896 lewis' AMERICAN SPORTSMAN". 



judgment, in reference to small fire-arms of unequal strength 

 and weight of metal. 



Commodore Stockton also shows most conclusively that the 

 greatest internal pressure at the moment of the discharge, is at 

 that part of the gun occupied by the powder. 



Although the facts elicited from these interesting and highly 

 instructive experiments are very conclusive, so far as they have 

 reference to large guns of 100 lbs. weight or more, and of lilce di- 

 mensions throughout their entire length, they do not certainly prove 

 anything, as before remarked, either pro or con, as to the old 

 theory respecting small fire-arms; we are consequently forced 

 to adhere to the old doctrine of explosion, and still believe that 

 a shot-gun is more apt to burst with a wad or a ball far up the 

 barrel, than if pushed home upon the shot or powder. This 

 phenomenon we can account for in a way quite satisfactory, at 

 least to our mind, by supposing that when the powder is ignited, 

 and the expansive fluid generated by this inflammation is set in 

 motion, and, striving to overcome the resistance offered by the 

 sides of the barrel that inclose it, rushes forwards up the barrel 

 with a certain degree of impetuosity inherent within itself, and 

 without having any positive obstruction in its way to arrest its 

 onward course, till it meets with the barrier opposed to its exit, 

 in the shape of a wad, ball, mud, snow, or some other article 

 that might be lodged in the barrel either by design or accident; 

 this sudden check to its wild career creates a momentary but 

 yet a partial pause in its course, and consequently gives rise to 

 an increased lateral pressure at this point in the barrels, which 

 are much thinner the further we go towards the muzzle, and 

 consequently unlike the heavy breech are unable to withstand 

 this unequal and sudden shock, and therefore must give way. 

 And thus we may say — that bursting under these circumstances 

 arises from the sudden condensation and accumulation of the 

 elastic fluid behind the object offering the resistance, and pre- 

 venting the free exit of the charge from the gun. 



Why the same result was not obtained in the case of larger 

 fire-arms, and why the experiments of Commodore Stockton 

 should be diametrically opposed to this theory, we can't per- 

 haps satisfactorily explain, as we have no opportunities of 

 making any practical observations upon the subject; we there- 



