as it must, of necessity, be expended to a certain degree by explosion and recoil on a flat-surfaced breech, extra powder is required to produce like effects to those which result from the solid conical breech. ”

“ The long gun of modern days is of necessity breech-loading. The development of other elements gave, as a resultant, great length; and this, in turn, required a system of charging which would permit protection for the men while loading, and would obviate the intolerable inconvenience of ramming home powder and shot in a long muzzle-loader—an operation which was, in fact, impossible beyond a certain limit of length. The advocates of the older construction, especially in England, urged long and earnestly its simplicity and the superior strength of a solid breech ”

“ Breeching Taps.—The usual diameters of rifle breech pins are three-eighths, one-half, and five-eighths of an inch; of shot guns three-quarters and seven-eighths of an inch. The thread of the rifle is generally fourteen to the inch, and the shot gun sixteen to the inch. The breech pins of military arms vary. Some are made with coarse thread and some with fine thread, ranging from ten to eighteen threads per inch. There is no arbitrary rule for breeching guns, and excepting English made guns, almost every conceivable size and thread may be found in guns that are brought in to be repaired. ”

“ There are a few implements that are necessary to the use of a breech-loader, which are much simpler than they at first appear. To load the cartridge is required either a short ramrod and a machine for turning over the edges of the case upon the wad, to retain it in its place, or an apparatus, also invented by Jeffries, that combines all the requisites for loading, and by the aid of which a hundred cartridges{38} can be loaded in an hour. ”

“ The raising or depressing of the breech of a gun by means of the elevating screw; slewing to the right or left, spunging the gun, and ramming home the powder and shot, all consume time; hence we think that quickness of loading is worthless.
Breech-loading cannon cannot be constructed for bullets of larger diameter than that of the rifle bore, without a ductile bullet be used; for, as is usual in breech-loading small-arms, the bullet rifles itself as it is forced up the grooves. ”

“ The measure of powder and the measure of shot usually made about the same. Over the shot is rammed a loose wad—it needs only to be tight enough to prevent the shot from rolling out when the muzzle of the gun happens to come lower than the breech. Disk-like wads of pasteboard or felt cloth are the latest invention.
The Breech Loaders.—The breech-loading gun is now before the public in considerable variety; and being really the gun of the day, and, consequently, engaging the best thought of inventors, it is constantly appearing in new forms. ”

“ In gunnery, an instrument having a graduated scale of tangents by means of which any elevation may be given to a piece. Correctly speaking, the breech-sight gives the angle made by the line of aim or sight with the axis of the piece. The base of the breech-sight is a plate of brass curved to fit the base-ring or line, the scale and slides are similar to those of the pendulum hausse except that a hole is made in the plate, instead of a notch to sight through. Breech-sights are graduated for no disparts, a front-sight equal in height to the dispart being screwed into the top of the muzzle ”

“ Taking a double-barrel shot-gun for illustrating these general principles, it may be stated that the barrels are movable at the breech or rear end, and butt upon the face of the standing breech peculiar to the latest and best muzzle-loaders. The face of these barrels fits smoothly against that of the standing breech. There is nothing in the way of a breech-pin to resist the backward force of the ignited powder, or hold the barrels in place. The hooks mentioned as peculiar to the patent breech muzzle-loader are not there—nothing at all like them. ”

“ One immense advantage of the breech-loader is its safety in loading, especially in a confined position, as on a boat or in a battery. Whereas, in the muzzle-loader, immediately after the discharge, while the smoke is still pouring from the barrel, and while the fire may be smouldering invisible below, the sportsman deliberately pours in a fresh charge of powder, holding his hand and the entire flask over the muzzle, endangering his life, and incurring injury far more frequently than most persons suppose ”

“ The Breech-Loading Rifle.—Most of the rules suggested as aids in forming judgment upon the quality of the breech-loading shot gun, can be trusted as bearing with equal force in case of the breech-loading rifle. The makers of breech-loading rifles in the United States have won for themselves a noble reputation throughout the world ”

“ To Take the Gun Apart.—With the muzzle-loading guns now in common use this is an operation so simple as to be scarcely worthy a mention. If the gun is an old-fashioned breech-pinned muzzle-loader, the first thing is to push out the small wire pins or bolts which pass through the stock, under the barrel, and through the barrel-loops. The next thing is to draw the breechpin screw; this lets the barrel out of the stock. If it is desirable to unbreech the gun, it is done by clamping the breechpin in a vise, and then turning the barrel by hand until it is screwed off the pin. ”