Letter to the Editor on Gun Laws
Letters to Editor
—– Original Message —–
From: Andy
To: owenguns@spiderweb.com.au
Sent: Thursday, June 11, 2009 11:51 AM
Subject: RE: Owen Guns Bulletin No 18 June 2009
Gday Ron, My name is Andy …….. from Perth. I am just writing to say thanks very much for the newsletters I thing that they are great. I agree with your sentiments regarding the sad state of firearm legislation in this country. Surely the UK experience proves that banning firearms from law abiding citizens doesn’t work! What about the 200 million well armed envious neighbours 600ks from Darwin? I also share your sentiments regarding the domination of the market by large importers in league with customs and excise. I can’t believe how much we pay for firearms over here unreal. Keep up the good work best wishes Andy
Letter to the Editor
Letter to Editor from Bob in Seattle
Subject: gun Control
A TRUE STORY FROM…”THE HOUSTON HERALD NEWSPAPER” IN HOUSTON, TEXAS
MARCH 5th, 2009
Last Thursday Night Around Midnight,
A Woman From Houston, Texas Was Arrested,
Jailed, And Charged With Manslaughter
For Shooting A Man 6 Times In The Back
As He Was Running Away With Her Purse.
~
The Following Monday Morning,
The Woman Was Called In Front Of The
Arraignment Judge, Sworn In,
And Asked To Explain Her Actions.
~
The Woman Replied,
“I Was Standing At The Corner Bus Stop
For About 15 Minutes, Waiting For The
Bus To Take Me Home After Work.
I Am A Waitress At A Local Cafe…
~
I Was There Alone,
So I Had My Right Hand On My Pistol,
That Was In My Purse, That Was Hung
Over My Left Shoulder.
~
All Of A Sudden I Was Being
Spun Around Hard To My Left.
As I Caught My Balance, I Saw A Man
Running Away From Me With My Purse.
~
I Looked Down At My Right Hand And I Saw
That My Fingers Were Wrapped Tightly
Around My Pistol.
The Next Thing I Remember Is Saying Out Loud,
“No Way Punk! Your Not Stealing My
Pay Check And Tips.”
~
I Raised My Right Hand, Pointed My Pistol
At The Man Running Away From Me With My Purse,
And Squeezed The Trigger Of My Pistol 6 Times!
~
When Asked By The Arraignment Judge,
“Why Did You Shoot The Man 6 Times?
~
The Woman Replied Under Oath,
“Because, When I Pulled The Trigger Of
My Pistol The 7th Time, It Only Went Click.”
~
The Woman Was Acquitted Of All Charges.
And She Was Back At Work,
At The Cafe, The Next Day!
Now that’s Gun Control….
Letters to Editor, Re Those (Shooting Industry) about to Die
Letters to Editor, Re Those (Shooting Industry) about to Die
Dear Mr . Owen,
I have just read your article re Those about to Die etc. and congratulate you on your article, like yourself I must admit to being politically incorrect re. shooting sports, and am proud of it. I left the UK 49 years ago because I was thoroughly pee’d off with the Metropolitan Constabulary refusing to issue me with a firearm cert. for a single shot .22 that I needed for vermin control on a private property when I had been carting a .303 rifle to represent my RAF Squadron at various rifle comps. for a two year period without running amok, I was told that the police did not want ” idiots running round the streets with rifles “. First thing I did when I got to Mt Gambier was to buy three firearms with no problems, I thought I had died and went to heaven, alas though it appears that the English disease re gun control is now well entrenched in Oz and is getting worse.
As a gunsmith/gundealer I fully agree with your comments re the attitude of certain large importing wholesalers who profess to be all for the shooting sportists but who would be delighted if we all disappeared up our own basic external orifices and left the gun scene to them and their favoured clients in the military and police.
Keep up the good editorials,
With best regards,
Bill
hi Ron,
you don’t need to reply to my quick email, but I wanted to share my feelings with you, I get a sickening angry feeling when I think about Fuller Firearms, Nioa Trading and others, who fall over themselves to sell to the Police and other killer “elite” , who openly advertise with pride they don’t sell to the average joe, they turn my stomach, my hope is that they die as businees too when they “kill” the average persons ability to have a rifle.may they be the first to be turned in to the NWO camps………….maybe we will be in luck !I don’t tell anyone anymore that I know how to shoot, how to hunt, how to teach a man how to hunt, how to stalk, how to skin game, how to kill with one shot, how to treat animals with a one shot one kill ethic.
