The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-05-24
From the London Times
THE SCIENCE OF GUNNERY-IMPROVED
FIREARMS.

From the London Times
THE SCIENCE OF GUNNERY-IMPROVED
FIREARMS.
The appearance of an article on Ri1ed Guns in A
periodical like the Edinburgh Revie,o is new indi-
cation of the Importance which that subject has now
acquired AS In most cases of the like description
the prevailing impression left on the mind by the
exposition of what is going to be done is one of ut
ter astonishment at the fact that it should nave
Deen lett undone so long. In this instance too the
circumstances are such as to make the matter more
wonderful than ever. Though we are irresistibly
carried 10 the conclusion that till now we never
knew what gunpowder could do and though mill
tao:.cs ~ wiz perhaps be revoutonized by the
results IL happens, nevertheless that not a singIe
new element or principle has been discovered
EVERYBODY mas Deen long aware that firearms
especially for purposes of warfare, were imperfect
IN the extreme, and also that this imperfection
could be materially diminished by the adontion Of
groOved or rihed barrels. We had ACQUIRED also
evidence of the best possible kind touching the ac.
tual effect OF rited guns in military operations for
the Americans employed these weapons against ma
nearly hundred gears ago, in the war of Indepen-
dence, and to such good purpose that our casuaI-
ties rose terribly above the average scale Yet
though we had thus obtained every necessary sug1
geston, it was not until very recent days that we
set to working the subject out. Our army has but
just been equipped with Enfield rifles and rifled
ordnance is only coming into use at this moment
The retrospect taken by the reviewer of the now
exploded system is entertaining in the extreme in
deed, If the statements did not rest on unimpeacb-
able records, they would be utterly Incredible
ABOUT one-and-twenty years ago the most scientific
corps IN our army-that of the ROYAL Engineers--
was employed to ascertain and define the real nro-
pertes or capabilities of the genuine old "service
musket'-that weapon which had carried the
British soldier through so many fights and which,
be 1t never forgotten, high military authorities
most tenaclousy endeavored to preserve So
body OF officers went to work at Chatham with all
the appliances necessary for the precise establish
ment of facts, and this is what they discovered
they discovered that, as to the distance a regula
ton musket would carry, nothing more certain
could be inferred than that it might be 100 wards
or 1t might be 700 yards according to the eleya
ton of the piece. At no elevation. however. was
there less than 100 yards variation in its possible
range, and at some elevations this differ
ence exec 'ded 300 yards So much for that prm-
airy point
Then came the point of accuracy. ON which the
revelations were still more astounding. At a dis
tance OF 100 yards target about twice as hioh and
twice as broad as a man could, with very careful
shooting be hit three time out of four Revond
that distance, Notwithstanding that the musket was
hred from stand, and every precaution ennloyeJ
10 insure steadness and success, the results were
nn. Nothing could be learnt at all excent that thn
target was never hit and the balls couid never he
found. The mark made twice as wide as before
but of 10 shots at $50 yards not one struck, and
when the distance increased to 300 wards II he
came clear that the experimentalists might as well
be hrlng at the moon. For the practical results at
this famous investigation we will quote only sin
gle specimen; In manual or guide-book for the
soldier was directed, in firing at an enemy 500
yards Off to aim l30 feet above him! so that hostile
armies, like gentlemanly duellists might perform
the ceremony of fighting by ''fring in the air.
