Rifle gun thingy

A new repeating rifle or `magazine gun’ could change the face of war forever.

The gun should be very useful in combat situations such as patrols and outposts, because any military people who are lucky enough to be armed with this fearsome weapon will be able to defeat any enemy patrols and outposts. That’s assuming that the enemy is not also armed with the fearsome weapon (shsss, keep quiet about it)

Thanks to the new rifle there’ll be no more feelings of insecurity and embarrassment during patrols - especially night patrols. Apparently, they are an especially bad time for feelings of insecurity and embarrassment.

But the bad news is, this rifle gun thingy should really only be used in certain situations, at the `proper moment’.  In other words, it isn’t a very good idea to keep firing it, because there’s a slight problem with this.

Um, although it’s described as a repeating rifle, it does in fact fire only one round at a time. In one sense it really is a repeating rifle,  because it will fire repeatedly. But only after it has been reloaded.

This startling report on recent developments in modern warfare which might just make sense to gun and military types is brought to you in an article in a British newspaper dated January 7th 1887.

(click on the photo of the article to enlarge it)