214 
SHRAPNEL EIEE. 
throughout its length. Such precautions ought to ensure sufficient 
accuracy of judgment. 
When this portion of the instruction has been thoroughly mastered, 
the next step is learning to appreciate the results obtained from the 
position of the battery ; and here commences the most difficult as well 
as the most necessary part of the course. At first, ground and targets 
such as already recommended may be employed with advantage. The 
practice should be carried out with deliberation; and the whole squad—- 
not the No. 1 only—should be required to record their judgment in a 
small note-book; each book should be carefully compared with the 
range Report; both by the observers themselves and by the commanding 
Officer or Instructor. By this means; instead of as at present each 
individual having two or three chances of judging, he would have 30, 
40 or more; and both he would be able to see and correct his errors, 
and the commanding officer would have ample opportunity of selecting 
men on whose judgment he might safely rely. 
The points recorded should be “ under,” “ over,” “ right,” “ left,” 
and “ height above plane.” 
Little need be said concerning “under” and “over,” except that when 
a time shell happens to be blind they should still be recorded, with 
“blind” in the column of remarks. A short graze will often account 
for a blind, the cause of which would otherwise be uncertain. With 
regard to “ over,” it may be remarked incidentally that whereas a shell 
“ under ” must in the case of a time fuze necessarily be an indifferent 
one, such need not be the case with all which range “ over.” The fol¬ 
lowing table gives the distances at which a 16-pr. shell will, at different 
ranges, strike the ground beyond the target if it just touches the top 
in its flight:— 
Range. 
Distance beyond. 
Range. 
Distance beyond. 
9'x9' 
6' x 6' 
9'x 9' 
6'x6' 
yds. 
yds. 
yds. 
yds* 
yds. 
yds. 
1000 . 
34-0 
22*7 
2200 . 
32-6 
21-8 
1200 . 
33*7 
22-5 
2400 . 
32-5 
21*7 
1400 . 
33-5 
22-3 
2800 . 
32-2 
21-5 
1600 . 
33*3 
22-2 
3200 . 
32*0 
21*3 
1800 . 
33-0 
22-2 
3600 .. 
31*8 
21*2 
2000 . 
32-7 
21-8 
3800 . 
31-7 
21*1 
If a similar table were constructed for the 9-pr., the distances would 
vary for 9'x 9' targets from 34 to 31 yds.; for 6'x 6' from 22*7 to 
20*9 yds. 
The necessity of a careful judgment of the errors “right” and 
“left” is apparent when one remembers how small the cone of dis¬ 
persion is in the present pattern of shrapnel, and how much therefore 
