997. Armoury and magazine and custody and care of arms and ammunition. [§ 12, Act V, 1861].
(a)All arms and component parts, when not in use, shall be kept in racks in the armoury, and ammunition in the magazine. The magazine shall be separate from the armoury and built according to the type plan of 1913 which has been accepted by the Chief Inspector of Explosives.(b)The following instructions shall be observed:-(i)No lights or smoking on any account shall be allowed inside or near the magazine.(ii)Oiled cotton rags and waste and articles liable to spontaneous ignition shall not be taken into the magazine.(iii)Magazines shall be provided with lightning conductors and these shall be tested at least once a year,(iv)The magazine shall at all times be kept scrupulously clean.(v)No unauthorized person shall at any time be admitted into the magazine.(vi)Empty boxes shall not be kept in the magazine nor any loose packing material.(vii)The Deputy Inspector-General shall inspect the magazine at the time of his annual inspection of the district headquarters.(viii)The following shall be hung up in the magazine:-A copy of these instructions.A statement showing the sanctioned stock of the district.Certificate showing the last date of testing of the lightning conductor.(ix)Ammunition in the magazine shall be kept on trestles, well-raised off the ground. The boxes shall be kept apart to prevent dry rot and for prompt detection of the presence of white-ants. The legs of all such trestles should be treated with mortant or other such preparation or inserted in containers of water so that white-ants cannot crawl up to the trestles.(c)The Armed Inspector shall be responsible for the safe custody of the keys of the armoury and the magazine. He shall keep them in his personal custody at night. When he leaves headquarters he should make over his keys to the Armed Sergeant, or where there is no Sergeant, to the senior Armed Sub-Inspector. When making over and taking over the Keys both officers should satisfy themselves by check with the registers that the arms and ammunition are intact and in each case the officer taking over should give a receipt for the arms and ammunition in hand. Duplicate keys shall be kept in the custody of the officer-in-charge of the guard over the magazine and the armoury in a sealed packet or box which shall be examined by the Armed Inspector every day. The Armed Inspector shall be responsible for the proper care and custody of the arms and ammunition and shall keep all accounts and registers appertaining to them. He shall see that the arms in store are clean and in good order, and that all arms issued from and received into store are properly brought to account. He shall examine all arms, etc., returned to his care and bring to notice any deficiency or damage.Note. - This regulation shall apply as far as practicable to subdivisional headquarters where ammunition is kept in small quantities only for emergencies and is renewed from time to time as necessity arises. The senior officer will perform the duties of the Armed Inspector in clause (c) above.(d)Officers to whom arms are issued shall be responsible for them until they are returned to store.(e)In giving instruction in the care of arms, stress shall be laid on the following points:-(i)Care shall be taken to prevent the barrel being bent or dented. A musket should never be used for carrying weights.(ii)Care shall be taken not to run the muzzle into the ground. Should this be accidentally done, the dust shall be at once removed; for if the musket be fired with any obstruction in the muzzle, the barrel will probably burst.(iii)The foresight shall be carefully protected from being bent, blunted or otherwise injured.(iv)The "pull off" of a musket should be between 6 lbs. and 8 lbs., but never less than 6 lbs. Any defects in the "pull off' shall be rectified by the armourer only.(v)A trigger-tester may be used to ascertain the weight of force required to "pull off'.
