The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-04-11
Big Guns.

WASHINGTON, April 20.-The army forti-
ficatiOn board, which has been holding ses-
sions at the war department during the
winter, has drawn up a set of rules to
govern the tests of experimental guns.
The act creating the board provides that
it shall prescribe the dimensions and
method of testing guns of ten or twelve
inches calibre; that it may be submitted by
| private parties, and if any gun offered shall
fulfill the requirements as to accuracy,
range, power, endurance and effectiveness,
| the gun and ammunition (Which is to be fur
nished with the the gum shall be paid for
at fair valuation, including the cost of
| transportation. \ contract is also to be
made, at reasonable prices, with the party
presenting the best of such guns for fur
Their supply. The board has accordingly
| forwarded the following conditions,
which have been approved by the
secretary of war: The l0-inch gun shall
| be about thirty tons OOng) in
weight the length 34-calibres measure
from the face of the obturator to the face of
the muzzle. 1t is desirable that truniOns
shall be u inches in diameter and the dis
| lance between the rim bases - inches. In
order to avoid the necessity of special car
rage power, there must be a muzzle energy
of not less than 1,50O-foot tons. The range
shall, for twenty degrees elevation, be
1860 yards, and corresponding ranges
shall be obtained with lower elevations
Requirements as to accuracy are that %
per cent. of the shot shall strike within
vertical rectangle IA feet by foot at 1,500
yards range, and within horizontal rec
tangle of 1875 yards by 80 yards at 10000
yards range. The endurance test shall not
be less than 300 rounds with full charges.
After $50 or more rounds may have been
fired, the gun may be lined totally
or in part, when at least fifty
rounds more will be fired to fully test
the strength of construction. After
this, the general sOundness and efficiency
of the gun should not be materially i'm
paired, except so far as it may have resulted
from erosion.
Should any material modification of
construction be made during the trial, at
least fifty rounds with full charges shall be
fired thereafter. The weight of the pro-
jectiles to be used with full charges shall
be about five hundred and seventy five
pounds. Three hundred rounds of am
munition shall be the proper amount to be
supplied with each gun for test
as proof of the general efficiency.
The breech mechanism should work freely,
and be convenient for operating. The open
ing and closing of the breech to be per-
formed without great difficulty by one man.
Projectiles shall admit of being readily
handled, inserted and centred in the bore,
and not be subject to injury or reformation
either in handling or transportation.
Rapidly of fire of fifteen rounds per
hour shall be obtainable, using such appli-
ances for loading as are employed by the
ordnance department of the United States
army. Repairs allowable during the entire
trial of the gun, exclusive of the insertion
of the lining tube, will be confined to re-
pairing or renewing the parts injured dur
ing the trial. No alterations that may af
feet the general construction of any part.
will be made without the sanction of the
board. For the 12-inch gun, the weight is
to be about fifty-two tons; bore 34-calibres
long, and it is desired that the trunions be
II inches in diameter and 1913 inches be-
tween rim bases.
2The power is to be not less than $4,000
foot tons; range 14,700 yards at twenty
degrees elevation that accuracy shall be
the same as for 10-inch guns; endurance
not less than $50 rounds dining may be il.
serted after 200 rounds; y weight of proiectile
about one thousand pounds, and other con-
ditiOns are to be the same as in the case of
10-inch guns, except that fire of ten rounds
per hour shall be attainable. Experimental
guns should be submitted for test as soon
as practicable and within three years from
date.
1t IS not considered practicable for the
board to determine at this time what Will be
a fair valuation of an experimental gun
which shall have fulfilled the requirements
prescribed, nor what they shall be, but be
reasonable for further supply of similar
guns. 1t is believed to be better on all ac-
counts to leave these questions for deter
mination after the actual cost and value OF
such guns can be known. 1t is understood,