The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-16 00:00:00

Armstrong and Whitworth Trials,

Diy by day the now close competition between
the field guns of Sir William Armstrong and Mr.
Whitworth goes on at Shoebury, in the presence of
most of the members of the special committee who
are appointed to superintend the practice. Judging
what has yet to be done by the progress already

ado, there is at the lowest estimate two months'
constant work still to be got through before all the
various trials !aid down in the programme can be
completed, and a still longer time must elapse before
the final award of the committee can be made public.
Many seem of opinion that the trials could be made
with greater rapidity if it were necessary, and it is
certain that both Sir William and Mr. Whitworth
would consent to such a reduction of the programme
as would enable them to fire a larger number of
shots at fewer ranges instead of, as now, firing a
small number at a great many gradually increasing
distances. Such an alteration would no doubt reduce
the time of trial by many days, but the propriety of
making any change in the elaborate and exhaustive
programme that has been resolved on is more than
questionable, and certainly, while it is adhered to, it
seems difficult with anything like a careful verifica-
tion of each practice shot to do more than is done.
Even what is now accomplished entails almost inces-
sant work night and day on Capt. Dyer, R.A., the
secretary to the committee, and with a greater
number of rounds the return which is now made
out at the close of each day's firing would become
impossib!e. The competition might, undoubtedly,
have been shortened to a certain extent if it had
been begun with the 70-pounders instead of the field
pieces. The mode of rifling and strength of tube
which will do for a large gun, it is known, will
most certainly do for a small one, but the converse
of this proposition by no means hold. Thus, Mr.
Whitworth, with his small-bore rifle, has made a
weapon which as yet distances all other rifles beyond
the chance of competition ; but it is evident now
that the same principle extended in its applica-
tion from a rifle to a 12 pounder dces not, or at least,
has not yet effected the same results. Sir William's
shunt principle, if applied to a volunteer rifle,would
no doubt be easily beaten by Mr. Whitworth's
weapon of the same kind, but it becomes a totally
different question when the two principle are ap-
plied to field guns, and more different still when the
manufacture is extended from field guns to 70 and
100 pounders. For these reasons and as setting the
question more quickly at rest, it would no doubt
have been better if the competition had begun with
the heavy guns instead of with light, or rather if it
had been confined to the heavy guns altogether.
As it is now, the results obtained with the field guns
of either competitors are regarded as far from being
conclusive, and as only affording data which cannot
properly be judgml of till the heavy ordnance has
gone through the same ordeal:
During the past week the trials have varied very
little from tests of range and accuracy at various
degrees of elevation, from two degrees to seven,
• which was attained yesterday, when the guns were
throwing shot 3,050 and 3,100 yards. All these trials
are of course made with solid shot—a test which Sir
William thinks is against bringing out the true
merits of his ordnance. His two guns are made for
shells only, which is in fact the only ammunition
issued to them in service. Mr. Whitworth's gun is,
on the contrary, specially a gun for solid shot, and
its performances with shell, if nut, actually bad, are

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unquestionably bad when compared with the de-
structive cffact of Sir William's guns. Thus during
the past week's trial each gun had to fire five rcunds
of shell against the abattis of trees in front of the
earthwork we have already described in our previous
notice. Both Sir William's guns, the shunt and the
breech-loader, in five rounds of segment shell so
completely cut an opening in the trees that a cart
could have been driven through ; whereas the cffict
of Mr. Whitworth's shells was absolutely ea. In
the same way, against the earthwork of the battery
the immense superiority of Sir William's shell was
almost equally manifest. Iu fact, Mr. Whitworth's
gun, as a shell gun, has done nothing yet. Mr,
Whitworth frankly admits that his shrapuell shell
cannot cope with abattis or earthworks, but is, on
the other hand, confident that, when tested against
targets of the height and width of a company of
soldiers, it will be found to be more destructive in
the number of wounds it inflicts than the Arm-
strong. Throughout the contest the breech-loader
has shot the worst of the three guns, except when
tried with shell--the only projectile it is intended
to fire—when it has instantly vindicated its old
reputation for efficiency. In other respects it has
been short in range and deficient in accuracy com-
pared with either Sir William's shunt gnu or Mr.
Whitworth's. Its falling short by some 200 yards
of the range of the other two guns is unimportant,
and is solely due to the fact that the charge for
this gun is 11lb., while the two others have lalb.
Its failing to attain the same marvellous accuracy
as the others is a fact for which no one can
account. The practice made by the average
breech-loaders of the same kind in the service
is, we are informed, above the average of the
shooting of this gun, made with so much care spa.
cially for these trials and with a special steel tube
for the barrel. ' It may be that too much care has '
spoilt it, for, as we have said, its shooting is not
equal, not alone to the shunt and Whitworth guns,
but to all the other Armstrongs of the same kind
which are in plenty at Shoeburyness. Our readers
however must not adopt the idea that it shoots

badly as a gun; it is only relatively to the two
other competing ordnance that this can be said.
But the accuracy of the last two is something so
wonderful that even the rifle shooting for the
Queen's Prize at Wimbledon bears no comparison
to it. To give an idea of what this accuracy is, we
may state that at the 300 yards range Mr. Whit-
worth sent many shots in succession through the
bull's-eye, which was only one foot in diameter.
This was a short range, certainly, but still the prac-
tice was wonderful, and again at 1,600 yards Mr.
Whitworth had 10 shots, the greatest lateral devia-
tion of which from the true line was only 5 inches,
and there were in the same range as many of Sir
William's from the shunt gun which were as true.
In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that if a crow,
or a hen could be seen at such a distance it would
have been hit over and over again by either of these
guns.

