New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-05-19
RIFLED CANNON-No. w.

The whtworth gun Is constructedupon the prin
ciple of reducing windage to the utmost minimum,
by mathematical fit of the shot TO the bore, and
doing away with what little may remain by the
effect of the lubricating composition. In this
respect it is inferior to Armstrong; gun, which
has no windage at ALL and this we consider its
principal defect. The polygonal bore, however,
would be impossible without this defect and at all
events it deserves to be acknowledged that with
such an originally defective system, such great
results have been obtained. Whitworth has I'M
doubedly brought to its highest perfection the sys-
tenn which gives hard, unyielding shot and allows
windage. His gun is immensely superior to the
rough empiricism of the French rifed ordnance.
But while Armstrong; gun, and other guns de-
pending on soft-coated shot to be forced into the
grooves by pressure, may beperfected ad infnitum,
WhtwOrth's gun will have no such future; it has
already attained the highest perfection compatible
with its fundamental principles.
TO recapitulate:
We find that at the practicable eler alton Of field
artillery, the best rihed guns known give range
but rery little superior to the old smooth. bored
gun. There is, however, some advantage, and
this remains an item in their favor But the great
advantages of rhed ordnance for feld-artilery are
these:
/. The same weight of shot can be projected
by gun having much smaller BORE and with a
much smaller chargethan with the old smooth-bored
gun, which was only fit for spherical shot. Conse-
4ha u,aiobf of fho ia rnnaidarahly
duced. The old l2-pOuDder had bore of about
d inches, and weighed lS cwt.; its charge was
four pounds of powder. The new 12-pounder has
bore of about 81 inches, OF nearly that of the old
9-pOunder; its weight, cwt.; charge, from Il to II
pounds. The French new 12-pounders, whit old
4-pounders bore, are stilllighter isanimmense
advantage. 1t gives to the feld-gun mobility
hitherto unknown, and renders it almost as fit to
go over any ground as infantry. More than four
horses to gun will henceforth be useless.
9. At the distances hitherto practicable forfeld-
artillery, it gives far greater chance of hitting; it
lowers the trajectory, and reduces to minimum
both lateral and longitudinal reflections. At an
exchange of round shot and shells with percussion
fuses, rihed battery will always beat a smooth
bored one of equal weight of shot.
As to heavy ordnance, it will be all-pOwerful
against stone walls, especially by shell-practice
with percussion fuses. This has already been proved
by experiment, both in France and Germany. 1t
will give ships and siege batteries chance of bonn
harding towns at distances from 1900 to 5000
yards. In every other respect it will not alter
materially the hitherto existing relations of besiee
ers and beseged and of ships against batteries on
shore.
On the other hand the disadvantages of rihed
ordnance are:
|. The common case-shot becomes either impos-
sbe or ineffective from the irregular line of flight
impaired to the balls by the spiral rotation.
g. Firing with shell with time-fuses (and shrap-
nell shot with ditto) becomes almost impractical
bic, as the absence or reduction of windage pre-
vents the flame Of the explosion from communi-
eating with the fuse which necessarily must be at
the point of the oblong shot.
In spite of these drawbacks, rfed ordnance has
now become matter of necessity for every army.
The question now is only, how these drawbacks
can be obviated. That they will be so there can
be no doubt. But il is certain that the same rules
obtain in rifed ordnance which regulate the con-
,truction and use of rifed small arms. The exag.
gerated ideas of fvemle ranges in the one are as
ridiculous as the notion of hitting man with the
new rifles at goo or 900 yards andsti the adyan-
ages given by rifed bOres in either case, are so
great that it is imperative upon every army which
may ever be called upon to fight with civilized
foes, to do away with all smooth-bored barrels,
both in small arms and artillery.