I don’t tell anyone that if a robber or house breaker comes through my door, and wants to hurt my lovely wife, my pets, my children, they WILL go out feet first, no questions asked, ruthlessly I will defend my home and family….and if it came to a ( THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT SITUATION ) well………you can make a guess…what I will do, I am sure you would to.
God bless
as a Christian I don’t take human life willingly, I don’t ever look for a fight, I just won’t let tyranny stand.
Subject: Re: Owen Guns Bulletin No 16 May 2009
Ron:
You write a very informative news letter! It is true that gun sales have been very brisk and even old guns such as the Garand and the M1 Carbine the prices for those have gone through the roof $1500 to 2000 for a real good one which you will never find, a junker will cost $800. The largest Dealer located some 50 miles north of here sold 200 black stock rifles the first day after Obama was elected. Sale of black rifles and ammo at gun shows has been frantic. but sales of old guns, like I am interested in are way down and so are prices off by 30% I am not into reloading but thought a good idea to have a supply of primers if I happen to think about doing so thought I would take in a small supply of “Small Pistol Primers” Was able to buy a brick of the larger size. Same Dealer as above sold everything they had by the case, good luck to me to find even a brick of them. Market seems to be stabilizing a little now. There is probably two guns behind every blade of grass here, and why??? What are we afraid of ???? Might I suggest “Government” is that the reason??? Scary huh??? bob
hi ron,
please send 98 manual
great article on the industry stuff, it is getting impossible to get stuff from shops in vic because they have to order by the pallet, hardly good for consumers/business
jur
Hello,
Thanks for the offer of the Mod 98 Mauser PDF file I would like to accept. I would also like to say I thoughrly agree with your sentiments in your current news letter re the demise of the country gunsmiths and local gun shops. I live in Ballarat in Victoria’s west and have seen over the last 20 years the demise of 5 local gun shops and all of the gunsmiths, the 2 remaining shops have no smithing service and are now focusing on fishing items slowly reducing there firearms involvement. I now travel some 2 hours down to Colac for advise and sales. thanks for the news letter I will be passing it around the traps.
regards Rob
Peter Pa
Email trir
Telephone 0404
Website http://
Subject To ask a question
Message G’day
I am looking for a Mannlicher Schoenauer and/or FN Mauser to complete my collection of pre ww2 rifles. They must be of Greek issue with define markings.
Please keep me in mind if anything like that comes your way, and contact me with details.
Regards Peter
ps: thank you for your contribution throughout the hard years for the rights of australian shooters
The following letter has other areas of concern but refers to this subject at nearly the last line. Ed.
An update on my civil action to get my Uzi back, was in court last Friday, maybe you could spread the word, I’m sure your audience is bigger than mine.
Police produced an example of a Uzi SMG, and my amnesty registered semi auto full size Uzi (no stock, 8 inch barrel), is already court exhibit.
This is the amnesty registered Uzi I was originally charged over. The charge was eventually dropped by the DPP…..so much for registering an firearm under the amnesty without fear of prosecution.
Police have always stated that my Uzi was a category D Uzi self loading carbine. I cross-examined the Police ballistics “expert?” Sgt GRAHAM for the best part of 2 hours, taking him through his ballistics report, including his mistakes, to which he replied he was “only human”, and mistakes “happen” sometimes.
When it became apparent based on technical specifications that my Uzi was NOT a Uzi self loading carbine, due to the technical specifications in a number of publications, including a copy of the 1997 buyback identification manual, California assault weapons identification manual, and an IMI Uzi carbine owners manual, the police changed tactics – they started removing parts of the semi auto Uzi, and replaced them with parts from the full auto Uzi SMG they had bought to court with them. Then then argued any part of the semi auto Uzi that was interchangeable with the full auto Uzi, was a full auto part, and as amajor component part of a firearm is a firearm under schedule 2 of the Weapons Act 1990, those interchangeable parts were now category R weapons, even though they were in a semi auto only weapon…..and worse, the magistrate agreed.
Prior to cross examination of the police ballistics expert by myself, the police gave an undertaking to the court they were NOT going to break up my Uzi into parts and categorise each part individually…..which is exactly what they are now doing, according to the magistrate, they can change their position at any stage during the hearing.
