Gunnery in 1858: Being a Treatise on Rifles, Cannon, and Sporting Arms Explaining the Principles of the Science of Gunnery, and Describing the Newest Improvements in Fire-Arms

Arcualia, from “arcus, a bow,” appears to have been the original name, and included all sorts of “missiles,” as well as the engines by which they were propelled. The sling, stil...

The Rifle has at length taken its place among scientifically improved weapons. Mathematicians laboured long and earnestly to develope the important principles involved in it, an...

“Science begins at the point where mind dominates matter, where the attempt is made to subject the mass of experience to the scrutiny of reason. Science is mind brought into con...

In this chapter I shall briefly describe the process of the manufacture of guns of all qualities, commencing with barrel-welding; which, in importance, is inferior only to the _...

Gunpowder being the base on which the superstructure of this treatise is to be raised, the history, the use, and the nature of this explosive compound, are here placed in the fo...

A considerable progress in improvement has taken place in manufacturing the higher quality of iron since my last publication. Not that I arrogate to myself any credit on that sc...

“A stately volume in gorgeous golden covers. Such a book is in our times a rarity. Large, massive, and beautiful in itself, it is illustrated by a sprinkling of elegant wood-cut...

For a considerable period subsequently to the introduction of the manufacture of gunnery into England, there existed no public proof, or test, for the goodness and safety of bar...

Revolving or repeating pistols have now become as necessary in war as the rifle. The peculiarity of the contests in various parts of America first showed the necessity of a weap...

From the earliest ages of the world, the jealousies and bickerings of mankind have been fruitful causes of war. Sometimes, perhaps, justified by political reasons; at others, it...

The manufacture is very simple: the lead is first tempered by the aid of arsenic, in the proportions required by the slag (a technical term) for the kind used; some lead taking...

Sporting in France has never been brought to the same state of perfection as in this country. Grouse-shooting on our wild romantic hills is a very different sport from quail, pa...

Enfield, the seat of the Government manufacture of small arms, will become a celebrated place in future history; its productions being now one of the wonders of the present age....

Whale shooting has now become a great fact; no other means being used to capture this monster of the deep but the harpoon gun, when it is possible to obtain it. Although little...

Robins’s prediction verified--Barrels first rifled at Vienna in 1498-- Earliest elongated bullets--Captain Delvigne’s bullet--The author’s expansive bullet--His memorial to the...

Definition of the term--Modern field gun--English artillery behind the march of science--Official obstacles to improvement--Various kinds of British artillery--Table of measurem...

Improvement in gun barrels depends on the iron--Continental manufacturers advance while English stand still--Cheap and inferior guns of “Park-paling”--Scarcity of horse-nail stu...

New principle--Improved rifles--Useless inventions--Scientific principles of gunnery: 1. The explosive power and its velocity. 2. The retarding agents. 3. Construction of the tu...

Origin of its invention--Roger Bacon’s recipe--Accidental discovery by a German monk--Gunpowder introduced by the Saracens--Its explosive and propellant properties--Composition...

Barrel welding--Birmingham welders--Different twists of metal (illustrated with cuts)--Process of welding--Hammer-hardening--Belgium welders--Mode of plating barrels--Belgium me...

The bow--The sling--Crossbow--Field artillery of the Normans-- Artillery of the ancients--Range of the crossbow and longbow--The ram of Vespasian--Guns first employed in 1327--G...

Immense demand for them--Their value--Best manufacturers--Colonel Colt’s repeating pistol described--Its double action discussed-- Machine-made pistols not equal to hand-made--D...

Proof-house of Gun-maker’s Company--Proof Acts of 1813 and 1815-- Provisions of Gun Barrel Proof Act of 1855--Penal clauses--Schedule B --Proof marks--Scale of charges for Proof...