THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
Ill 
of opinion that those relating to the endurance of cannon are not being 
carried out in this country on a sufficiently extensive scale to yield conclusive 
results. 
“ The experiments on the endurance of cannon are now in progress at 
Brasschaet. Up to the present time they have been confined to firing four 24-pr. 
iron guns, cast of the same mixture of metal, with two different qualities 
of powder; one quality passed as a e quick/ the other as a f slow , powder. 
The guns were mounted upon garrison carriages and placed in blindages to 
avoid accidents and keep together the fragments after bursting. The service 
charge of 4 kilos, of powder (9 lbs.) and one shot has been employed, and the 
guns laid point blank. 
The first gun, fired with a c slow* powder, burst at the 63rd round. 
The third gun, fired with a ‘ quick ’ powder, burst at the 90th round. 
ee So far, therefore, these experiments have yielded nothing conclusive 
respecting the powder, but there seems little doubt that the metal was very 
inferior. 
“ The experiments relating to the proof of powder have been as follows 
Samples of powder from different barrels, and various periods of manu¬ 
facture were taken from the magazine at Antwerp, and thus tested:— 
(1) The usual proof. This consists of firing a shell filled with lead 
weighing 29*3 kilos (64§ lbs.), from a mortar eprouvette with a charge of 
92 grammes (3 J oz.) 
(2) The lead being taken out of the shell, thus reducing its weight to 
15*9 kilos. (35 lbs.), the empty shell was fired with a charge of 62 grammes 
(2*2 oz.) 
(3) An empty shell, weight 4*956 kilos. (10*9 lbs.), was fired from an 
18-pr. mortar with a charge of 54 grammes (1*9 oz.) 
“ The following table contains the results 
Sample 
of 
powder. 
Range in Metres. 
Mortar Eprouvette. 
Solid projectile. 
Mortar eprouvette. 
Hollow projectile. 
18-pr. Mortar. 
Hollow projectile. 
1857, (No. 2) . 
217*2 
92-6 
56-7 
1857, (No. 4). 
233-0 
127-3 
117-3 
1852. 
237*3 
133-8 
113-1 
1853.. 
237-2 
133-6 
125-1 
1857, (No. 3). 
242*5 
140-0 
120-4 
1856. 
236-7 
148-6 
122-0 
1854.. 
236-5 
149-5 
137-8 
Reddish, unknown 
240-2 
157-8 
108-6 
1855. 
237-2 
158‘7 
129-4 
Blue, unknown ... 
234-0 
175-6 
149-2 
1850... 
234-3 
184-7 
157-9 
1857, (No. 1) . 
243-2 
189-7 
162-3 
Blue, unknown ... 
236*7 
231-1 
220-5 
“ Erom the above experiments it will be seen, 