The Police ballistics expert also stated under oath on cross examination that any firearm DESIGNED (not fitted) to take a shoulder stock is a Carbine, and a Carbine is a short rifle, and therefore is a Category D weapon, regardless of its overall length. Examples of Luger and Broomhandle Mausers were produced, which had shoulder stocks, and this police expert sated in his opinion, they were Category D weapons – these weapons are designed to accept shoulder stocks. These weapons use interchangeable parts with the Luger and Mauser Carbine and Mauser machine pistol.Luger and Mauser Broomhandle pistol owners, ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION
I produced several weapons where this scenario of interchangeable parts can occur – MAC 10, CZ Skorpion, Vektor H5 pump action, SPAS 12 (category C), etc
In short, any semi auto firearm designed to accept a shoulder stock, is a Category D weapon, according to the Queensland Police Service
Any firearm that has interchangeable major component parts with a higher category weapon, those parts can be removed from the lower category weapon, and assessed as higher category parts – ie a professional shooter with a registered AR15 semi auto rifle, your barrel, bolt head and trigger mechanism can be removed, as classified as Category R M16 machine guns, by virtue of Schedule 2 of the Weapons Act.
Unlawfully possess a category D, H or R weapon is an indictable offence.
Matter has been adjourned till 4 August 2009.
How ironic that the original Weapons Licensing Branch officer that started this saga in 2004/05 – the then Snr Constable Richard William SOUTH, who provided information to the officer who seized my Uzi, later deamed incorrectly by the court, now is of the employ of Nioa Trading, a position that requires the employee to have a “passion for firearms and sports shooting”
Attached is an internal report authored by SOUTH while he was a police officer, captured under FOI. Make your own judgments what if any passion for firearms and sports shooting is in this report.
Tim P
Owen Guns Bulletin Dec 08 No 6
Welcome to the Sixth Edition of the Owen Guns Bulletin.
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GUN Law FACTS
Guns Ended Feudal Slavery and Preserves Civilisation.
Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: Reason and Force.
If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that’s it.
In a truly moral and civilised society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.
When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force. The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retire’e on equal footing with a 19-year old body builder, and a wheelchair bound individual on equal footing with a carload of drunks with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.
This Lady would not get mugged.
There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad force equations. These are the people who think that we’d be more civilised if all guns were removed from society, because a mugger with a firearm makes the job safer for muggers. That, of course, is only true if the mugger’s potential victims are mostly disarmed either by choice or by legislative statute. It has no validity when most of a mugger’s potential marks are armed. Of course that is all okay until the anti -gunner gets mugged at gun point and finally understands that even when he hands over his valuables, the mugger might just kill him anyway to get rid of a witness.
People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule, by the young, the strong, and the many, and that’s the exact opposite of a civilised society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a society where the State has granted him a monopoly on force.
Then there’s the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is fallacious in several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser.
People who think that fists, bats, beer bottles, fence paling’s, sticks, or stones don’t constitute lethal force watch too much TV, where people take beatings and come out of it with a bloody lip at worst. The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier, works solely in favour of the weaker defender, not the stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is level. The gun is the only weapon that’s as lethal in the hands of an octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weightlifter. It simply wouldn’t work as well as a force equaliser if it wasn’t both lethal and easily employable.
When I carry a gun, I don’t do so because I am looking for a fight, but because I’m looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I don’t carry it because I’m afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn’t limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force. It removes force from the equation…and that’s why carrying a gun is a civilised act in a civilised country. Civilisation respects its citizens. On the opposite basis in a despotic country the un armed slave depends on the clemency of the tyranny and he has no value to society and his death would not diminish or count more than this full stop.
………………………………
Gun History
Guns and Steel
Part Three
Sir Joseph Whitworth, BART.,
C.E., F.R.S., LL.D., D.C.L.
Report By The Ordnance Select Committee
On the 26th of November, 1862, the Ordnance Select Committee published the following results of a series of trials made with the Whitworth and Enfield rifles.
The dimensions and constructions of the two rifles are stated below, the mean angle of elevation for a given range is tabulated, and also the mean radial deviation, or figure of merit. The experiments were instituted by the Secretary of State for War in the year 1861.
ENFIELD:-
Diameter of bore 0.577in.
Pitch of rifling, 1 turn in 78ins.
