The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1882-02-16


The Army and Navy Register says:
The attention of ordnance experts
Is being more and more turned TO
the lOO-tOn gun constructed for the
Italian government by General Ros-
set. This gun has now sustained
the remarkable test of having been
fired ia times. 1t throws a shot
weighing ton, has a range of TO-
900 yards at fifteen degrees eleva-
ton, for which effect charge of 4S5
pounds of powder is used. No
other .l00-ton gun has ever been
tested TO any such extent as this, and
General Rossets success is one which
may well challenge the attention of
the world. When 1t is considered
that General Rosset's system is per-
fectly simple, that it is also marvel
ously cheap, and that guns could be
built on this system in this country
at very short notice, il will be
seen that il is worthy of care
full study here. The Rosset
gun is a cast iron tube surrounded,
from its breech TO point in front
OF the space occupied by the shot,
with steel rings arranged III three
rows, one above the other. The fact
that the main casting of the gun IS
cast iron has properly been consid-
cred by the advocates of the use of
this material in heavy guns as the
most important fact in support of
their theory, but it is noteworthy,
and should not be overlooked for a
moment, that, while the total weight
of cast iron employed in the gun is
1O5,S22 pounds, the weight of the
steel rings is 1882 pounds, so that
there is actually more steel than
cast iron employed in the con-
struction of the gun. The thickness
Of the cast iron wall of the gun, on a
transverse section of the powder
chamber, is thirteen and a half
inches, while the thickness of the
steel outsida of the cast iron at this
point is ID 7-l0 inches. This
comparison again shows that the
inventor places as much reliance
upon steel as upon cast iron for the
strength and safety of the gun.
Other dimensions are: Total length,
80 feet; length of bore, 1913 inches
calibcr of bore, IL 71-1OO inches
twist of rifle grooves, in so cali
bers. 1t will be seen that the gun
is slightly chambered. The rifing
gives the shot about half a turn in
the length of the gun. A very good
point in the construction of the gun
is that the breech block, which is on
the French system, is made of cast
iron, which has been found to work
well. The steel employed in the
construction of the gun is of French
manufacture, the Italians, like our
selves, being unable to obtain in
their own country such steel as they
required for heavy gun construction.
1t is quite evident, however, that
there need be no difficulty in
obtaining steel rings, such
as are used in these
guns, Of requisite strength,
while it is extremely doubtful
whether solid masses of steel re-
quired for the construction of the
100-ton gun on any other system can
ever be manufactured. The Rosset
gun offers simple and attractive
compromise on which the advocates
of steel and cast iron Ill gun con-
struction may agree. 1t is true that
the Italian government has not yet
begun the construction of these
guns on any large scale, but the
success which General Rosset has
obtained, in our opinion, would
warrant this government in con-
structing a gun on this system, and
we wish that sufficient attention
might be turned to it to lead con-
gress to grant such authority at the
present session. A careful transla-
ton of all the latest data relative to
General Rosset's guns has been
made for the. use of the heavy ord
nance board, and the board will I'M
dOubtedly be warranted III making
favorable recommendation in its
report thereon.