432 



REPORT 1869. 



claimed for the flat-fronted projectiles made of my metal, and satisfactorily 

 prove : — (1) That the flat-fronted form is capable of piercing armour-plates 

 at extreme angles ; (2) that the quality of the material of the shells enables 



No. 5. 



Pointed Solid Shot, 



3^ diams. 



No. 6. 



Pointed Solid Shot, 



2^ diams. 



'.; :'^>T. 



No. 5 was made of " Whitworth" Metal; No. 6 of Pontypool White Iron. 



their length to be increased, without any risk of their breaking up on 

 impact, and materially augments their bursting- charge as shells ; (3) that 

 this increase in length, while adding to the efflciency of the projectile as a 

 shell, in no way diminishes, bat, on the contrary, proportionally improves its 

 penetrative power ; (4) that the amount of rotation I have adopted in my 

 system of rifling is sufficient to ensure the long projectiles striking "end on," 

 and consequently to accumulate the whole effect of the mass on the reduced 

 area of the flat front. 



These experiments show, further, that the ogival-pointed projectile has but 

 small power of penetration when striking at an angle, solely on account of 

 the form of the head ; a projectile of " Whitworth " metal, with the like 

 ogival-pointed head, as a service projectile, having resisted the shock of impact 

 without breaking up, but being deflected in precisely the same manner as the 

 pointed service projectile, which was shivered into fragments. The objections 

 I made in my paper last year to the ogival-pointed projectile — (1) that its 

 form of head causes it to glance off' from plane or convex surfaces when 

 hitting diagonally ; and (2) that the brittleuess of its material renders it 

 liable to break up on impact — I have now proved to the Section. The facts 

 illustrated by these experiments are not of recent discovery. Ever since 1858 

 I have constantly been advocating the flat front. I have on the table a small 

 plate I inch thick, experimented upon in 1862 with hardened steel bullets 

 fired from my small-bore rifle. No. 39 is the hole made by a flat-fronted 

 bullet, M'hich has penetrated the plate at an angle of 45 degrees. No. 40 is 

 the indent of a hemispherical-headed, and No. 41 of an ordinarj' round- 

 nosed bullet, both fired at the same angle of 45 degrees. These three rounds 

 were fired in 1862. 



Within the last few days I have had an ogival-pointed shaped bullet fired 

 at the same plate at the same angle, in order to confirm the effect with that 

 produced, on a larger scale, on the plate No. 6. It is interesting to observe how 

 closely the results obtained with the small calibre of my rifle agree with those 

 of the 3-pounder gun, which form the subject of this paper. Those experiments 



