Show the lancaster gun nie the hie montreal gazette gives tle tile tie following foi fol lowins description if of this gun and of the principle ot of its operation lt IB a well veil known fact that it is impossible to balli or bullets in such a way that one side will not be heavier than the other and it Is also aiso al sowell well weil known know n that this circumstance deflects the projectile from its right line with small smail anns arms this difficulty Is overcome by the groove in the rifle barrel which being piral pirai acts upon the soft substance ol 01 the leaden bullet and gives it a rotary motion before leay leav leaving in the muzzle of the rifle which continues until the ball bail Is stopped by this means the heavy side Is alternate y turned in all directions so that any tendency in one direction Is immediately counterbalanced counter balanced by a of the bullet which changes the posit position 1011 lori of the heavy aldes aides side and the result Is that the ball bail files ro in a direct line now however well this plan may way answer for small arms and leaden eaden bain balls the groove is impracticable for cannon and cast iron balasy balls bails and it has long been a problem to discover er some borne means of making rifled cannon the lancaster gun professes to have accomplished this by means of an elliptical bore out ont dontot of which Is to be thrown an sit elliptical projectile either cither hot shot or shell sheli without without plates we may not be able to make all our readers understand our explanations but ne we hope them will do so the gun Is large jarge because it Is ata at a long range that its great precision of aim tells best beat over the th common gun gunj and its appearance Is 1 that of an ordinary nary large cannon except that the mouth instead of circular Is elongated like aa an egg hav having ngone one axis longer than an other another we will sup pose that the muth mouth Is the largest ay up and down that Is h that the longer axis Is vertical so that the flattened ball bill nitting fitting fitt lil iii it would stand on its edge but the bo borem borey reWInds ands gradually from the mouth to the breech of the an ann BO so that the ball Is driven home to proper position ll 11 when the gun it will have bave turned lne ne ine quarta around and will lie horizontally that isa Is at right angles angies lof the longer axis of the mouth of the gun and en ton its gide side when the gun Is fired the ball must make one revolution for every four lengths of the gun and thereby counter bil bal ance any Imperfect imperfection lod iod in lt shape which mulch would otherwise deflect it several sav sai eral etal of these there guns haap ha e burst juhls this Is has haps attributable to the fact that they are used eusedia at very I 1 ifeng pr ug ranges and were probably overloaded alt ait hoTi hotl gh it Is quite quita possible and in fact probable that arcing forcing the ball to sake lake take fake a rotary motion would woul increase the tha resistance ommer offer t so much as to increase the risk of bursting ex Experienc eill soon test the quest question lo we mayy emark that thit the aine dine ame asne principle has been applied to small arms and add a decided advantage T a n tago Is tor the lancaster LaMa lana stee stev ov erthe 1 common IV ri rifle |