The Express.
London, England, 1864-06-27 00:00:00

[TWOPENCE

cavity much closed, but it had not broken it all.
So far, then, the target was too much for the guns,
and even the bolt-heads which were knocked off
probably dropped on the ground from the severe
jar of the blow. It would have been the safest
place for cover in the field, especially when these
projectiles showed this extraordinary facility for
rebounding. ' N
On the following day the trials were begun with '
firing at the close range of 50 yards, so as to get
the two extremes of effect. At the wish of the
Committee &steel round shot was first tired from the
Shunt gun, oorreeponding to the 32-pounder service
ishot, but heavier by about 2 lbs., in consequence
of steel being a denser metal. The charge was
; increased to 18 lbs., so that the extreme effect
1 round shot are capable of was shown. It was
evidently anticipated that this shot would go
I through the target, but it broke up in the plate,
sticking parity in the wood and the plate, the piece
nearest to the face of the target being n inches
from the front line. A bolt headonly was knocked
off by this.
1 The Whitworth shot, contrary to all expectation
and the experiment of the day before, did not get
,through the target, but stuck in the plate and
backing, the end of the shot projecting about 2
, inches.. , The head of *Huh* ireffvfor-4.. -
0"-ihtt up," end spilt, as if tie 'met* 4.--
: and brittle. To this, we understood, Mr. Whitworth
attributed the oomparatively small effect.
An Armstrong shell as before was now fired •, it
drove iu a piece of the plate the size of the shell,
breaking it up and driving it in about ten inches,
and shaking she timber much, some of the tow
' caulking being knocked out and set on fire. The
bolt heads were started in front and ten bolt heads
knocked off behind the skin. The shell again re-
bounded 18 yards without breaking op.
The Whitworth shell which followed this pene-
trated the plate, but broke up too soon, spending its
power in scattering its pieces chiefly in front of the
target. Pieces of the shell lay in the opening, which,
like all the others, was a clean cut hole, and these
were about four inches from the front of toe target.
This ended these trials of the guns at point blank,
and the next experiment was to fire from the 800
yards range one round of shot and one of shell. The
Whitworth gun fired the first shot, which struck
'the middle plate, but did not make so good pene-
tration as at the 800 yards. The shot stook loose
in the target projecting about 44 inches, and thus
leaving very little to penetrate the timber, and any
other effect upon the target was not visible.
The Armstrong shot now made its best hit, pene-
trating the middle plate to nearly the whole length
of the shot, so that as the plate bulged around the
opening it seemed to be completely buried, but on
being measured it was found that the tear of the
Ishot was about one iuch from the surface of the
plat?. _
..
._ -
-- - -

The Whitworth shell, next fired, penetrated the
plate, broke up, leaving the bead of the shell sticking
firmly in the wood, and about 3 inches from the
front of the target, doing no damage to the target.
The Armstrong shell rebounded, as on the day
before at 800 yards, producing merely a dent upon
the plate of about one inch deep, and was found nearly
400 yards from the target unbroken. With this
the experiments ended, to be renewed on Monday
at the intermediate ranges between the 800 yards
and the 50 yards. Whether the results of the
trials at these distances may alter those we have de-
tailed remains to be seen ; we are inclined to think
they will not, and that the target will continue to
resist any effect of single shots from solid shot or
shell. The iron plates, which we beard were made
by the Millwall Company, are evidently superior in
toughness and homogeneity to any that have been
tried ' • but they may, we think, be overcome by re-
peated attacks from either of these guns, such as
would have to be met in action. At 'the tome time
there are several unexpected results in the trials
against this target which ass difficult to reconcile
with those of former experiments to which we have
referred ; and we prefer, before entering upon the
discussion of these matters, to await the conclusion
of the firing at the iron-plated target with the
70-pounders.