m 
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF 
Wrought-iron Shot. 
During experiments which were made at Portsmouth and Woolwich 
in 1857, 1858, against iron plates, wrought-iron shot were occasionally fired. 
Shot of this nature never break up, but are always much “set-up"” after 
impact. A report on a comparative trial of wrought-iron and cast-iron in 1857 
states, “The effects of wrought-iron shot at 600 yds. range over cast-iron 
shot appears to be in the proportion of 3 to 1." In the trial of the “Meteor” 
floating battery (Opiates on 25" of timber), it appears that 68-pr. wrought- 
iron shot “did not penetrate her side at 400yds. or cause any serious injury 
inboard;” and in summing up the results obtained from some experiments at 
Portsmouth in October, 1858, it is stated: “At 400yds. the wrought-iron 
plates, 4 in. thick (on a ship's side) resist every description of projectile, even 
wrought-iron shot for a considerable time. At 200 yds., the effects of the 
projectiles have much increased, and the plates are sometimes penetrated 
with the heaviest wrought-iron shot and the frame of the ship much 
shaken.” 
In October, 1858, Mr Whitworth was very successful with a hardened 
wrought-iron shot which was fired from a 68-pr. cast-iron rifled gun. The 
shot weighed 68 lbs. and was fired with a charge of 12 lbs. at a 4" plate 
attached to the side of the “Alfred” at a range of 450 yds. The shot 
passed through the plate and 6 or 7 inches of oak, and fell on the deck, about 
2 ft. from the hole, making a hole in the armour plate 6" diameter. It must 
however be noted that the record of the experiment speaks of the plate as 
being “ badly welded ” which defect would of course lessen its power of 
resistance. 
In an experiment which was made to test iron embrasures at Shoeburyness 
in 1860, wrought-iron shot were fired from a 68-pr. S. E. gun and from an 
80-pr., and a 40-pr., Armstrong gun. 
The indentation of these shot on 4" Thorneycroft bars at 600 yds. range 
was— 
68-pr. W. I. shot...... 1^" 
„ Cast-iron shot ... lg" 
40-pr. W. I. and C. I. J" 
The Committee reported: “The dints on the iron nowhere exceed 1*5" in 
depth; there is no material difference between those produced by the 
wrought-iron and cast-iron projectiles.” 
Some further trials of wrought-iron shot were subsequently made by the 
Special Committee on Iron, and the following extract is from their Report of 
1.863 : 
“ Wrought-iron, though somewhat superior to cast-iron, is far inferior to steel 
and is not to be recommended as a material for projectiles to be used against iron 
plates.” 
Fig. 2. 
Tig. 2 shows the form taken by spherical wrought- 
iron shot after impact. The shot in the sketch 
was fired from a 10*5" rifled gun, and its major 
diameter after impact was 13". 