No. of grooves 3WHITWORTH:-
Diameter across angles, 0.490in.
Diameter across flats, 0.451in.Pitch of rifling, 1 turn in 20ins.
No. of grooves Hexagon.Action of a Whitworh Rifle, provision for Tang Site but it is not fitted.
| ENFIELD | WHITWORTH | |||
| Range Yards |
Mean Radial Deviation |
Mean Angle |
Mean Radial Deviation |
Mean Angle |
| inches | inches | |||
| 300 | 12.69 | 0° 44′ 8″ | 3.86 | 0° 56′ 49″ |
| 500 | 19.80 | 1° 45′ 13″ | 7.29 | 1° 23′ 37″ |
| 800 | 41.61 | 2° 46′ 6″ | 15.67 | 2° 17′ 6″ |
| 1,000 | 95.01 | 4° 3′ 33″ | 23.13 | 3° 5′ 36″ |
| 1,200 | 133.53 | 5° 9′ 48″ | 46.92 | 4° 3′ 6″ |
The Henry And Metford Rifles
I here confine myself to pointing out the manner in which my system has been followed in the construction of the Henry and Metford rifles. The drawing shows in section the bore of each gun, as well as the respective bullets.
The Henry rifle has a polygonal bore with seven instead of six sides.
The diameter of a circle touching each flat side of the polygon is .45 of an inch; the maximum diameter of the grooving is .457 of an inch.
The bullet is 2.93 diameters in length.
The twist of the rifling is 1 turn in 22 inches.
When the bullet moulds itself to the form of the rifling, each angular point is cut away by the seven projecting sharp edges which protrude in the barrel at the junction of the sides of the polygon.
This alteration in the rifling of my barrel was no doubt done in order to meet the requirements of a cylindrical hardened lead bullet, which cannot be much upset by the powder. It may be very well for match shooting when in good order. The difference between the maximum and minimum diameters is small, and the amount of upsetting required by the bullet is proportionately less but the use of a steel bullet is rendered impracticable, and the rifling is unsuited for the great wear and tear of a military weapon.
Regarded as a military arm, the additions to my barrel above referred to have nullified its efficiency.
I was the first to use a hardened bullet, but I made it the shape of the barrel, and obtained a mechanical fit, which enabled me to use a steel or any other hardened bullet.
The alteration of the twist from 1 turn in 20 inches to 1 turn in 22 inches, must have been made purely for the sake of alteration. I had found it requisite to go from 1 turn in 78 inches of the Enfield to 1 turn in 20 inches. If the steel bullet is to be considered a matter of importance, I should prefer I turn in 17 inches, because steel requires a higher rotation than lead on account of its less specific gravity.
The Metford rifle has a bore of a cylindrical character. It is made up of a series of cylindrical portions concentric with the axis of the bore, and alternating in size. This provides a series of grooves, five in number, and cylindrical in section, with sharp sloping edges.
The maximum diameter is .47 of an inch, the minimum diameter being .462 of an inch.
The bullet is 3.02 diameters in length.
The barrel is rifled with an increasing twist, commencing at the breech end with 1 turn in 48 inches, and terminating at the muzzle with 1 turn in 16 inches.
It will be remembered that in the Whitworth rifle the bore is hexagonal, the mean diameter is .47 of an inch, the bullet is 3 diameters in length, and the twist of the rifling is 1 turn in 20 inches.
Hexagonal Rifling
I have stated that the form of the bore of the Whitworth rifle is polygonal, being a hexagon with rounded edges; it is therefore a combination of a straight line and a circle, and its surfaces are those most easily produced in the workshop.
There is a geometrical simplicity pertaining to the polygonal form which is unattainable by any other form.
The amount of bearing surface for giving rotation, and which also conduces to the centreing of the shot, depends upon the difference between the maximum and minimum diameters of the bore, this difference, in fact, represents the hold which the barrel has upon the projectile. In any grooved system of rifling you pass more rapidly from the maximum to the minimum diameter, and the extent of bearing surface is diminished accordingly, whereas in the hexagonal system, there is a long inclined bearing surface, the section of which is a straight line starting from the minimum diameter and running into a circle at the end of the maximum diameter.
Muzzle of a Whitworth Rifle
A polygonal rifled projectile is applicable to the largest cannon as well as to small arms, and I have adopted the hexagonal form, because it gives me the best working difference between the maximum and minimum diameters.
