150 EXPERIMENTS WITH RIFLE-BALLS. 



Equerry to his Royal Highness Prince Albert, and 

 numerous scientific gentlemen, assembled in the Marshes 

 at Woolwich yesterday to witness experiments with a 

 rifle-ball one ounce and three quarters in weight formed 

 in the shape of a sugar-loaf, which was found to carry 

 1,200 yards with decided effect, as at that distance it 

 perforated a target of wood two inches thick, and some of 

 the balls were dug out of the ground from a depth of 

 several inches, after having passed through the target. 

 Mr. Lancaster, and his son, from previous experiments, had 

 ascertained that the formation of a ball of the same shape 

 as a sugar-loaf gave it a great advantage over balls of a 

 spherical form, as it requires less windage than a circular 

 ball, which loses a great part of its force by revolving on 

 its own axis during its progressive motion. This was 

 clearly illustrated during the experiments carried on 

 yesterday by Mr. Lancaster, jun., who at 1,200 yards 

 distance, not only demonstrated that he conld carry his 

 balls from a rifle more than four calibres less in bore than 

 the common musket, but also that the velocity was so 

 great that the sugar-loaf shaped ball perforated a two-inch 

 board and sank into the earth of the mound without in the 

 least degree altering its shape, merely showing a very 

 small fluted abrasion on its tapering part, made by the 

 different degrees of hardness in the grain of the wood. 

 The day was very unfavourable for experiments with balls 

 at long ranges, owing to the strong breeze which prevailed, 

 but the result exceeded the most sanguine expectations of 

 those present, and surprised many, who had before con- 

 sidered what was accomplished to be impracticable. Fifty- 

 seven rounds were fired during the experiments, several of 