At two degrees of elevation the breech-loader was
short by 50 yards of the other two guns, but was
very accurate. The Armstrong shunt gun and the
Whitworth shot equal as to range and accuracy,
and if a choice could be made between the two it

was in favour of Whitworth. At three degrees Mr.
Whitworth claims a distinct victory—a claim, how-
ever, which is not borne out by the official records
of the committee, from which only, as generally
given in the rough, do we derive our data for this
report. According to the general results of this
official return, it is stated that at three degrees
the shunt and Whitworth were with shot equal
to a yard—the shunt gun having a decided ad-
vantage with shell. At four degrees aI,H) the

shunt and Wt.itwirth are reported nearly cqutl,
he breeeli lo,der being short by 200 yards, but
otherwise throwing for this range very accura'c'y
indeed. When we use the term " nearly equal" as

between the shunt and Whitworth, we mean that
f,, average of the rounds gave Mr. IVhitworth's
guu a gt e &ter range by ,e i yards ill in tbe Arm-
strong—an amount of difference which at 2,000
yards is scarcely wcrrh le;ordirg on either side.
After the s: came the trials with shell at the abattis
!n1 earthworks, where, as we have said, Sir

Ham's victory was complete, his shells sweeping
away everything before th'm, while Mr. Whit-
worth's were in destructive effect perfectly harm-
lesr, as fir as could be jadged by the apptanince of
the astacles against which they were directed.
During Thursday and yesterday the trials were
again for range and accuracy, at elevations rising
from five to seven degrees. At five enthix dogma

each party claims to have won, End the Committee
returns wire not sufficiently made out t) enable us

.o say which had zellly been the victor, though

e.ga;n it was generally believed by those who were
impartial- tha there really was no caoice between
the performances of the two. The same may be said

of the firing yesterday, at seven degrees, when the
two guns were throwing 3,000 yards and upwards,

dropping their shot, round after round, in almost
precibely the same holes in which the first fell, till
they bored and the mounds of mod they threw up
formed three little targets, which were distinctly
visib!e. No official return was made of the firing
yesterday, and if an opinion eln be formed from
what was seen of the fall of the shot through a te-

lesccps it would almost appear as if Mr. Whit-

worth had a trifling advantage in the regulatity of
his line of fi.e.

As far as the trials have hitherto extended, it
seems t 3 b© the feeling of all officers on the ground
that, regard being had only to range and accuracy,
there is literally no choice between the Armstrong
shunt gun and the Whitworth. Each of the in-
ventors is, however, confident that his final victory
nes only been deferred till the long ranges com-
mence, when each expects to prove a enarkea
superiority over his opponent. But the niceties of
these fancy ranges at 8,000 and 10,000 yards, when
the difference is only a foot or two one way or the

other, are quite beside the question of the real
merits of field guns. Artillerists say that each

gun is far beyond the standard required ; that is
to say, that each gun possesses such powers of

scientific accuracy as are certai❑ never to be deve-
loped in the hurry end hot blood of actual service.

The real question betweenthem now is which gun
is most destructive, and which endures longest.
'These trials will begin next week, when the de-

structive power of the guns will be tried against
stockades and walls, and the endurance will be

tested by continuous and rapid firing. In destruc-
tive powers, unless Mr. Whitworth's shell behaves
better than it has hitherto done, his chances are
likely to be small. For endurance both competitors
are equally confident of success, Sir William relying

on the fact that his guns of the same pattern have

stood nearly 4,000 rounds without an evidence of

change, and Mr, Whitworth depending on the pro-

digious strength of the metal of his ordnance, which

are of the finest soft-tempered:steel. It would very
much hasten the important result that is to be

arrived at in this trial of endurance if at the end of
each day's firing for acnuracy, whon two and three

and four hours are somtimes wasted doing nothing,
the guns were ordered to fire 100 rounds into the
water as fast as they could be discharged and

loaded. Such a finale to the next day's prac-
tice would tell most seriously on the neat day's
accuracy of range, if there is any truth in the
report that some of the guns are being hurt by
their own projectiles. Thii would be the fairest
way of testing the endurance of the pieces.
together with their subsequent accuracy, and would
sharten the competition by at least a fortnight;
while it at the same time made the trials more
searching, and therefore more satisfactory.
During th© course of 'these trials the vent, or
touch-hole, of Mr. Whitworth's gun gave signs of
choking, and he had to apply to the committee for
permission to re-vent it, which ho did the same
evening. This failure of the vent-tube is a matter
of no great importance, if it does not occur again,
4nd if the present occident can be shown to be