The Sun.
London, England, 1856-05-26 00:00:00

THE GREAT WROUGHT-IRON GUN.

LIVERPOOL, SATURDAY.

The continued experiments with Messrs. Hors-
fall's immense wrought-iron gun, under the su-
perintendence of C tptain Vandeleur, of the
Royal Gun Factory, Woolwich, were of the
most important and interesting description. They
comprised nine rounds, all with powder charges of
251 b. The first round, with a ball weighing 2821 b.,
was fired against a target (at a distance of 120
yards), composed of an iron plate, 3 feet 9 inches
by 3 feet and 41 inches in thickness of solid
forged iron, being exactly similar to the plates,
which encase the floating batteries, and which
are considered impregnable. The plate was
fixed against nine balks of timber, each balk
strutted by strong planks, and the whole
buried in a bank of sand. The plate where the ball
struck was shattered to pieces, the ball itself broken
to fragments, and the timber behind splintered into
chips. One fragment of the plate, weighing about
1. cwt., was carried 80 yards beyond the target;
another, weighing more than 1 cwt., to a distance of
220 yards, and one of the huge balks of timber was
winched on end to the distance of 100 yards. The
plate which formed this target, and which weighed
upwards of a ton, was manufactured at the Mersey
Works in less than 7 hours. The remainder of the
experiments on Friday comprised the firing at a
target, formed of a barrel surmounted by a flagstaff
and placed at a distance of 2,000 yards. The first
round aimed at this object was with a ball 2821 b.
weight, and at an elevation of 6 1-3 d degrees.
The shot was in good line, but carried rather too
far. The recoil was' 2 ft. 8 in. The second round
was at the same elevation, and with 'the same weight
of ball. This went very close to the target, and the
recoil was 2 ft. 9 in. In the third round the ball
fell rather short, but was very close to the target ;
recoil 2ft. 3iion. In the fourth discharge the ball
alighted within a yard of the target ; recoil, 2ft. 1 Ain.
In the fifth the ball fell 10 yards short, and two
yards to the left of the target ; sixth, 10 yards
over the target, and a little to the left ' • seventh,
so.near that to the range party the ball appeared
to strike the mark ; eighth, apparently five yards
short and a little to the left. The last discharge
on Friday was at long range, at an elevation
of 12i degrees, and it is estimated that the ball
carried to the distance of about 5,000 yards. This
concluded what Major Aitcheson, who was present,
described as " the most splendid practice which he
bad ever seen." The experiment on this and the
previous days were pronounced by the military*
gentlemen present as.eminently satisfactory.
To-day (Saturday) the experiments were resumed,
in the presence of an immense concourse of spec'
ors, including the whole of Messrs. Horsfall's
workmen (nearly 1,000), who had been granted
a holiday f the occasion, and conveyed- in a
special train at their employer's expense to
the ground. 16 rounds were fired at the target,
with comparatively light charges, and rather
for the purpose of display and amusement than
for serious test, the capabilities of the gun hair-
ng been satisfatori]y demonstrated on Thursday
before the gentlemen from the Ordnance Depart-
ment, and again on Friday. One of the most re-
markable and gratifying features connected with
he experiments, in a military as well as a scien-
tific point of view, consists in the fact that
notwithstanding the number and rapidity of the
discharges, the gun presents not the slightest score
or mark from the friction of the cast-iron balls.
The windage, we were informed, too, by some of
the military officers present, is very small, being
only about 13 100ths, instead of the ordinary
2-10ths.