In April, 1867, a Commission, designated by the War Secretary,
was convened in England, to examine and test such breech-loading
inventions as should be brought before it. The conditions, which
made the Snider naval rifle a standard of maximum weight and
length, and, without positively insisting, very strongly suggested
the Boxer cartridge as the style of fixed ammunition, seem rather
inconsistent with a simple study of the merits of systems. Of the
112 different arms entered, 74 were forthwith ruled out. The Rem-
ington, by good fortune, having a length of barrel within the limit
of the ordnance conditions, was subjected with 37 others, to the test.
