610 TRANSACTION'S OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



Watch Hill, R. L, J^ovemher 1, 1860, 

 " The Board say : It has been urged as an objection to this 

 kind of projectile, that the packing separates from it, on its leav- 

 ing the bore, and scatters fragments which may prove hurtful to 

 men in front or near by the guns. The observations of the Board, 

 on this point, lead them to the conclusion that there is no more 

 force in this objection than will apply, for the same reason, to 

 the sabots of fixed ammunition, or the junk wads of heavy can- 

 non." 



The board then gives particulars of range, penetration, and 

 accuracy, of the most important of which the following is a sum- 

 mary : 



"For experimenting with the 42-pounder sea-coast iron gun of 

 the service pattern, a target had been constructed of well sea- 

 soned, very hard white oak timber, which was firmly held toge- 

 ther by means of four horizontal straps of oak, six inches thick, 

 two in front and two in rear, through which passed twenty \\ 

 inch iron bolts, and placed two thousand yards, or nearly one and 

 one-seventh miles distant from the battery. 



" The penetrations of the shot, weighing 82 pounds, with pow- 

 der charge of only eight pounds, into this butt of oak, were 33, 

 39, 44, and 45 inches respectively, and passing entirely through 

 the target, and in some instances continuing their flight one hun- 

 dred and fifty yards beyond. The last shot thrown with the 42- 

 pounder gun, as it appears by the report, weighed 82| pounds, 

 with powder charge of one-half the ordinary service charge, and 

 at an elevation of only fifteen degrees, struck in its first graze 

 4,374 yards, or over two and a half miles distant, and with a deflec- 

 tion of only twenty-four inches to the left of true line aimecJ at." 



The report' concludes : 



" Prom all their experiments and examinations, the Board feel 

 fully justified in ofiering the following remarks in regard to Gen. 

 James' plan for rifled cannon and projectiles : 



" It is admirably adaptable to the various calibres of guns now 

 in use, requiring only that they be rifled (which can be readily 

 done without even removing them from the forts and arsenals 

 where they now are,) and supplied with a proper proportion of 

 the rifled projectiles. Beside the advantages thus to be attained, 

 of converting our smooth-bored into rifled cannon, the weight of 

 metal which each will then throw, without an increase of the 

 powder charge, and with more accuracy and eflectiveness, and of 



