90 
MINUTES OE PROCEEDINGS OE 
“ Result of ten rounds fired at Shoeburyness for tbe Inspector-General of 
Artillery, February 28, 1868, to test the 9-inch Woolwich muzzle-loading gun, 
fired at a moving target 5 ft. by 5 ft., distant 1000 yds. The detachment con¬ 
sisted of 1 officer and 18 men. Charge, 80 lbs.; common shell, of 250 lbs. 
Target moving at the rate of 3| miles an hour. Elevation 2° 4'— 
Fired in 
Round. Minutes. Seconds. 
1 . O O 
2 .. 1 17 
3 . 1 17 struck target. 
4 . 1 8 
5 . 1 10 
“ Target moving at the rate of 6 to 7 miles an hour. Elevation 2°— 
Fired in 
Round. Minutes. Seconds. 
1 . O O 
2 . 1 2 
3 . O 45 
4 . O 45 struck target. 
5 . O 30 
“ Every one of these rounds would have struck a ship’s launch.” 
'With. 12-inch 23-ton Woolwich muzzle-loading gun, firing 6001b. shell 
and 60 lb. charges, the result was:— 
“ Time of fire, rounds taken from * load ’ to c ready ’—• 
Fired in 
Round. Minutes. Seconds. 
1 . 1 40 
2 . 1 36 
3 . 1 25 
4 . 1 33 
5 . 1 25 
These results contrast remarkably with the following account by a writer 
in the “ Engineer ” newspaper, of the time occupied in opening and closing 
the breech arrangement of a Krupp breech-loading gun:—“On the 31st 
October, 1867, three men—being those in charge of the gun at Paris 1 — 
the writer caused to manoeuvre the breech-closing arrangements before him. 
The result of actual trial—the men being requested to do their utmost as to 
speed—was that it required a few seconds more than ten minutes to withdraw 
the closing arrangements and to get the gun open ready to receive a projectile 
and cartridge, and instantly to recommence the movements for closing the 
The great 60-ton “ Exhibition ” Erupp gun is tbe one here referred to. 
