rod being loose on the handle the hands were held in the same position. The rifling rod was attached to the opposite end of the rod in the old barrel and carried a cutter let into a narrow groove made in the extreme end of the rifling rod. Very often these rods were made of wood like a straight ramrod. It is evident if a barrel be placed in the clamps and the rifling rod bearing a suitable cutter be entered in the bore of the barrel and the rod thrust forward by pushing it with the handle, that a faint spiral like cut will be the result. When the cutter had done its work, or done all that it would cut, the plate was turned one division, rotating the old barrel with the rifling rod just that amount, the barrel to be rifled, of course, not being turned at all. Another cutting was done like the first one, then another, and so on until the complete circle of the divisions had been made, and a certain number of faint rifles made in the fixed barrel. The cutter was then removed from its slot, a slip of writing paper placed in the bottom of the slot and the cutter put in place and a repetition of the same operation gone over again, and then repeated until the rifling was of the desired depth. Oil was supplied to the centres while going back and forth in their work. _Gain Twist Rifling Machine._—What is called a gain twist was made with a slightly different apparatus. What is termed a “lead” was fixed so as to revolve in standards, and at the same time be capable of being thrust forward and pulled back to its starting place. This lead carried at one end the rifling rod. At the opposite end the handle for operating it, was fixed. The lead was several inches in diameter and the holes in the standards that supported it of like diameter. One make of lead had a groove cut spiralling in its surface and exactly the same as the rifling to be made. In one of the standards a stud was fixed that entered the groove and compelled it to turn according as the groove was made. The barrel to be rifled was fixed so as to turn as needed to make the different rifles or grooves. Another make of lead had a rib made of a strip of hard wood that was bent around the rod and was held in place by screws. This rib was the counterpart of the rifling and was received in a mortice cut for it in one of the standards, the management of the rifling rod being the same in all cases.