The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-16 00:00:00

ARMS TRO:

:TWORTH.

The competition between the 12-pounder field-
guns of these rival artillerists is fast approaching a
conclusion. The greater part of the programme has
been gone through, and the Special Committee feel
their labours sufficiently advanced to comme'ace
practice with the 70-pounders. It would leave
saved much time and trouble if these latter had
been taken first, for, es we have often stated, the
principle of rifling and manufacture which suffices
for a large gun will, as a matter of certainty, be
enough for a small one; bat what insures accu-
racy and endurance in a 12 pounder may by no
means answer in a 70 or even a 40 pounder. Thus,
then, now that the trials of the field guns are draw-
ing to a close, and some result may be expected
from the competition—though not a very marked
or decided result in guns which have kept so close
throughout—the dictum of the committee, what-
ever it may be on the light guns, will still want
the final confirmation which only the trials of the
heavy guns can give. Neither Sir William or Mr,
Whitworth would derive the slightest benefit from
being declared the undisputed victor in this field-
gun contest, if they failed to maintain the same
supremacy when their principles were developed
by application to large ordnance,: It is a large
shell-carrying, armour-plate piercing, rifled gun
which is now wanted, and the competitor who best
supplies this deficiency will win the honours of the
contest, though, commercially speaking, the de-
feated competitor will carry off the point. Both Sir
William and Mr. Whitworth have received over-
tures from almost every important Government to
be supplied with their ordnance. Not a single
Armstrong gun has gone abroad, though the Whit.
worths have been freely supplied to various coun-
tries, who are certain now eagerly to compete for the
possession of whichever of the two is second best in
this trial, for, of course our own Government will
keep the best for themselves. Though, as we have
said, the result either way is not likely to give any
very marked superiority to any gun, yet it will be
sufficient to show the public which is the best, and
enough is known of the artillery of other countries
to make the Government feel certain that the best
gun of these three is sure to be better than any we
yet know of.
Upwards of 2,500 rounds of shot and shell have
now been fired from each of these ordnance or rather
more than three times the number of rounds which
would be sufficient to destroy the old brass smooth-
bore field piece. Each of the guns, of course, shows
signs of wear—in fact, the wear commences with
the first shot fired, and with accurate measurement
may be regularly traced after every 100 rounds. The
breech-loader, perhaps, shows as little signs as any.
Its powder chamber at the base of the shot is en-
larged, and that part of the programme which in-
volved the bursting of a certain number of shells in
the gun as it was fired has in one or two
placed serrated the edges of the rifling ; but this
is all, and Sir William expresses himself confirm
dent that in endurance it will be equal to any.
This gun, it will be recollected, shot comparatively
ill at the commencement of the trials ; and cer-
tainly so much worse than any other common
breech-loader of the same pattern in the service as
to make its performances quite unaccountable to
the officers at Shoebury. The lead coating of the
projectile was always stripped backwards, so as to
form a concavity almost the size of a teacup at the
base of the shot or shell; and this, of c ease,
was most detrimental to its accuracy, and was
what had never been observed to take place in any
other guns of almost the same kind. During the
last two or three weeks, however, this peculiarity
has entirely disappeared; the shooting has steadily
continued to improve till the accuracy of the piece
is now equal to any of the three. These strange
changes, which were unaccountable at first, have
lately received a very simple solution. All the
service breech-loaders are made of welded wrought-
iron coils, and the severe proof to which they are
subjected before passing Woolwich used to enlarge
the powder chamber about the 500th of an inch.
This competition gun, however, has been made with
an inner tube of steel, which did net enlarge at
once on firing; hence the nip the lead-coated pro-
jectile received on starting, which stripped the
softer metal back like a cup, and afizeted its aeon-
racy of flight most seriously. But during the long
course of rounds to which it has been subjected the
steel tube has yielded gradually, as the wrought
iron one would have done at once. The powder-
chamber is now enlarged to what may be called its
proper diameter, there is no stripping hick of the
lead, and the accuracy of the piece, especially with
shell,ia as perfect as could be wished. The condition
of the grooves of the shunt gun is as perfect as the
day it was first fired. There are, however, traces of
considerable corrosion or guttering in the powder-
chamber at the base of the shot, which has roughed
the interior surface of the gun at this particular
part. The metal, instead of being clean and smooth,
resembles morocco leather in the labyrinth of minute
channels into which it is worn. This wear appeared
early in the gun from the want of a wad at the base
of the shot to prevent the gases passing it on the
ignition of the powder. Since the use of an oakum
wad the progress of this '° guttering" has been re-
duced to a minimum, and there are no other marks
appearing. Mr. Whitworth's gun has been several
times revented—that is, the screw which contains
the platinum touch-hole has been taken out and re-
pieced by a fresh one—an advantageous operation,
which was always easily and quickly done. The
crack in the metal, which early appeared near the
vent, has extended in length, and slightly deepened.
Beyond this the gun shows no signs of use. Thus,
then, all three pieces have marks of wear and tear—
the two Armstrongs giving tokens of the beginning
of a gradual decay, which, as in the course of time,
it slowly but surely progresses, must affect their
accuracy, the Whitworth having a flaw the depth
of which may ba immaterial, or, on the other hand,
if serious, may at once affect the existence of the

gun. _
The competition has now gained that stage that
the shootirg for range and accuracy is entirely over,
and only the extra and somewhat fanciful experi-
ments of turning into ditches, &c., remain
to be gone
through. Some important experiments are being,
and will continue to be, made as to the destructive
effects of shell, &c., to which, as they progress, we
shall in a few days have to refer at length. When

these tests ara got over both Sir William and Mr

Whitworth will be permitted to show the value of
their pieces in any special or extraordinary manner
they may think proper, after which they will bc fired
with gradually increasing charges till they burst.
The tests for range and accuracy which have been
completed with the field-guns have been made with
gradually increasing elevations, from point-blank
range, at about 300 yards, up to 10 deg. of eleva-
tion, or 4,000 yards. At 4,000 yards the diminished
resistance of the smaller and longer shot of Mr
Whitworth enabled it to beat the Armstrong in
length of range by nearly 400 yards, but as regards
accuracy, the trial has been wonderfully close, if
one may judge by the complete series of parallel°.
grams which have been made out by the committee.
These parallelograms, when seen on the tracings,
show in inches the precise amount of superiority of
every gun at every range, so that the most superfi-
cial glare is enough to show any one who can un-
derstand figures what the gain or loss of each
piece has been at each stage of the competition. But
though this is very easy to see on a tracing, it is by
no means so easy to convey to the general reader a
similarly clear impression in these columns, We
shall, however, endeavour to do so, as the subject
is one which ought to interest all, for every farthing
of the expense of this most costly competition is
defrayed by the public, who will be the ultimate
gainers or losers, according as the best gun is
chosen or not. All the guns, when eumpeting for
were carefully laid
nnge and accuracy, by spirit
level at precisely the same elevations, and fired
along a range which was marked with stakes at
every ten yards. Thus the spot in which every shot
fell was measured to a foot, and its la'eral deviation
right and left recorded with equal accuracy. If
every gun had been an absolutely perfect and in-
fallible weapon, and had been fired in a vacuum,
each would have thrown all its shot in precisely
the same spot; bat as none, of course, are abso.
lutely perfect. and as the flight of the projectiles
was affected by the wind, it followed that the same