The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-09 00:00:00

The Armstrong and Whitworth Trials,

Yesterday the competitive trials between the
Armstrong and Whitworth 12-pounder field-guns
were continued at Shoebury, in the presence of an
unusual number of distinguished visitors. His
Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, with Earl
de Grey, Sir John Burgoyne, Sir Edward Lugard,
General St. George, Capt. Galton, R.E., General
Rumley, the chairman of the Special Committee,
and all the members of the Committee, Lord Tor-
rington, Admiral Talbot, Sir William Armstrong,
Mr. Whitworth, Colonel Boxer, Colonel Gambier,
Colonel Lefroy, and a large number of other offi
cers, both naval and military, were present on this
occasion.

Before stating what was effected yesterday we
may inform our readers that the programme of the
trials to be gone through with the guns in the course
of the competition involves every possible contin-
gency, mishap, and accident which could by any
means, short of utterly disabling the pieces, occur to
them in the roughest and most rapid service. Each
competitor is represented by three guns of each kind
allowed to compete—namely, 12-pounders as field-
guns, and 70-pounders as guns of position. Sir
William, therefore, comes forward with three 12-
pounder breechloaders, and three muzzle-loading
shunt guns of the same calibre. Mr. Whitworth, as
bringing forward only one species of gun, has only
three 12-pounders, rifled on his hexagonal principle.
Sir William's are built guns on the wrought-iron coil
plan, while those of Mr. Whitworth are cast of the
homogeneous metal (which is only a hard name for
a very soft steel) strengthened by coils of the same
metal, forced on outside the gun by hydraulic
pressure. These pieces, as we have said, are to be
tested in every possible and almost impossible man-
ner for range and accuracy—with solid, shrapnel,
segment, and common shell; against earthworks,
.-mbrasures, and stockades ; for ricochet, point-
blank, and long-range firing; how they will bear
embarcation and dise'nbarcatiun, how they will
bnswer in boats,how against abattis,brushwood, and
villages. Boxesof the ammunition are to be sent tra-
velling bylan d and sea allover and round the kingdom
to see how they each bear transport ; and at one part
of the trial the guns will be upset in a wet ditch
and left for a night, in order to ascertain, when got
out next morning, which is soonest cleaned and ready
for quick service with shot and shell. Above all, the
trials are to include what will be the most severe
test of all—that of seeing which of the guns will
break down under continuous discharges as rapidly
as the pieces can be loaded and fired. When we say
break down, we of course do not mean burst, but be-
come strained, injured in their rifling, or damaged
in any way. When all has been gone through,
3,000 rounds are to be fired from each gun, which
is then to be burst with gradually increasing charges.
it will be seen, therefore, that it would be next to
impossible to devise a more exhaustive system of
trials than those which have to be carried out, and
whoever wins will not win without having effected
every known purpose to which a gun can be put in
the field, with many others to which it was never
intended to put guns at all.
The competition commenced en Monday last, but
the first trials, though of course forming part of the
programme) have hitherto been of such a merely
preliminary nature that their results in detail would
be almost ueintelligible, and certainly uninteresting
to our readers. Nothlng has as yet been effected on
either side to point to the probable issue of the
contest, and it would therefore he quite premature
to attempt any expression of opinion on this subject.
One thing, however, may be said—that, as far as
this week's firing goes, the contest between the Arm-
strong shunt gun and the Whitworth has been very
close—so close, indeed, that until the official returns
are made out it would be hazardous to say which has
had the best. Whether they will maintain this
equality at longer ranges and under different condi-
tions of trial remains to be seen, but up to the pre-
sent, as far as accuracy is concerned, it may be fairly
said they are both perfect guns. The Armstrong
breech-loader this week has unquestionably shot
the worst of the three ; in fact, it is stated that this
gun, specially made for the trial, shoots below the
average accuracy of the field guns of the same kind
in the service. The defect is attributed to some
minor alterations introduced specially into this
piece for the competition, which have not turned
out so successful in practice RS it was thought
they would prove. It is said that at shell practice
this gun will carry all before it; and, in fact, the
result of yesterday's firing proves this to be mainly
a true opinion. But in respect of accuracy with
solid shot, its performances have been below
those of Sir William's shunt gun and the Whit-
worth, and between these ordnance, therefore,
the contest for supremacy during the week has lain,
without any superiority being shown by either on
which it would be safe to base predictions for the
future. yesterday, after a few shots at targets of
1,300 yards (an almost impossible range for the old
smooth-bore field-guns), the experiments were con.