llB Observations on the 



186.31, which all experience has proved to produce a very 

 steady recoil: in fact, the ratio of the ball of 32 pounds to the 

 weight of the present gun of that nature, is less by only six 

 times the weight of the shot. 



But a question now arises of great importance. Are we to 

 lay aside all the ordnance of the calibre of 32 pounds, merely 

 to introduce that of 38 pounds, and thus entail a great loss on 

 the country ? We answer, no ! The present 32-pounder gun 

 of 9j feet long, and 56 cwt, if rebored or reemed out to the 

 calibre of 38 pounds, would still weigh 55.12 cwt., or 162.55 

 times its new shot, which is very nearly the ratio between the 

 weight of the brass 42-pounder of the Royal George, and its 

 shot. The 32-pounder gun of 8J feet and 49i cwt., might 

 similarly be adapted to the calibre of 38 pounds, with a loss of 

 only 81 lbs. of metal, which would reduce its weight to 142.28 

 times that of the ball, or nearly the ratio subsisting between 

 the old iron 42-pounder of 55 cwt., and its shot, and which 

 used to be fired with charges of half, two-thirds, or even three- 

 fourths the weight of the shot, instead of the present lower 

 charge of one-third the weight of the shot. This modification 

 would cause but a very slight decrease of thickness of metal in 

 these two guns ; for the diameter of a 38 pound ball is 6.465 

 inches, and if we add to this the windage now adopted for all 

 calibres of heavy ordnance above 12-pounders, viz., .15 of an 

 inch, we have 6.615 for the diameter of the bore of a 38-pounder 

 gun. Now the diameter of a 32-pounder shot is 6.105 inches, 

 and with the common windage to which these guns are con- 

 structed, we shall have 6.41 inches for the calibre of the present 

 32-pounder gun : hence this gun can be reemed out for a 

 •38-pounder, with an increase of calibre of .205 of an inch, or a 

 decrease in thickness of metal of .102 of an inch ; a quan- 

 tity too trivial to excite the slightest apprehension of bursting*. 



* In reeming out the 32-poimder for our purpose, the part of the bore 

 about the charge might be left as it is, and thus preserve the original 

 thickness of metal. The enlarged part of the bore being carried into it in 

 the surface of a hollow conical frustum, so that the shot being forced 

 into it would always have its centre in the axis of the bore, — an advantage 

 'too obvious to be insisted upon. This idea we owe to M. Gomer, a 

 French artillery officer of distinction, about the middle of the last century ; 

 and M. Paixhans has availed himself of it in a similar manner, as we 

 jnay see in his " Nouvelle Force Maritime." - 