It will be observed that the hexagonal form of the projectile is analogous to that of the hexagonal nut universally used.
It may be said that this record of my experiments, showing how the modern rifle has become what it is in range, in penetration, and in accuracy, has ceased to be of interest or importance since the new element of rapid firing has been brought to bear with such important results by the introduction of breech loading. I would state in reply that breech loading and rapid fire give increased importance and value to range, penetration, and accuracy, as the primary and essential qualities of the rifle. However necessary these qualities may have been for the muzzle-loader, they are still more requisite with an arm which must otherwise waste its ammunition. Rapid firing must rest on the very best system of rifling, as its only safe basis
————————————————————————————–
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Owen Guns Bulletin Sept 08 No1
Welcome to the September Edition of the Owen Guns Bulletin.
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Gun Law FACTS
EVALUATING BRITAIN’’S HANDGUN BAN
by ex British Police Chief Inspector Colin Greenwood.
The ban on the private possession of handguns in Great Britain came into effect in two stages. A Conservative Government banned all large-calibre handguns from July 1, 1997, with a period up to the end of September, in which all such guns had to be handed in to the police. Following a general election in May 1997, the Labour Government extended the ban to all small-calibre [.22 rimfire] handguns, which had to be handed in before the end of February 1998. More than 162,000 handguns and 700 tonnes of ammunition was handed in. More than 80million UK pounds was paid in compensation and the cost of the confiscation scheme to police and government cost tens of millions more.
Both governments promised that Britain would thereafter be a safer place. A few handguns remained for people such as slaughter men, those who could prove a special need for a pistol for the humane dispatch of quarry animals and a few people who had pistols of special historical interest, but in general, handguns could not legally be possessed. The hand-in was complete for all practical purposes because of the system of individual authorization.
Ten years have now passed and it is right to ask if Britain really is now a safer place and whether the ban has prevented criminals from obtaining and using pistols. Using the data, were I a politician, I would simply say that in 1997 pistols were used in 2648 crimes and in 2006/7 [the Home Office has changed the statistical recording figure from calendar to financial year], they were involved in 4175 crimes. Thus, the ban on pistols in the hands of law-abiding citizens has resulted in a doubling of their use by criminals.
So perhaps we can conclude that crime with firearms has doubled and crime with pistols has doubled. In particular, we can conclude that robberies with a pistol have doubled, though homicides have not.
Homicide is a difficult class of crime to analyse because of the preponderance of domestic killings. Robbery, however, is a crime committed by more professional criminals who almost invariably have a significant number of previous convictions.
We could fill page after page with statistics and do little more than confuse the true picture. Let me suggest that if anything as draconian as the handgun ban was to have any effect at all, it would show in the six years following the ban taking effect.
If we average out the total homicide figures for the six years before 1997 and the six years after [ignoring the Dr Shipman case], (Note, a Medical Doctor that was poisoning his patients) we see that homicide has increased from an average of 706 to 825 and despite yearly fluctuations, the figure is steadily upwards. This is also so with homicide involving firearms, where the six-year average has grown from 61 to 72 and again with a steady upward trend. The use of shotguns, however, has fallen from an average of 20 down to 11 and sawn-off shotguns from 9 down to 5, but the use of pistols has increased from an average of 29 to 42. But in none of these cases does 1997 mark a watershed. Trends that began long before 1997 have continued entirely unchanged.
Contrary to many claims, the use of firearms in robbery did not increase after the 1997 Act; it fell slightly from a six-year average of 4700 to 4100. The use of shotguns fell more sharply, but the use of pistols also fell, though by only a small amount. However, that these trends were well underway before the 1997 Act and there is no way that the changes can be attributed to that law. The only possible conclusion is that the handgun ban was a complete and pathetic irrelevance to protecting the British public from armed criminals. It has not changed a pattern of increases in crime that existed before the ban.
It might be interesting to note just one source of supply to criminals disclosed by an excellent police operation in London. Baikal gas pistols are made in Russia and are effectively a standard 9mm short self-loading pistol modified to discharge CS powder. Quantities of these were taken to Lithuania where they were very professionally converted into self-loading pistols of high quality. A silencer was fitted and they were packed with a couple of boxes of ammunition before being sent on to Britain, where they were sold at 2000 UK pounds a time to drug dealers and other criminals. Several hundred have been seized by police, but the total number on the streets runs into thousands. Not surprisingly, the handgun ban has had no effect on that trade.
