Carbine

Carbine is a short rifle. In the British army all cavalry soldiers carry a rifled carbine in a leather case behind the right thigh, for use when acting on foot. Gunners of garrison batteries have a similar weapon, and each limber in field batteries carries two. In 1897 the Lee-Metford rifled carbine was issued to replace the Martini-Henry, up to that time in use, and now all the mounted branches of the service have either it or the Lee-Enfield. They are precisely similar to the infantry Lee-Metford and Enfield rifles (see RIFLE) except that the barrel is about a foot shorter and the magazine carries six cartridges instead of ten. They are not sighted for so long a distance as the ordinary rifle; and the cartridges, though fitting the same calibre, contain a smaller charge of cordite.