upon the whole, as far we can make ont from
the figures before us, it seems that if soldier
armed with the old firelock placed at the bot
tom of Ludgate-hill the chances would be about
5O0 to ! against his hitting ST. PauI's
1t will, of course, be asked how, if this was the
case, the musket did any execution at ALL and
we suspect that, In point of fact it was almost
harmless, except at very close quarters, within
point blank range. When volleys were delivered
as occasionally happened, at pistol shot distance
the effect was fatal but otherwise the result of mus
kerry hre was perfectly insignificant and known to
be so: The reviewer reminds us that according To
military calculations, it took the weight of a man
In lead to Kill him in battle, meaning that so many
bullets would have been expended before one hit
the marx. AS more practical illustration of the
facts, 1t IS related that the French certainly fred
away 25,OOO0O0 cartridges in the Crimea whereas
1T is not so much imagined that they even hit
Zo,OOO Russians. We are much disposed indeed
10 oelleve that the musket, as employed up to the
present time, less deadly weapon than the
old English long-bow. Our ancestors were not used
to throw away 999 cloth-yard shafts out of 1000
ana Tor the simple reason that they were taught
not only to draw the bow, but to hit mark Look
at the contrast between the old archery practice Mt
"the butts" and the "baAk cartridge drill of mo-
dern days, where mans training consisted in his
heing taught to aim at nothing without bullet
What would have become of the old English infan-
try If archers had been merely shown how to draw
their bowstrngs to their right ears without any ar
rows or any mark to aim at?
1t but 100000 men could be now marched out in
England possessing as good a command of the rife
as their foretathers had of the bow we might laugh
at the very notion of invasion. There is not the
least reason why this should not to pass. Mr..
Whitford declares that he will make a rifle send
ball into the very muzzle of another rife at 500
yards distance, the exact counterpart of Robin
Hoods famous feat of sending one arrow into the
centre of target and then splitting it with another
than thar
for this species of excellence. We have the best
OF manufacturers, the best Of instruments, and
decided national turn for using them The com
mon excuse for poacher is, that a man can't keep
MS hands on gun, but sportsmen do not acquire
their proficiency by firing away powder without
shot. All we want is practice, and practice would
make even the old musket formidable At Bunk
er,s HILL the Americans were armed not with rifles
out with lowing pieces and the execution thew did
was owing merely to the system of making every
shot tell. Putnam told his men to fire at the Eng
lish as they would fire at ANYTHING thew wanted r.
Kill, and he anticipated with his practical sagscitv
the very principles Of our modern musketrv school
The aim was to be different according as the
Americans would distinguish the Wristbands the
faces, or the buttons of our advancing grenaders
and the consequence that we left more men
oetore the fatal breastwork than we had often lost
IN IN pltched battle Two very similar ilustra-
tions of the case occurred in India The artillery
OF the SIkhs, in their last war with us was sn
terribly effective and the sabres of their h0rsemen
lnhicted such dreadful wounds, that some curiosity
cured weapons of such unusual power. Upon in
curry 1t was found that the guns were old guns of
our own, patched up for use, and the swords
our own cavalry sabres. All that the Skbs had
done was to sharpen the latter carefully, keep
them In wooden instead of metal scabbards and
'hit hard" while, as to the cannon, they simply
took care to ascertain their range, and not throw
away shot
Ii the modern arms of precision enable us to send
one bullet in three, as appears to be calculated or
even one IN ten, to a given mark, war will indeed
be something tremendous; but such results are
somewhat prOblematcal. We know what has been
done by Americans with revolvers, and story told
the other day In our columns of the ROYAL Engineers
IN India furnished still more recent evidence on the
point before us. About 100 men of this CORPS were
surrounded IN one of the forts in the Dude county
by vast numbers OF the enemy. Each man had a
Lancaster rifle and GO rounds of ammunition which
was all expended. After the rebels had been re-
pulsed, 80 dead bodies were found under the walls
ard 1t was reasonably inferred that others as well
as the wounded, had been carried off. Perhaps we
may reckon that 300 shots told out of the six thou
sand, or one in twenty, which is a very high pro-
portion; but it must be observed that in this as in
most other OF the examples produced, the rife has
been used by troops posted behind the walls or
earthworks against assailants close outside
whether the same effects can be secured on large
scale and in the field of battle is another question
Heavy deductions, we suspect, must be made on
the score OF precipitation smoke and other obvious
lmpediments, but enough will remain after ALL to
change the aspect of modern warfare, as indeed
the essay of these in the Crimea and in India
has already proved.