MODERN GUNPOWDER AND CORDITE. 
279 
Cordite. 
C Nitro-Glycerine, 5 8. 
Cordite. < Gun-cotton, ... 87. 
Mineral Jelly, 5. 
Comparative Table showing dimensions of Cordite at present used . 
Used in 
•303 Rifle 
laPUB.L. 
147 Q„F, 
I g Q,F. 
//Size 
*0375 ' .. 
• 05 ™*s***^^ 
• 10 0 
*20 
•30 ll i il«|iH I|iii ln ilill l|l iii i l i l l i l l illliii>l l l lliiii i l i i >li i m ill II III' 
The thicker cordite, size 20 and upwards, is cut into lengths of 14 
inches, and used in bundles of the required weight for the charge. 
Cordite for Field guns is 11 inches long, and the S.A. rifle charge is 
made up of 60 strands, or threads of suitable length for the cartridge. 
We have now examined the outlines of the methods employed in the 
manufacture of modern powders, and some of the processes which have 
been adopted to render them reliable propellants with the various guns 
in our service. The next step, or rather leap, in this manufacture 
to be considered, is the introduction of smokeless propellants. We 
are all aware how, for many years, this has been the ambition of the 
artillerist and the study of the chemist. It is hardly necessary to 
remind Officers of the Royal Artillery of the failures in this direction, 
which, for more than three decades, frustrated the efforts of those who 
tried to obtain a smokeless powder for rifled guns and small arms. 
Gun-cotton in every form, picric acid in various conditions, and many 
tri-nitro and di-nitro compounds were experimented with, confidently 
at first, then hopefully, and apparently finally abandoned in the face 
of what seemed to be insurmountable difficulties. At last, however, a 
sudden impetus was given to the whole question, about seven years 
ago, by recent discoveries in chemistry, and by the supreme importance 
which the introduction of quick-firing guns and magazine rifles gave 
to the production of a powder which would not, by its smoke, utterly 
neutralise the benefits to be obtained by rapidity of fire. Most of us 
Cordite, 
