The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-21 00:00:00

The Armstrong and Whitworth Trials,

The contest bet ween these rival pieces is fast
reaching stages at which decisive results on either
side may happen at any moment, and are, to a cer•
taia extent, looked for every day. Oa Monday the
trials were for destructive ethet ; on Tuesday one
of the most severe tests of all, rapid and continuous
firing, was applied. Both these competitions excited
the keenest interest, for, as to the accuracy of shoot-
ing, all the officers seem of opinion that either the
Armstrong shunt gun or the Whitworth are each,
as far as they have yet gone, sufficiently near per-
fection to make the whole contest turn now upon
which is the more destructive in warfare with shot
and shell, and, above all, which is the stronger gun ;
that is to say, not which is easiest burst, but which,
with common service charges, can fire the most
a °ands with the least wear. Every shot fired from
a gun effects a certain amount of wear in the tube,
which in time becomes ascertainable by measure-
ment. Up to the present all the guns have fired
more 600 rounds (rather above the average of what
cast guns will stand), but as yet none give any ap-
preciable sign of having ever been fired at all. In
a few days more, however, especially if the rapid
firing is continued, the wear must become apparent,
though it is not likely to be much, for at the close
of the whole programme 3,000 rounds have to be
fired from each gun, which is then to be burst. It
is to be hoped, for the credit of our scientific know-
ledge of gunnery, that this bursting process will not
be carried on after the old barbarous system of
choking up a gun with shot and powder till it
breaks, but that it may be effected by firing the gua
at 45 degrees elevation with common charges till
one or the other yields. It should not be a mere
question of breaking the gun at these bursting
trials, bat seeing how it will break and after how
long a time it will break when used in every day
warfare.

• The trials on Monday were to prove how each
gun—the Armstrong shunt gun, the Whitworth,
and the Armstrong breechloader—would act
against common brickwork walls and villages, both
with shot and shell. But the walls erected to test
the value of this experiment were not by any means
the ordinary rubble masonry of villages or common
brickwork, but were, in truth, most substantial struc-
tures, built in the best manner, three bricks thick,
laid in cement. A wall was provided for each gun,
81ft. in height by about 14ft. wide, and 281 in. thick,
and at these the guns were at first expected to open
at 9GO yards. The Committee, however, gave orders
that they should commence at 1,200 yards, and the
ill luck of commencing and finding the range fell to
Mr.;Whitworth's lot. Four shots were allowed for
this purpose, and at the fourth the target was hit
at 1.45 of elevation, and the 15 rounds to which
each gun:was limited, five of round shot, five of
common shell, and five of shrapnel shell, commenced
with Mr. Whitworth's gun. The result was utterly
unexpected. It was believed that as a shell gun
Mr. Whitworth's explosive power was weak, but
the accuracy of the piece was known to be perfect.
Every one, therefore, looked at the gun, which was
laid by Mr. Whitworth's most experimental assist-
ants, hitting the wall each time, but effecting com-
paratively little with either its shrapnel or com-
mon shell. Extraordinary as it may seem, this
really large target for a range of 1,000 yards, as
it turned out to be, in fact received out of the
15 rounds only seven direct hits, was missed alto-
gether six times, and hit once after a ricochet. Of
the five rounds of solid shot two hit fairly, and
two hit after touching the ground close in front.
Of the common shell three hit and two missed,
Altogether, of the shrapnel shell two only hit and
three missed. The gun, during these rounds, after
the first range had been ascertained, was only
altered two minutes of a degree—that is, from
1.45 to 1.47, and this variation should, if the guu
shot accurately as to longitudinal range—that is,
as to the place in which the shot dropped—have
only given a difference of one foot higher or lower
in the spot it struck the wall. But slight as
was this change of elevation, it was, from
some unexplained reason, enough when at 1.45 to
irske the shot strike in front and ricochet over an
81-ft. wall, or, on the other hand, when elevated to
1.47, make it miss the vs all altogether. Such an
erratic performance was what no one expected,
though the supporters of the Armstrong claimed
that it entirely bore out their theory that the gur,
though shooting with wonderful accuracy as regards
deviation either right or left of the true line, is not
to be relied on in the exactitnde of its longitudinal
range—that at the same elevation and the same
range end with the same charge it will drop its shots
in a true line, but at most varying distances. As
impartial recorders of fact, we are bound to say
that this theory is not borne out by the returns given
of the practice at long ranges. On the other hand,
however, it is to a great extent confirmed by the
shooting at targets, at which 10 have been fired at
from different ranges, and Sir Wm. Armstrong has
claims to have won 7 out of the 10.

