Breech-loaders were hardly new. King Henry VIII of England, he of the many wives, had a match-lock arquebus of this type dated 1537. Henry IV of France even invented one for his army, and others worked a little on the idea from time to time. But it wasn’t until fixed ammunition came into use that the breech-loader really came to stay--and that was only the other day. You remember that the Civil War began with muzzle-loaders and ended with breech-loaders. [Illustration: ASSEMBLING AUTO SHOTGUNS] [Illustration: SOME OF THE SHOOTING TESTS] Houiller, the French gunsmith, hit on the great idea of the cartridge. If you were going to use powder, ball and percussion primer to get your game, why not put them all into a neat, handy, gas-tight case? THE FIRST AMERICAN MADE GUNS ~HOW THE FIRST AMERICAN GUN WAS MADE~ Two men, a smith and his son, both named Eliphalet Remington, in 1816, were working busily one day at their forge in beautiful Ilion Gorge, when, so tradition says, the son asked his father for money to buy a rifle, and met with a refusal. The request was natural for the surrounding hills were full of game. The father must have had his own reasons for refusing, but it started the manufacture of guns in America. Eliphalet, Jr., closed his firm jaws tightly, and began collecting scrap iron on his own account. This he welded skillfully into a gun-barrel, walked fifteen miles to Utica to have it rifled, and finally had a weapon of which he might well be proud. [Illustration: TYPES OF CARTRIDGES] In reality, it was such a very good gun that soon the neighbors ordered others like it, and before long the Remington forge found itself hard at work to meet the increasing demand. Several times each week the stalwart young manufacturer packed a load of gun-barrels upon his back, and tramped all the way to Utica where a gunsmith rifled and finished them. At this time there were no real gun-factories in America, although gunsmiths were located in most of the larger towns. All gun-barrels were imported from England or Europe. A VISIT TO A CARTRIDGE FACTORY ~HOW AMMUNITION IS MADE~