276 
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF 
Thus the Martini-Henry bullet has more than half as much power 
again to overcome the resistance of the air than that of the Snider- 
Enfield, and consequently does not lose its velocity so quickly; 
whereas, the weight of bullet to be carried is the same. 
One of the chief reasons of the superiority of the French musketry 
over that of the Prussians in the present war has been their quickness 
to discover the advantages possessed by a small bore over a large bore 
for small-arms; although unhappily for them their foresight did not 
extend to their field artillery. The Chassepot has a bore of about *44 in. 
in diameter and fires a 380 gr. bullet. Comparing this with the Martini- 
Henry, we have 
w _ *05428 
d 2 ~~ (-44)2 
= *0280 
i.e., the power of the Martini-Henry is to that of the Chassepot as 339 
to 280. 
Here, it may be said is an instance of a larger bore *45 in. beating 
a smaller one *44 in., in power &c. To which I reply, it is not, small 
bores as small bores that I advocate, but the proper relation of the 
weight of the projectile to the square of its diameter. Much controversy 
has arisen between the advocates of large bores and small bores, as well 
as between the advocates of breech-loading and muzzle-loading’, from 
not distinguishing between things that differ, and not considering that 
these questions are only means to an end , but are not the end itself, which 
of course is the greatest efficiency possible under existing circumstances. 
For instance, the “ Times ” correspondent writes “ those miserable 
French mazzle-loaders,” and is ready to indulge in an invective at 
what he is pleased to call “ Woolwich-ism 33 —apparently not knowing 
that at present we have muzzle-loading guns at least equal to any 
breech-loader that could be brought against us. 
But to return, it has been suggested that a 380 gr. bullet would be 
heavy enough to fire from the Martini-Henry rifle, i.e., a bullet 100 grs. 
lighter than the present one. No doubt the soldier would be able to 
carry a few more rounds into action ; but firing that weight of bullet 
out of the same bore as the Martini-Henry would make the rifle inferior 
in power to the Chassepot; so that now is the time before the rifle is 
definitely introduced into the service to settle absolutely the weight of 
the bullet that should be carried, taking all things into consideration; 
for any decrease from the present weight will decrease the power of the 
rifle. To make it of corresponding power with the reduced weight of 
the bullet, the diameter of the bore must be reduced proportionally. 
The grand maxim to remember is this; that the weight of the projectile 
must be absolutely fixed upon, before a sound basis of construction can 
be found in order to obtain the greatest power out of any gun or rifle. 
Any deviation from this rule, i.e., any attempt to make a gun shoot a 
particular projectile must always be attended with loss of power. The 
mistake of adopting a rifled small-arm of comparatively large bore has 
already necessitated, the introduction of a new arm. 
Table II. shows the comparative velocities of the Martini-Henry, 
Chassepot, Snider and needle gun, from which it may be seen how the 