When the Whitworth had done firing Sir
William commenced with his shunt gun, which at
tha same range made very beautiful practice. Out
of the l 5 shots, 14 struck the wall direct, and the
15th grazed it at the edge of a broken part, raising
suf&ieet dust to mark a hit, but otherwise doing
no damage.
The examination of the walls which followed
these trials, for 1113 twilight was then deepening too
fast to continue the experiments with the breech-
loader, showed that every single shot which had
hit these really missive structures had gone clean
through them with apparently tile most perfect
ease. Two of Sir William's shot or shell had gone
through the same hole, and one, as we have said, ,
had only just grazed at the top, but done no
damage. Still the whole wall was dilapidated and
rickety, full of holes, cracked in all directions, and
with masses of its brickwork dislodged, so that one
or two more well directed shots would evidently
have brought the whole mass to the ground. Mr.
Whit-,vorth's wall was almost equally ill-used, and,
considering that only eight of his shot and shell
struck it, it was plain that allowing for this difference
of hits, the destructive effect of his gun on the wall
was fully cqaal to the destructive effect of Sir
William's. The wooden targets, however, which
were placed at a little distance behind the walls to
show the effect of the scattered fragments of shell,
told quite a different tale. Sir William's target was
splintered into great holes, and where unbroken its
face was seamed in all directions with the iron seg-
ments striking into the wood. No more convincing
proof, is fact, could possibly be given of the de-
structive effects of the Armstrong shell. Mr.
-Whitworth's target, on the contrary, was scarcely
marked, and only with the fragments of his common
then. Nowhere on its whole surface could it be
traced that any of his shrapnel bullets had even
Struck it; and undoubtedly, as far as it has yet gone,
Mr. Whitworth's shapnel shell has effected scarcely
anything deserving of mention.
On Tuesday the continuous firing test was applied.lt
wa3 fired to commence at 11 o'clock, but it was
nearly one before the guns were ready, in conse-
quence of Mr. Whitworth's application to.the com-
mittee to be allowed to remove his vent-plug or
touchhole before the firing commenced, in order to
replace it with a new one. This made the second
time that Mr. Whitworth has changed his vent-
piece; and though We have not space to enter into
the technical details which made such changes ad-
visable, it is mere justice to state that they were of
a purely exceptional character, and in no degree
reflect against the gun or its method of venting,
which is simple in the extreme.
The firing of the 200 rounds for endurance cone-
menced soon after 1 o'clock, and before it began the
Committee stated that it was to be distinctly under-
stood that the trial was not intended to show which
gun would fire fastest, but which gun endured best
under continuous and quick but orderly firing. On
this understanding, therefore, the firing commenced
and was continued incessantly for nearly an hour
and a half, with only two or three seconds' interval
between each discharge, so that the endurance of
the spectators, who had to be close to the artillery,
was even more severely tried than the endurance
of the guns. After some 30 rounds the screw of Sir
William's breechloader, which had become fouled
with the sulphurous powder smoke, worked very
stiffly,, but on water being poured over it it at once
vecov :red Its usual free action, and so continued to

the close. Even this defect, however, slight as it
was, did not pass without notice among the artillery
officers, who, as a rule, greatly prefer Sir Wllliam's
shunt gun to his breechloader. Both the Whit-
worth and the shunt gun worked adn rably, and
each made excellent practice, though t fire of the
latter was considerably retarded by the fact that the
cartridges issued to it were sometimes too large for
the gun. Six were thus rejected which could not be
made to enter the muzzle at all, and many which did
enter it could only be forced down with difficulty.
In the end, Mr. Whitworth fired his 200 rounds in
one hour and 12 minutes. Sir William fired his from
his breechloader in one hour and 21 minutes, and
from his shnnt gun in one hour and 22 minutes. It
was most fortunate for Sir William that the trial
was for endurance and not for speed, else from the
peculiar difficulties under which he laboured in
using a lubricator with his shunt gun for the first
time the competition must have been against him.
As an instance, however, of what can be done with
Sir William's breechloader when fired for quick.
ness, we may mention that the evening before
this trial took place an officer at Shoeburyneas
fired 100 rounds from the common service breech-
loader in 24 minutes, and made good practice
with it at every shot.
At the end of the 200 rounds' firing all the guns
were so hot that it was impossible to touch them,
yet before they had time to cool the next test was
applied to ascertain if the severe trial they had
undergone had injured them or impaired their
shooting in any way. For this purpose they were
ordered to fire at small bull's-eyes, marked on three
targets, at 300 yards' distance, three shots being
allowed to each gun to ascertain the range, and
then five more to each, the results of which were to
be recorded. At this competition the Whitworth
and the breechloader shot about equal, and neither
of them particularly well. The Armstrong shunt
gun, on the contrary, made one of the most beau-
tiful targets that has been seen at Shoebury, plant-
ing all its shot in a space of about 15 inches square.
In fact, Sir William's superiority at this contest
was so marked that it left little room for compa-
rison between his target and Mr. Whitworth's.
Before continuing the trials further, impressions
will be carefully taken of the interiors of all the
guns, to ascertain if they have been damaged or
worn in the least degree by the 200 rounds' quick
firing. This inspection, however, is likely to be a
mere formality after the satisfactory proof which all
the guns gave by their firing afterwards that as yet
they are unhurt. To-day and to-morrow the tests
will be resumed again for range and accuracy.
In reference to the firing at three degrees of eleva-
tion, which we stated in our last notice as being a
close and equal competition between Sir William
and Mr. Whitworth, we have now to add that a
more careful examination of the returns has shown
that in accuracy, and also in range, the advantage
at this contest is clearly on Mr. Whitworth's side.
So, also, in reference to the statement which im•
plied that Mr. Whitworth had washed his guns
without the knowledge of the Committee, we are
assured, on the highest authority, that Mr, Whit-
worth applied to the Committee for leave to wash
his guns, and the permission was at once given, and
that Sir William was allowed to do the same.

In the course of another ten days or so the com-
petition with the small guns will be brought to a
close, and that with the heavy ordnance begin. I❑
this second stage both competitors are equally con-
fident of success.