content_output-014_5 (Q5446)

We are informed that W. Greener was the first to discard vent holes in the breeches, relics of the old flint lock gun. He was also instrumental in improving the hardness and quality of barrels, by introducing more steel into their manufacture. He also improved the pattern of the Harpoon Gun, and his was the one adopted for the Scottish Fisheries; it is still to be found in use. But, undoubtedly, his greatest achievement in gunnery was the discovery of the expanding principle for muzzle-loading rifle bullets. The musket to which W. Greener adapted his bullet was eleven bore, and although the trial of his invention proved that the rifle could be loaded as easily as a smooth bore while