THE BOYAL ABTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
71 
When the initial velocity of rifled guns was not known from experiment, 
it was calculated by an empirical formula which I have found to give very 
good results. 
This formula is something like that used by Dr Hutton, viz.. 
W = weight of shot in lbs. 
C = weight of powder in lbs. 
V = required velocity in ft. 
It will be seen from the Tables what a very efficient gun the 150-pr. 
rifled gun would be. I look forward to seeing a gun of this description in 
the navy. 
Its weight, as stated by competent authority, would not exceed 9 tons, and 
its penetrating power would be very great, at all distances. 
In the late experiments at Shoeburyness with the 150-pr. smooth-bore 
gun against the Warrior target, it is generally supposed that the shot 
passed quite through the target. This was not the case. The iron plate 
or armour was penetrated, but in doing this the cast-iron shot was 
smashed to pieces, and whatever passed through was composed of pieces 
of the plate, and minute particles of the shot itself; the rest of the 
shot was buried in the woodwork, although this latter was bulged out, 
and the inner lining of the target ript and broken; but no large piece 
of iron passed through. Still the damage was very great, and a broadside 
of such guns would have destroyed the entire target. Now, by using 
a rifle gun, throwing a wrought-iron solid-headed shell, you would probably 
have the same effect as the round shot, besides bursting the charge, at the 
bach of the armour , after the solid head had penetrated or punched a hole in 
it. A solid wrought-iron bolt with high velocity from a rifle gun would 
have penetrated clean through everything, leaving a hole of about the size 
of the shot to see daylight through. 
What is wanted is velocity; if you sacrifice velocity to weight, you will 
only be able to keep knocking at the door, without entering. I believe the 
Warrior target would have stood a pounding from a 300-pr. rifle gun, if 
fired with the same low charges that we use in our service rifled ordnance. 
The experimental velocities, given in the tables, were determined by me 
under the direction of the Ordnance Select Committee, with the electro- 
ballistic apparatus and may be taken as the true velocity of the different 
shot. 
