The sun., 1894-12-28
SOME VIEW ORDNANCE WoHK.
au- Cottor a-s E--e-sits ~ gheiir-Fntsr-
erttne Erperfuenta.

WARRINGTON, Dec. 27.-There is good ground
10 expect that both the army and the navy VIII
before long make considerable advances in the
use of high explosives as the bursting charges Of
shells thrown from ordinary powder guns. In
deed. the confidence felt in securing such results
is doubtless At the bottom Of much Of the indif-
ference manifested toward pneumatic guns. Ad-
verse reports, as Is known, have been made by the
Ordnance Bureau on such guns in the vesuvius,
while Secretary Lamont, In referring TO those
which are mounted at Sandy Hook. and are to
bemounted at san Francisco remarks that, " In
view Of pending promising experiments with
powder gun for firing high explosives, further
purchases are not recommended"
The experiments thus alluded TO presumably
take in the safe firing Of two 7IS-pound charges
of emmensite in 7-inch shells from an Ames
rifed gun with 25-pound powder charges and
two other charges, one exceeding 1Oe and the
other nearly Ill pounds, from the 12-inch
mortar with 30 pounds OF powder each. The
two smaller charges showed what could be done
safely with powder gan at point blank range
the oak target being about fifty yards distant
The target was perforated without explosion.
But 1t has never been question that very
small charges could thus be fired safely where
the expelling charge of powder was also very
small Hence more interest attaches TO the two
rounds from the big mortar, with their very
heavy charges. Here, also the expelling or
Sivs shargs was small hn, eut II was sufficient
the pneumatic gun is essentially one of high
angle fire. SO that it resembles the mortar in
In the earth without explosion.
1t may be suggested that this failure TO explode
the bad quality Of the emmenste. But on using
dry gun cotton and illuminate Of mercury as q
detonator, and an electric primer, q shell
containing six rounds OF the emmensite was
promptly exploded,sh showing that IL was effective,
these Oe Sy tS shock
will be the important one of converting ono OF
the old 15-lnch smooth bores into a rife, and
firing from 1t ten Cast-steel shell, each capable
of carrying 200 pounds Of emmensite and wet
gun cotton. 1t is believed that these enormous
charges may be safely fired. and. II this turns
out to be the case. not only will q great step be
taken toward solving the high-explosive. prob
suggested for the big smooth bores. NV
The navy has fired from the 6-inch gun 80
pound shells containing each about ! pounds of
gun. cotton primers and detonators. They eI-
ploded with tremendous violence in the side of q
when fired against a 7-inch plate. On lncreas-
ing tAe charge, so as to give about 800 feet per
gun cotton shells exploded in the bore. It was
found. however, that the trouble was that the
walls Of the shell. being less than third of an
inch thick, had bulRed under the pressure, and
checked It's course sufficiently to cause the
primer and cap to fly forward prematurely. But
gun and with shell manufactured for II, to con-
tain about 20 pounds of gun cotton. No doubt
Is entertained as to the feasibility of firing such
shells with 100 feet OF muzzle velocity. and in
that case a long step will have been taken toward
using such guns In service.
One OF the most important steps to be taken
by the navy during the coming year will be the
selection of small arm. The first trial for this
purpose was certainly rather discouraging,
but, fortunately, after IL ended. hopes were
aroused again by the excellent performance Of
the Luger gun In a supplementary test, and It is
thought that this may prove the winning rife at
the next trial, in March.
The Navy Department IL likely to make i'm
portant experiments in the of smokeless
powder for heavy guns. The foreign powders
of this sort have not given satisfactory results,
and recently quantity OF powder for the 0-inch
gun. made by the naval factory at Newport was
taken to Indian Head for testing.
IL is thought probable that one result of tho
battle of the Iau River In other lands will be
to stimulate reliance upon rapid fire guns
and especially to cause rapid-f1re mounts to be
given to guns OF rs large a calibre as possible.
While the value Of the Japanese rapid-hre guns
was conceded, yet the striking work Of the
heavier guns when they were well aimed was no
less feature OF the contest. The larger the
calihres the less rapidly. of course, they can be
fred but there is no doubt that the practical
lesson impressed upon ordnance officers by that
action Is the value OF rapid fire guns, especially
when directed against the unarmored portions
of vessels