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MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF 
(5) Convenience for removing any obstruction from the bore, and of 
ascertaining its interior condition by being able to look through from end 
to end. 
(6) Convenience of being able to move the guns ready loaded if special 
circumstances render it desirable to do so. 
(7) Convenience for firing at angles of considerable depression. 
On the other hand the following disadvantages are alleged :— 
First, as to the gun and its service. 
(1) The breech-closing apparatus is liable to get unfit for use in various 
ways, such as: by the fracture of the vent-piece; by the breech screw 
becoming jammed (which may be caused by rust, by grit, by an accidental 
blow on the screw-threads); or by the copper facings at the junction of the 
vent-piece and powder-chamber losing the evenness of surface necessary for 
preventing the escape of gas. 
(2) In the excitement of action, or by careless service, the gun may be 
fired when the breech-screw is not fully screwed up, in which case the vent- 
piece may be blown out, and at any rate the result of the shot spoilt. 
(3) The number of separable parts, and the delicacy of adjustment they 
require for effective use, entail the occasional employment of skilled artificers, 
and an unremitting care on the part of the gunners, which, in the vicissi¬ 
tudes of a campaign, might not always be forthcoming. 
(4) Some of the parts essential to the gun's working, such as the lever 
handle of the screw, and the breech-screw itself when the vent-piece is 
withdrawn for loading, project in a manner which renders the gun in some 
degree more likely to be hit and disabled in action. 
Secondly, as to the ammunition. 
(5) The detonating composition which is necessarily used in the time 
fuzes is liable to deteriorate, and the fuzes, if not spoilt are made uncertain 
in their action. 
(6) The mode of action of the time fuzes is so difficult to understand 
and to apply, that many of the gunners are unable to thoroughly acquire it. 
(7) The lead coating of the projectiles is liable to strip when the gun is 
fired if the original fixing is not in perfectly good order, or if there is no 
lubrication used; and if any saline liquid finds its way between the lead 
and the iron, a deleterious voltaic action is excited. 
(8) The lead coating is easily injured by travelling, if loosely packed, 
and by being accidentally struck or dropped. If it loses its form by 
bulging at the base, or by getting deeply scratched, it will not enter the 
gun until its irregularity of form and surface are removed* 
