278 
MEPPEN EXPERIMENTS. 
chamber was enlarged to an extraordinary extent, being 5*9 ins. in 
diameter. The cartridge was a long bag, very loose on the powder, 
made so as to admit of being adjusted in the chamber by hand. The 
charge was 7* 7 lbs. Two kinds of projectiles were fired—long ones, 
12*5 ins. in length, weighing 22 lbs., and shorter ones, 9*5 ins. in length, 
weighing 15 lbs. The initial velocities of these projectiles were 1829 
and 2098 ft. respectively. The maximum pressure was 11*6 tons. 
During this extraordinary performance, the gun was held rigidly, being 
fixed on a strong vertical steel pivot, and so steady was it, that small 
coins placed on its barrel where not shaken off on firing, except near 
the muzzle. Eventually a Dutch officer displayed sufficient confidence 
to sit astride on the gun while it was fired, with the projectile shooting 
between his legs at the rate of about 2,000 ft. per second. May I call 
your attention to this piece as an extraordinary experiment as to the 
effect of long bores and enlarged chambers. The bore is nearly 47 
calibres long, the chamber is 1*73 calibres in diameter, the capacity 
of the chamber being, in fact, three times that of a portion of the bore 
of similar length. The penetration of this piece with projectiles of the 
weight of the longer shell would be 6*25 ins. of iron. It weighs nearly 
25 cwt., and is intended for a pivot gun. It is nearly equal to the 
penetration of parts of the “ Hercules ” and “ Sultan” class of armour. 
The second 3‘4-in. gun somewhat resembled the above, but had 
provision for slight recoil, the pivot moving on its lower end as 
a centre, the gun forcing the upper end back against a piston or 
buffer. 
The muzzle-pivoting 6*1 in. gun, Fig. 6, was worked easily, the armour 
absorbing the shock of recoil, and suffering in no way apparently 
beyond the structure appearing to spring a little in the earth. A man 
laid it while riding on a saddle placed on the chase of the piece; he 
employed sights directed through a small hole at a convenient height 
above the gun, and he fired the gun himself by pulling the lanyard 
while still sitting on the piece. This system has been tried by one 
Government experiment, but has not hitherto found favour. It certainly 
appears as if a heavy gun so fixed to a shield, and impressing its work 
on it every round, must soon destroy the structure, but apparently it 
would take a very long time for a medium gun to do so; and it is 
possible that a gun so completely protected, and able to fire with such 
great rapidity, might perform admirable service before it failed in this 
way, so that, under some conditions, such a gun might be very valuable. 
The ball portion of the muzzle can be unscrewed, and so can 
the disc containing the socket into which it fits in the plate. This 
operation can be easily performed; a shutter being run up, which 
completely covers the opening from the enemy. It still appears 
possible, however, that a blow from a very heavy shot might distort 
and jam the screwed portion of the plate. Against ordinary siege guns 
such a gun working with all the speed due to non-recoil, and in an 
extraordinary measure of security, might effect much. 
Two trials against armour took place, one to show the comparative 
effects of firing against chilled and soft hammered iron structures. As 
both were manufactured by Herr Krupp, the trial cannot be regarded 
