The Sun.
London, England, 1854-09-30 00:00:00

APPOINTMENTS.

Captain Sir T. Palley (1831) to the Royal Albert, 121,
screw steam-ship, at Sheerness.
Lieutenants W. Spratt and T. T. Phillips to the Nan-
kin, 50, at Chatham.
Mrster W. 11. T. Green (1844) to the Powerful, 84, at
Portsmouth.

Clerks R. J. Waterfield (1851) to the impregnable, 104,
flag-ship, at Davonport ; T. Braddon, to the Calcutta, 84,
at Devonport ; E. A. 31. Chaffers, to the Indefatigable,
50, at Devonport ; A. Howard, to the Nankin ; and T. T.
Jennings (1846), to the Hannibal, 90, screw steam-ship, at
Sheerness.

Naval Instructor,W. S. Harvey (1841), to the Powerful.
Second Master, A. J. A. Parks (1831), to the Illustrious,
72, at Portsmouth.
Clerk in Charge, T. E. Wright, to the Snake.

EXPERIMENTS AT SHOEBURYNESS.

WOOLWICH, SEpr. 29.

The introduction of the Minie rifle into the service ,
having a range equal, or nearly so, to that of a 6-pounder:
artillery gun, placed the infantry regiments in a position;
to compete with the 6-pounder light field pieces, and the
field batteries have since been supplied with 9-pounder
brass guns, and 12 and 21-pounder howitzers. The supe-
riority of the Mini() rifle over the old common musket
suggested experiments with rifled cannon, but it has hither 1
to been found impracticable to obtain a description of shot
suitable to be fired from rifled cannon, as in every instance
the lea l portion necessary to bo attached to the iron shot
for the purpose of expanding into the rifled groves, inva-
riably separated when fired, owing to the plans for securing
it being inefficient, and the consequence was that tho di-
rection of the shot could not be depended upon, or the
range be calculated with any degree of certainty. The
result of several experiments caused great doubt as to the
practicability of joining the iron and lead in such a man-
ner as to make effective shot suitable for being fired from
rifled cannon. Mr. Jeffery, the inventor of the marine glue,
having had his attention drawn to the difficulty which
existed of securing the lead to the iron shot, so as to pre-
vent their being separated by the action of firing, submitted
a plan to the members of the select committee at Woolwich
and they afforded him every facility for having it tested
at the long range at Shoeburyness. Mr. Jeffery accord-
ingly had twelve shot cast on purpose under his own
superintendence upon his • plan, and they were all tested
yesterday, commencing at 10 o'clock a.m., and concluding
at 12 noon. The plan is very ingenious, and yet simple ;
and the shot which were recovered afforded evidence that
he has overcome the difficulty which has hitherto existed,
and introduced a principle in the construction of shot well
adapted for firing from rifled cannon without separating
the lead from the iron portion of the metals. The practice
was carried on at two targets, the one about fifty yards in
front of the other, and the entire range about 1,700 yards.
Mr. Jeffery's shot were all cast suitable for the bore of a
nine-pounder gun ; but, being of the Minis ball shape—
conical at the one end and having a cup form at the other,
and varying in their length—they weighed from 11 lbs. to
24 lbs. each. The line of firing at that range was very
good, but in almost every instance they went beyond the
most distant target, and ricocheted a great distance—fully
a mile, at least, beyond the target. There were twelve of
Mr. Jeffery's shot and four spherical shot fired during the
practice, and the last round one of Mr. Jeffery's was fired
with the gun at an elevation of 10 degrees, and a charge of
two pounds weight of powder, and it made a range of up-
wards of 3,000 yards, or nearly double the distance of the
target, before it struck the ground. Lieut.-Colonel Wilson
superintended the experiments, and he has very properly
placed sentries since the time of the late melancholy acci-
dent, by the bursting of a 98 cwt. gun, to prevent strangers
from getting within one hundred yards on each side of the
gun-battery platform at Shoeburyness.