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

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 guts were at first expected to open
at 9CO 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.-.llThitworth's lot. Four shots were allowed for
this purpose, and at the four h the target was hit
at 1.45 of elevation, and the 15 rounds to which
eech 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
13 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 minuses of a degree—that is, from
1.15 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 tnt:xplained reason, enough when at 1.45 to
make the shot strike in front and ricochet over an
Bi-ft. wall, or, on the other hand, when elevated to
1.47, make it miss the wall 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 :eft 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 and 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
the same range made very beautiful practice. Out
of the 15 shots, 14 struck the wall direct, and the
15th grazed it at the edge of a broken part, raising
sufficient dust to mark a hit, but otherwise doing
no dam age.

The examination of thg walls which followed
these trials, for the twilight was then deepening too
fast to continue the experiments with the breech-
loader, showed that every singe shot which had
hit these really massive structures had gone clean
through them with apparently the 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.
Whitworth'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 equal 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, in 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
shell. Nowhere on its whole surface could it be
traced that any of his shrapnel bullets had even
struck it; and undoubtedly, ns far as it has yet gone,
Jr. Whitworth's shapnel shell has effected scarcely
anything deserving of mention.
Oa Tuesday the continuous firing test was applied.
It was fixed 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 Ltails which made such changes ad-
visable, it is mere justice to state that they were of
a purely exceptional character, and in no degree
rcfieet against the gun or its method of venting,
which is simple in the extreme.
The firing of the 200 rounds for endurance com-
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 rose 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
'ccovcred its usual free action, and so continued to