A NEW AND WONDERFUL RIFLE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1874, 21 October 1887, Page 15

A NEW AND WONDERFUL RIFLE.

The new rifle with which the French infantry will be supplied before next spring is, according to all accounts, a wonder. It is known by the name of its inventor, Lebel, and is smaller and lighter than the rifleß now in use ; the French soldiers call it " the little gun." The most authentic descriptions given of the gun agree in attributing to it a carrying power beyond that of any rifle heretofore in use. The gun has been received in New York and carefully examined there ; but experiments with it are impossible, owing to the fact that the powder used is a compound of which the French Government ajoue has the secret. According to all accounts, the gun will carry its bullet more than a mile and a-half, and witU a more certain aim thau has been possible with ordinary rifles. The bore of the gun is very small, aud the ball, which is of steel and sharply pointed at one end, is said to revolve at a speed of 1000 revolutions a second. In the tests made by the, French Government, this bullet is said to have penetrated a brick wall eight inches thick at a distance of 500 yards. At a distance of more than a mile it will pass through a man as easily as at 10 paces. The gun has no recoil under fire, and the powder gives out no smoke whatever. The Lebel gun is, of course, a repeater, and the cartridges are so small that each soldier carries 220 rounds of ammunition as against 116 rounds, formerly considered the maximum. The French Government is now making these guas at the rate of 500 a day, and is preparing to turn out double that number.