274 
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF 
Table 
SHOWING- THE VARIATIONS IN WINDAGE OP GUNS AT VARIOUS PERIODS. 
Periods. 
Windage of field guns. 
in. 
England. Charles I. 
0-25 
England. End of 18th Century. 
0-2 
English smooth-bores of present day. 
0-1 
Armstrong rifled guns . 
o-o 
The windage of smooth-bore guns may roughly he taken as a measure of 
their accuracy, the less the windage, the greater being the accuracy. 
Table 
SHOWING THE VARIATION IN THE CHARGES OP POWDER USED AT VARIOUS PERIODS . 1 
Period. 
12-pr. 
9-pr. 
8-pr. 
6-pr. 
5-pr. 
4-pr. 
lbs. 
lbs. 
lbs. 
lbs. 
lbs. 
lbs. 
Charles I. 
7 
4 
De Yafli&re, 1732 . 
4*5 
... 
3-5 
... 
... 
2 
Gribeauval, 1760. 
4 
... 
2*6 
... 
... 
2 
English smooth-bores of present day . 
4 
2-5 
... 
1*5 
Armstrong rifled guns . 
1-5 
1*5 
... 
•75 
The charges used in Charles I st time are taken from the “ Gunner’s 
Glasse,” by William Eldred, master gunner at Dover, 1646. When he 
wrote, “ corn ” powder had taken the place of “ serpentine ” (i.e. non- 
granulated) powder; the former of which he says was “ twice as strong ” 
as the latter. It may therefore be concluded that the charges of powder 
used before his time were much larger than those given above. 
I shall now compare an extract from Eldred's “ Table of Bandoms” with 
the modern range tables. 
1 “ The corning or granulating of gunpowder dates from this period, 1607, but as late as 1750 
the proportions and method of manufacture were very defective, and the combustion comparatively 
slow and gradual.” 
In early times the powder was “ about as effective as a common squib of the present day. 
and it is not too much to say that the composition which we understand by that name dates only 
from” 1815, when Sir W. Congreve patented his new mode of manufacture.—Mr H. Latham on 
early breech-loaders. Journal of the United Service Institution. Yol. IX. No. 34. 
