RIFLED ORDNANCE. In the year 1774, Captain Blair proposed the formation of rifled guns of iron, to be used as field artillery. Agreeably to the old practice, they were to be made hollow in the act of being cant, and in the same operation the grooves were to be formed. The balls were to be of lead, with knobs on them to fit the grooves, and they were to weigh not 'more than two pounds. About the beginning of this century, the French attempted to introduce into their service cannon-shot of a cylindro-ephorical form, the cylindrical part being in contact with the charge of powder, and a ring of lead surrounding the shot near its middle, so as to render this part rather greater than the bore of the gun. The circumference of the ring being scrapeil down by the edge of the muzzle when the shot was forced into the gun, became in close contact with the surface of the bore, and thus no windage was left. By this contrivance it was expected that most of the advantages of a rifled gun would be obtained, though no rotatory motion took place in the shot. The result of the trials was thought to be favourable with respect to the direction and range of the shot ; but the labour and time required to load the gun were great, and this circumstance probably prevented the invention from being adopted.
In 1846, Major Cavalli, of the Sardinian Artillery, invented a rifled gun ; and about the same time another was proposed by Baron Wahrendorff, a Swede. Both were two-grooved breech-loading pieces. In 1850 these guns were experimented with at Shoeburyness against the service 32-pounder of 56 cwt. The weight of the elongated pro jectile for both guns was about 64 or 65 lbs. Space does not permit of our entering into a description of them ; but some remarks of Sir H. Douglas on the result of the experiments may be quoted :—" At the efficient service elevation of 5°, with charges of 8 lbs., the ranges, and also deflections, of the different projectiles were nearly equal to one another ; and the like is true with charges of 10 lbs. At elevations of 10°, the ranges of the foreign guns exceeded thOse of the English 32-pounders, with charges of S lbs., by 330 yards, and with charges of 10 lbs. by 690 yards; and at elevations of 15° the excess was, with charges of 8 lbs., about 790 yards, and with charges of l0lbs. about
1100 yards." The deviations, which were always in the direction of the rotation of the projectile, were so variable that no allowance could be made for them. The Wahrendorff gun had considerable advantages in length of range over the 32-pounder at high elevations, but the practice was then very uncertain. After four rounds, the Cavalli gun became unserviceable by the copper ring embedded in the metal of the gun at the bottom of the bore being damaged. The attempt to repair this was unsuccessful, for, on a further trial, the whole breech was blown away. The Wahrendorff gun, however, stood well.
The next rifle gun invented was that by Mr. Lancaster. It was tried at Shoeburyness in 1S51. The principle was similar to that of the rifle [Itirtej—an elliptical bore, with a gaining or increasing twist. In fact it was a two-grooved rifle, with the angles of the, grooves chamfered oft The friction in the bore was so great that it was necessary to make the projectile, which was cylindro-conoidal with an elliptical section, of wrought iron. This was the first rifled cannon ever used in war, and was employed by the English in the Crimea, both on board the gun-boats and in the batteries, against Sebastopol. Though good results had been obtained in 1352 at Shoeburyness, with spheroidal projectiles from these guns, they did not succeed well on service. The trial was certainly hardly a fair one, many of the guns being light 8-inch, bored up ; and these burst. Some of the heavy 8.inch Lancaster guns, however, also burst with the elongated pro jectile, we believe. Those who worked the guns had in many cases not been instructed in their use; and Mr. Lancaster has accounted for the shells constantly bursting in the bore by the welding of the two pieces of wrought iron with which they were made not being a perfect Joint, and the explosion of the gun communicating to the interior of the shell. But it is most probable that the shell jammed in the bore, which it was very likely to do from its form and the increasing twist. Certain it is that the practice was very uncertain, arid the result not :satisfactory.