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

There is still nothing very decisive to record in
the way of a clear final advantage of one of those
csinpetitore over the other. The verdict of one day's
firing so often reverses the results gained the day
before, and these are so likely to be in turn upset
by experiments which are to come, that any attempt
to give even an outline of each days results would
only add to the confusion of a confused subject, and
involve a question which the erratic and contradic-
tory action of the committee renders more involved
each day. The trials as regards firing for range
and accuracy of the light 12-pounders have, as our
readers know, been brought to a conclusion, but a
great deal yet remains to be done before the entire
official programme is gone through, and the guns
are delivered to the competitors for a kind of sup-
plementary trial, in which both Sir Witham and
Mr. Whitworth will be allowed to show off the
powers of their ordnance in any specially favourable
light they may choose. The latest competition
with these 12-pounders was with shell —com-
mon, segment, and shrapnel—against mantelets and
targets, and to show the effect of accidental
bursting of shell—that is, shell bursting 100 yards
in front of troops, instead of, as they ought to burst,
at 20 or 25 yards. These trials have been of the
last importance in eliciting the destructive effects of
each gun, and that and the question of endurance
are really the main points to be solved by this con-
test. The value of a field-gun may be estimated in
a great measure by its power of throwing a destruc-
tive shell effectively. Its performances with solid
shot are so secondary to this important result as to
be in a measure almost beside the question. The
marvellous excellence of Mr Whitworth's field-piece
as a solid shot gun has never admitted of question,
any more than that shell firing used to be its weak
point. Colonel Boxer has, however, designed a
shell (very similar in its general principles to that
now in use among the Federals, who, Colonel Boxer
asserts, have taken his idea) which seems to suit Mr
Whitworth's gun admirably. Certainly, the results
wiaich have been obtained during recent praetioado
the highest credit to Colonel Boxer's invention,
which is most ingeniously constructed to get over
the difficulty which the narrow diameter of Mr.
Wisitworth's projectile offered to its containing an
efficient bursting charge at all. At the same time
we must impress upon our readers the necessity of
sepa.'ating in their ideas the performances of Mr.
IVhiticorth's gun from those of Colonel Boxer's
shell, in so' far as that if the Boxer shell is better and
more destru,ltive than the Armstrong segment shell,
it is only a pod of the superiority of shells not of
guns, as the Balzer shell can be fired from either,
and would, if anrhing, be more easily adapted
to the Armstrong gun than the Whitworth,
and for these reasons:--The Armstrong fires a
rather short, cone-headed, cylindrical shell ; this
cylindrical form enables it to hold a large bursting
charge in the centre, and round this are built or
placed little rough cast iron segments of a circle,
which give its name to this destructive shell. The
Whitworth shell, on the' contrary, from its very
narrow diameter and hexagonal shape, is not easy
to adapt to a centre bursting charge, or to the iron
segments. Colonel Boxer has, therefore, designed
a thin cast iron shell, which he fills with leaden
bullets, putting either the time or percussion fuse
on Vae top, which leads down to the bottom of the
shell, where a small exploding charge of powder
is placed. It the shell is to be broken up and
spread its pieces with destructive effect this ex-
ploding charge is 12 drachms; if the bullets are
wanted to go far it is only 6 drachms. With the
latter small charge the shrapnel ballets are just
blown out of the cast-iron shell case, which drops'to
the ground, while the bullets sweep on in a gradually
extending circle, with all the force which they have
derived from their original discharge from the can-
non's month. Thus, then, Colonel Boxer fires a sort
of iron blunderbuss from the gun, which is dis-
charged either by the time or by the percussion fuse
on meeting any obstacle, and sen els its hail of bullets
forward. When used for short distances, however,
the 12 drachms charge is preferred, w hich is enough
to break the shell case and add its ragg.sd fragments
to the general havoc of the round bu11e,473. If this
principle was used for the Armstrong gun, the
greater diameter of its shell would enable it always
to use the full bursting charge, while a g,vater
number of circular bullets could naturally be bof
into a circular shell than into a six-sided one. Tne
use of a varying bursting charge is open to most
grave objections in actual warfare. The idea of
measuring the charges into a shell in the hurry and
hot blood of acticn is as much out of the question as
Sir William's idea of filling his common shells with
the aid of a rammer and mallet, which was objected
to and stopped by the Committee on Thursday as a
thing which, like the altered charges of shell, it
would be impossible to use in actual service. The

theory of the Boxer shell having a light charge to

part its bullets without at all depriving them of the

force of their onwari flight from the gun is iden'
tical with the theory of Sir William's segment

shell, and, as we have said, with the theory of the
Federal shell. The shrapnel shell of Colonel Boxer
is very perfect indeed, but in its present adaptation
to the Whitworth gun it has some disadvantages
which may very likely be capable of adjustment,
bat which in the present state of this keen compe-
tition require notice. Colonel Boxer has no more
&laity perfected his percussion fuse than Sir
William Armstrong has his fuse for time. When
Colonel Boxer fires his shells against the ground in
front of troops many of them turn out " blind"—
that is, do not explode at all. Wien they do so
explode, however, their effect in ricochet firing is
greater than. Sir William's segment shell. The
spherical form and superior density of Colonel
Boxer's bullets enable them to glance upwards after
bursting sometimes in the right direction with
often, however, they go in
murderous effect. Very
quite a wrong direction, for the Whitworth shot
after touching the earth is rather erratic in its
ricochet, and if its percussion shell explodes it may
throw its bullets to the right or left or high into the
air according as the shell glances. This failure of

explosion, which, though not frequent, yet com;
times, to say the least, occurs, has led Colonel

Boxer often to prefer his time fuse, which, as core.

_ .
pared with percussion, is very objectionable in
action, as the difference of cutting or piercing

the fuse by one-tenth of a second—that is, the
thickness of the edge of a penknife—more or less
would make a difference of 40 yards too far or too

short of where the shell ought to explode. Is it
reasonable to expect that either officers or men oan
attain such infinitesimal accuracy in actual battle ?
This partial failure of the percussion fuse no doubt

is capable of adjustment, but all we have to say
now is that it must be so adjusted before the shell

can be considered to to what further care and prac•
tice no doubt might easily make it—a perfect shell.
it is, perhaps, to overcome these temporary defects
that the Committee have tried many of their late

experiments against wooden screens in front of the
targets, which burst the percussion shell before
the target is reached, and thus insure as far as
possible the non-failure of Colonel Boxer's fuses
against the ground, and also guard against the
erratic ricochet of Mr. Whitworth's projectile,
and the contents which Colonel Bgxer puts
into it. This arrangement brings to mind,
again, what we have before stated, that Col. Boxer
has no more perfected his percussion fuse than Sir
William has his time fuse. A. large number of Sir
William's time fuses have lit in the gun, and this
premature explosion is a most grave defect, which
must be due either to the fuse itself or the wear of
the gun. The injury it does the gun may be disre-
garded, though it is by
means trifling, but the mis-
chief it would inflict on troops if firing over their

heads or operating upon their flanks cannot be lost
sight of for a moment. If the fuse is not in fault,

the shunt gun in which this defect has been most

observable is evidently letting the gases caused by
the explosion pass the shell and so burn its fuse. If

this occasional failure can be prevented for the
future, well and good. If it cannot, then either the
us e itself is dangerously wrong or the shunt gun is
giving the first well-marked signs of wear which
may soon render it unserviceable. In the practice
against the rope mantelets, which were made after

the pattern of those used by the Russians to protect
their embrasures, and were plaited mats of rope four
inches thick, the shrapnel ballets from the Boxer