182 
SHEAPNEL El EE. 
At 150 yds. burst:— 
Men = 36. 
Direct hits = 13*6. 
Throughs = 11. 
Lodges = 10. 
Lodges due to ricochet =7*5. 
Lower half of cone = 61. 
or h are effective. 
Hits per man = *58. Men disabled, 19. 
This result, compared with the same burst at 800 yds. range, seems 
strange. It may be attributed to the bad round (No. 5) at the 
800 yds. range, to the exceptional luck of all the rounds—especially 
Nos. 3 and 5—at the 1500 yds. range, and the favourable state of the 
ground for ricochet. 
Tabulating the averages, we have—■ 
Burst short. Direct hits. BicoCheti Proportion of Men disabled. 
ricochet to ^ cone. 
50yds. 54 . 17 . f . 20 
150 „ . 14 . 7 . i . 19 
The closeness of these results to those at the 800 yds. range is very 
remarkable. 
It may fairly be objected that there are some points about the 
practice which would render it necessary to be careful in depending 
too entirely on the conclusions drawn from them. The following 
may, for example, be urged i— 
1. That only five rounds for each range is too small a number. 
2. That such points as the height above plane were not very care¬ 
fully made. 
3. That the screen was thick enough to retard and disturb the 
flight of the shell. 
4. That counting two men when one dummy is hit twice^ and 
taking no account of a larger number of hits, is in many ways misleading. 
Though these facts cannot be gainsaid, it may be urged that the 
results obtained are sufficiently equal to allow of their being taken aS 
very near the truth. 
From what has thus been deduced from practice it would seem that 
with the 16-pr. M.L. gun at 800 yds. range, the best point for bursting 
a shrapnel shell, if an extended front has to be covered, is 100 yds. 
short; and from Table IY. we find that the amount of bullets per square 
foot of area is, at this distance, *1. The distance for the 9-pr., which 
gives the same proportion of bullets, is 80 yds., and this may therefore 
be supposed to be the best distance for its burst. 
At longer ranges than 800 yds. it will be necessary to burst shrapnel 
closer; because (1) the velocity of the bullets due to that of the 
shell becomes lower, and their power is therefore smaller; (2) the angle 
