are packed together in regular layers, as is liable to occur 

 with certain sizes of shot. It is certain that there is some- 

 times a tendency for the choke barrel to give lower 

 striking velocities at, say, 30 yards from the cylinder, this 

 being probably due to the deformation of the shot in 

 passing the choke, so that they experience greater 

 resistance in their Hight through the air. 



It seems reasonable to suppose that the striking 

 velocities at various ranges will depend a good deal on 

 the distribution of velocity amongst the pellets as they 

 leave the muzzle. In a choke bore, for instance, a certain 

 number of shot start with a higher velocity than the main 

 body, and are still in front at 1 yards, although, being 

 unsheltered they have lo^ velocity more rapidly and are 

 adlually travelling slower than those behind ; at 20 

 yards the main body has probably overtaken those which 

 Parted fir^; whilst at 30 yards the shots that were in 

 front at 20 yards are probably not the fir^ to ^rike. We 

 are thus not dealing with the loss of velocity of a single 

 projedile, so that the Bashforth tables do not apply to the 

 velocity of the front of the charge, nor, owing to the 

 deformation from the spherical form, to any single pellet. 



As an example of this it is found that in certain guns 

 the shot from the choke barrels lose velocity more rapidly 

 than those from the cylinder, whil^ in other guns the 

 contrary is the case. It therefore seems hopeless to lay 

 down any hard and fa^ relation between the striking 

 velocities at various di^ances. 



The following are the records of some of the (Kynoch) 

 experiments which have been made on this subje<5t. 

 Three different guns were used. 



53 



