Engineer Carbine.
Carbines on this principle are now carried by the Royal Engineers, and shoot well, and by some persons are thought to be superior to the Enfield, 1853; they fire the same ammunition, and there is no question but that their firing is much more accurate from using the improved wooden plug bullet.
Failure of the Pritchett.
In May, 1855, the ammunition was found to be in a most unsatisfactory state and unfit to be used, there being bullets of various diameters in many of the packages of the cartridges. The correct size of the Pritchett bullet viz., ·568, was found to produce accurate shooting, at 600 yards, while bullets of a smaller diameter fired very badly.
Return to iron cup.
To get out of this difficulty, Colonel Hay recommended the application of the iron cup to the bullet, which was approved, when more uniform expansion resulted and greater accuracy.
Thus by using an auxiliary to expansion there is a margin left to cover any trifling inaccuracy in manufacture, in diameter of either bullet or bore.
Woolwich account for bad ammunition.
The Woolwich authorities stated that they had seven dies at work making bullets, and which were made small at first as they gradually wore larger; when any one die became too large it was destroyed, and replaced by a smaller one. To this cause they imputed the failure of our Pritchett ammunition. It was afterwards suggested from the School of Musketry, to procure expansion by using a wooden plug, and after most extensive experiments, this was found to be superior to any description of bullet yet tried at Hythe, and the wooden plug has accordingly been established for the British army. ([Plate 20], fig. 11.)
On expansion.