Captain Johnson, of the London Rifle Brigade, sends to the
Times of Monday a detailed report of an exhaustive series of trials of the new short rifle carried out at Bisley on the 11th inst. by seven rifle-shots of the greatest distinction and experience. The rifles used were three new short rifles, the old long rifle, of which each man had his own, and three old long rifles fitted with the " Peddie " wind- gauge sight, so that the long barrel should be on equal terms with the short rifle in this respect. The short rifles and the long rifles fitted with wind-gauge sights, it should be explained, were new weapons, and therefore unfamiliar to the experimenters. The trials, at ranges of two hundred, six hundred, and eight hundred yards, lasted all day, and all seven experts were unanimous in putting the long barrel with wind-gauge sight first, the long barrel minus wind- gauge sight second, and the short rifle third. Further- more, while admitting that the new weapon is an improve- ment on the carbine for cavalry, they agreed in condemning it as badly balanced, inferior to the long rifle as a snap- shooting weapon, handicapped by a heavier recoil, inferior in precision, and calculated to render concealment difficult by the large flash of flame produced. Surely the Government will not use their majority to force this weapon on the British Infantry at a cost of some three millions sterling !
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