T.A.'S BOER-KILLER.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIV, Issue IV, 27 January 1900, Page 169

T.A.'S BOER-KILLER.

HOW THE BRITISH RIFLE IS MADE, AND HOW IT WORKS. At the present moment, when the fate ol our south Atrieau colonies, to say nothing oi our national prestige, practically depends upon tue trustworthiness of the rifles carried by our khaki-coated Tommies, a few words as to the mauulactuie and performance of these weapons may not be unwelcome to your readers (recently said a well-known Army Ordnance oflicer to the “P.W.”) As every man knows, the present service rifle, the Lee-.Uetford, began to replace the old Martini-Henry about the year 1690; but it was fully six years later before the entire mil.tary* service, both volunteer and regular,* was using the same weapon. The Lee-Metford, which for rapidity of fire is practically a ten-chamoered revolver rifle, consists of three principal parts. The stock, which is of the best Italian walnut, and is subdivided into the butt and fore-end: the barrel and the lock. Of these, the woodwork is, of course, the simplest of construction. By a most ingenious arrangement of the lathe, the entire butt is cut out of an oblong piece of wood in slightly more than “no time”; while the "fore-end" is similarly evolved with equal rapidity, the whole of the joinery needing only a brisk sandpapering and polishing in order to fit it for service. The construction of the barrel is considerably more complicated. The Lee-Metford barrel is made from a solid steel bar of a circular section, i ne bar is, in the first place, considerably shorter and thicker than the shape it will finally assume; the necessary elongation being effected by bringing it to a white heat and passing it over a steam anvil, where in a few minutes it is rolled and hammered into the required length. In this way the clumsy looking block of mild steel (measuring 2 feet by 1J inches) is speedily converted into an unbored rifle barrel, nearly four feet in length, and terminating in a thickened end. measuring about one-tenth of its entire length. Next follows the process of boring out the barrel, an operation requiring no little skill on the part of the workman. The boring is conducted by means of a pair of -drills, working from either end and meeting in the middle. They are kept cool by means of a stream of soap and water, which is forced into the barrel by hydraulic pressure. As soon as the barrel is rough-bored, it is polished ready to receive the rifling. The accuracy expected of the driller and polisher will

be best appreciated from a description of the test employed to cheek bis workmanship. The barrel is placed in a vertical position, and its lower end made airtight. A close-fitting gauge is then inserted at the top of the bore, when, if the bore is mathematically correct, the gauge should not oitly be supported by the air within the bore, but, upon the removal of the seal from the base of the barrel, should drop easily through the same, from top to bottom without wedging. Before a barrel goes to the "rifler." it is inclosed in a strongly protected firing cell. Here it is repeatedly proved, with the aid of charges many times heavier than it will actually be required to carry in battle, a test which is again repeated after the process ot rifling. The process of rifling a barrel is that by which are cut the spiral grooves, which run inside the bore from breech to muzzle, and are designed for the purpose of causing the projectile to rapidly rotate, gimlet fashion, in its flight. For the benefit of the uninitiated, it may be explained that this twist not only enables the bullet to cut its way further into its billet, but also gives it a much longer and more accurate flight. The grooves thus cut are seven in number, but the process by which they are produced

is unfortunately too technical for the unprofessional reader. After polishing anil “browning” (the latter in order that no tell-tale glint of steel may betray the marksman to his enemy), the barrel is ready for attachment to the “body,” “bol,” and “magazine.” The “body” is that part of the rifle which holds together its component parts; the “bolt” is a small edition of the common or frontdoor bolt of our own houses, and. in addition to extracting the spent cartridge, contains a “striker,” by which the cartridge is exploded. Most important of all. however, is the “magazine.” To draw a familiar simile, the main idea of the magazine mechanism is an extension of the principle of the metal sovereign purse. You put your ten cartridges in, one by one, upon a species of spring platform, which will always hold the last cartridge ready to hand. The chief difference is. that whereas in the sovereign purse the coins are withdrawn by hand, the Lee-Metford magazine is emptied automatically. It is provided with an ingenious mechanism which causes it to disgorge its contents, one by one, into the breech of the rifle as soon as the preceding cartridge has been ejected by the action, of firing. The magazine is further fitted with a “cut-off.” by means of which the rifle can be fired and re-loaded in the ordinary way, shot by shot, until such time as the soldier finds himself in a tight corner. Then rhe “cut-off” is pulled out, and Tommy knows hr can face the forthcoming rush with the confidence which comes of having ten lives up his sleeve without the trouble of reloading.