540 
OKEHAMPTON EXPERIMENTS, 
Against column formations, when the range is known, both natures appear 
to be equally efficient. 
The time shell has the advantage when firing at batteries or troops retired 
behind the crest of a hill. 
The effect, however, of time shrapnel, depends greatly on the accuracy 
with which, when firing at objects in motion, the varying distances are 
estimated; the care and judgment in boring the fuzes to correspond with 
these conditions; and the capability of observing the value of each shell, as 
regards height and distance of the point of burst from the object. 
On the other hand, the extreme simplicity of the service of percussion 
shells, and the valuable aid they offered in readily picking up and varying the 
range, are advantages that cannot be over-estimated, and render a projectile 
of this nature especially valuable for use in the excitement and heat of action. 
The chief disadvantage in the employment of percussion shells arises from 
the uncertainty due to the nature and formation of the ground on which the 
shell may graze, and the possibility of its proper action being altogether 
nullified or seriously interfered with. 
Moreover, the limit of error is much greater with a time than with a 
percussion shell; the former being effective at ordinary ranges if burst within 
150, or even, in the case of the 16-pr., 200 yds. of the front of a body of 
troops, whereas the latter must burst either within a short distance of the 
front of an object, or on the head of a column, to ensure proper effect. 
As regards the value of the different projectiles under trial at Okehampton, 
the Committee consider— 
Time Shrapnel. —1st. That boxer-shrapnel, as a time shell, may be considered 
as thoroughly efficient. 
Percussion Shrapnel. —2nd. Boxer-shrapnel, being designed specially for 
bursting in the air, is not calculated to afford the best results 
as a percussion shell; in fact, its use as such is opposed to 
the principle on which it is constructed. 
Still, the results of the Okehampton experiments shew that these pro¬ 
jectiles, when burst under proper conditions, are very destructive, and that 
they may be safely relied on until some other percussion shell, less expensive 
and equally efficient, has been produced. 
It will be observed by the Reports that a small percentage of these shells, 
notwithstanding every care taken in the manufacture, still break up pre¬ 
maturely, but the number has apparently been reduced to a minimum, and 
as the defect is likewise observable in the common shell, which is of much 
stronger construction, the Committee fear that the occasional breaking up of a 
shell must, at present, be accepted as one of those contingencies against 
which it is impossible at all times to guard. 
Nature of shell. 
9-pounder. 
16-pounder. 
Number 
fired. 
Premature. 
Number 
fired. 
Premature. 
Shrapnel .. 
680 
1 
565 
2 
Common . 
84 
1 
154 
3 
Water . 
132 
0 
200 
2 
