348 
MINUTES OE PROCEEDINGS OF 
Penetration, we may observe, is the first quality of battering ordnance, but 
not the first quality of field artillery. 
8. A gun made to what were then believed to be the dimensions of the 
Prencli field gun, when tried in England in 1859, did not give satisfactory 
results in respect to range or precision. The projectiles appear to have 
been made with too great windage, the form of the studs differed materially 
from that which is described above, and the twist was too sharp, the 
particulars however possess a certain interest, as the superiority evinced by 
an Armstrong 6-pr. tried on the same occasion had a considerable effect in 
establishing the character of the Armstrong system. There were two sorts 
of shells fired, the one had round ailetteSj the other elliptical ones, neither 
pattern bore any close resemblance to the present service French projectile, 
and the practice with the former was so bad that it need not be quoted. 
The practice with the shells which had elliptical ailettes was indifferent, but 
not extremely bad. 
Table Y. 
Comparative practice of a brass gun of 6 cwt. 68 lbs., calibre 3'39 inches 
rifled in 6 grooves with 1 turn in 59 inches, against an Armstrong B.L. 
6-pr. of 2 cwt. 56 lbs., calibre 2*25 inches, 28 grooves, twist 1 turn in 
90 inches. 
1859 
Charge. 
Elevation. 
No. 
of 
rounds. 
Observed ranges. 
Mean 
difference 
of range. 
Mean 
reduced 
deflection. 
Min. 
Max. 
Mean. 
r 
lb. oz.dr. 
13 3 
PB 
5 
300 
507 
453 
31*7 
1-9 
French 8-pr. J 
— 
PB 
5 
313 
455 
379 
43*2 
1*0 
common shell «{ 
— 
6° 
10 
1408 
1753 
1635 
70-8 
4-7 
7 lbs. 10*5 oz. 
_ 
5° 
10 
1652 
1959 
1765 
80-4 
7-0 
1 
— 
10P 
20 
2588 
2749 
2660 
38-0 
17*0 
Armstrong 6-pr ^ 
0 12 0 
P B 
10 
552 
642 
690 
25-1 
0-7 
segment shell > 
— 
6° 
19 
1747 
1922 
1820 
44*0 
2-6 
6 lbs. 2 oz. ) 
— 
10° 
20 
2734 
3059 
2901 
75-8 
2*2 
9. A much more satisfactory comparison has however been very recently 
made. At the instance of the O. S. Committee, Earl de Grey gave directions 
in April 1864 for the gun to be re-rifled, which was effected by boring out 
the former rifling, inserting a cylinder of gun metal, and re-boring it. A 
fresh supply of shells were made in the Eoyal Laboratory, and it was tried in 
March last, against an Armstrong B. L. 9-pr., which corresponds more 
closely with it in all respects than the 6-pr. used before. By oversight in 
the instructions, the 9-pr. charge of 1 lb. 2 oz. was used with the French 
gun, instead of its proper charge of 1 lb. 3*4 oz., a circumstance which has 
slightly reduced the ranges—but has probably had no sensible effect on 
the accuracy—the shells only differed 1 oz. in weight. The following Table 
contains the result. 
