THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
91 
breech again, without waiting a moment, and restore all to place. If we 
add, then, to the above, three or four minutes more for getting into place 
through the breech cavity the ponderous and thus awkward-to-handle pro¬ 
jectile, and the powder cartridge, we shall not be far wrong in saying that 
four rounds an hour would be about the best practice that could be expected 
from this gun; and we think we shall not exaggerate in saying that at least 
double that number might be loaded and fired from the same length and 
calibre of gun, if muzzle-loading. There are no less than eleven distinct 
movements and adjustments to be gone through or made merely to open and 
close the breech, and half as many more, about, to insert the projectile and 
charge. It, of course, might possibly be urged that the three men who 
manoeuvred the gun on 31st October were not trained gunners; that was 
possibly so, but they were trained mechanics, and knew all the parts they 
handled perfectly/” 1 
These facts establish that both with heavy and light muzzle-loading guns 
a rate of fire has been attained equal, if not superior, to the rapidity yet 
accomplished with breech-loading guns of corresponding calibre. It is 
evidently safer, in dealing with questions of this sort, to adopt a system 
precisely the reverse of Captain von Doppelmair's, and to dissolve, if 
possible, theories in facts. 2 
It is a relief, after so much special pleading, to find Captain von 
Doppelmair admitting that, as regards the handling of the guns and pro¬ 
jectiles and the training of the gunners, “ the preference is due to the 
Woolwich system,” 3 and that “the breech-piece of the breech-loading gun 
requires careful handling, preservation from rust, strict training of the gunners, 
and in certain cases consideration and full knowledge of the movable apparatus 
of the breech-piece. The lead-coated projectiles require to be more carefully 
dealt with, and, under some circumstances, to be more carefully stowed than 
shot with bronze studs. On board ship the shot must be well stowed, in 
order that the lead jacket may not suffer. The more careful training of the 
gunners, called for by guns on the breech-loading system, will take time, 
especially in the case of seamen-gunners, who have to be taught their duties 
1 “Engineer,” April 3, 1868. 
2 It is worth while remarking that, having on purely theoretical grounds established that the 
Krupp gun can be fired more rapidly than the English gun, Captain von Doppelmair proceeds, by 
way of adjusting his facts to his theories, to state that the difficulties of muzzle-loading have obliged 
English artillerists to adopt various devices to overcome them. Thus we are told that “ costly 
turntables ‘have been introduced’ for greater convenience of loading ” (p. 61), and that it has been 
found necessary to place the studs nearer the centre of gravity, and to experiment with a view to 
the introduction of one row of studs, for the same reason (p. 61). If this were so, the argument 
could not be admitted as against the system of muzzle-loading, abstractedly. It is no reproach to 
a system that those who employ it have recourse to various minor alterations with a view to 
its improvement. Still less is it a reproach when those minor alterations are distinctly advan¬ 
tageous in other ways. In reality, however, the arguments in favour of turntables and the single 
row of studs rest upon other considerations. The turntables wholly withdraw the men from the 
enemy’s fire, and their use will assuredly not be limited to muzzle-loading guns. The single row 
of studs has been proposed on grounds quite independent of facility of loading—such as the greater 
length of shot-chamber which can be left unrifled, and the convenience which may attend the use 
of projectiles which can be fired in guns having'different twists of rifling. 
3 Doppelmair, p. 56. 
