moving to the rear in the magazine tube after they have been moved
forward by the other bar. The magazine is loaded through an aperture in
the butt plate, the opening of the spring cover of which causes the two
ratchet bars to be depressed, so that the magazine can be filled by
passing the cartridges along a smooth middle bar. The act of closing the
spring cover again brings the two ratchet bars into play.

[Illustration: FIG. 9.--KROPATSCHEK MAGAZINE GUN]

By means of a cut-off the ratchet bars can be prevented from acting, and
the piece used as a single loader.

_Kropatschek Magazine Rifle_.--This rifle, which is the small arm of the
French navy, has a bolt-action rifle resembling the Gras (see Fig. 9).

The magazine is a brass tube underneath the barrel, as in the
Winchester, Vetterli, Mauser, and other rifles of class 1. It contains
six cartridges, while a seventh can be placed in the trough or carrier,
T.

When the breech is opened by pulling back the bolt, a projection on the
latter strikes the carrier at N, causing its front extremity to raise
the cartridge into the position shown in the section. This movement is
accelerated by the spring, A, acting against a knife-edge projection on
the trough, T; in the upper position of the trough, the spring acts upon
one face of the angle, and upon the other face when in the lower
position.

On closing the breech, the bolt pushes the cartridge into the chamber,
and when the handle is locked down to the right, a part of the bolt