Criminals are, by definition, those who do not obey the law. The absence of legally-held pistols has not stopped them from having whatever class of gun they prefer, including significant numbers of sub-machine-guns.
The Dunblane shootings, which prompted the handgun ban, occurred in the run-up to a general election and that was the single most important factor. The politicians concerned did not care then and do not care now that the whole thing was a pathetic farce.
Regards Colin Greenwood.
(Ex -Chief Inspector Colin Greenwood of the West Yorkshire Constabulary is the author of many articles printed in such famous publications as Guns Digest and many others over the last thirty years his articles have concerned Police Training, General Shooting and Hunting, and the futility of Gun Control. His definitve work Firearm Control, a Study of Armed Crime and Firearm Control in england and Wales was preceeded by Police Firearm Training in 1966 and Tactics in thePolice Use of Fiearms. 1969. I had the pleasure of meeting him at a Firearm Conference in Brisbane in 1981. Unfortunatley, for Colin he had made a similar mistake, as I had. He had served in the Coldstream Guards and I had served in the Grenadier Guards so we had a lot to talk about. Even though we may have regretted it at times we were glad we had not missed the experience. Ron)
Gun History
The Soper Rifle
THE ENGINEER, 13 DECEMBER 1867
- Drawing Of the Soper Rifle.
The rifle invented by Mr. W. Soper, of Reading, and illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, was one of the number sent for the recent competition at Woolwich, and was rejected on the ground of “complication of breech arrangement.” In this rifle the breech-piece is formed of a block of steel R, working freely up and down in a vertical slot at the rear of the barrel, and secured to a lever fixed at the bottom of the lock, which is placed in the center of the stock. The striker J is mounted inside the breech-piece, and works easily without any spring. The cock is also secured to the breech lever in such a manner that the breech-piece and cock are worked simultaneously.
The attachment is effected by the swivel H, furnished with a projection and recess for working the extractor L, so that the one movement of drawing down the lever opens the breech, cocks the piece, and throws out the cartridge case. The trigger A is mounted on the lever, and has no connection with the sear E until the breech is placed home, and thus the rifle cannot be fired until the safety catch B is pressed. For cleaning purposes the lock and breech-piece can be removed by withdrawing a couple of screws. Fig. 3 shows a section of the rifling, the calibre being that of the service rifle.
The trials of this rifle at Woolwich were satisfactory. For rapidity twelve rounds were fired in thirty-nine seconds with three mis-fires; the mean deviation of eight shots fired for accuracy from a shoulder rest at 500 yards, with Boxer cartridges, No. 3 pattern, was 2.30ft. Many excellent results have also since been obtained. Nevertheless we cannot but agree with the committee that the mechanism of the breech and lock is too complicated for a purely military weapon, and, moreover, that they were perfectly correct in doubting the value of the safety catch as a substitute of the ordinary half-cock. Mr. Soper has expended a great deal of ingenuity, and has produced a weapon which gives good results, but we think it cannot be denied that it is unsuitable for the use of the soldier.
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Breech-loaders V. Muzzle-loaders
THE ENGINEER, 6 AUGUST 1869
On Saturday, July 31st, a very interesting competition took place in the presence of Major Sir C.S.Paul Hunter, Bart., between Corporal Bainbridge and fourteen picked men of the battalion using long Enfield rifles and three men using the Soper direct-action breech-loader. The targets were similar to those for the file firing, but only half the usual size. Distance; 200 yards; time, three minutes. Each party to fire as rapidly as they please. The scores were as follows:- Enfield Rifles: 1st squad of five men, 84 points; 2nd squad of five men, 94 points; 3rd squad of five men, 94 points; total, 272. Soper’s breech-loader: Sergeant Soper, 140; Private Warrick, 138; Sergeant Gostage, 110; total, 388. Majority in favour of breech-loader, 116 points. It will thus be seen that two men with the breech-loader scored six points more than the fifteen men with the Enfield. Private Warrick having fired eighteen shots the first minute, twenty one the second, and seventeen the third, making a total of fifty-six shots in the three minutes; and Sergeant Soper having scored five bull’s-eyes before a single shot was got off by the squad opposed to him.
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