7. In consequence of the quickness and intensity of its action, when ignited, it cannot be used with safety in the present fire-arms.
8. An accident on service, such as the insertion of two charges before firing, would cause the bursting of the barrel; and it is probable that the like effect would take place with the regular service charges, if several times repeated.
GUNPOWDER.
The component parts of Powder are 75 parts of nitre, 10 of sulphur, and 15 of charcoal.
Cylinder powder is made from charcoal that has been burnt in iron cylinders; and Pit powder from charcoal burnt in common pits.
Gunpowder, when ignited, expands with a velocity of about 5,000 feet per second; and the pressure of the fluid is about 2,000 times that of common air.
One pound of Powder measures 32 solid inches.
A cubic foot of Government powder weighs about 58 pounds.
Gunpowder is manufactured by reducing the nitre, sulphur, and charcoal to powder; they are then mixed, moistened with water, and again mixed in a mill for five or six hours, or until the mixture is as intimate as possible, for upon this the strength of the powder chiefly depends.
When taken from the mill, the composition is put in a press, and formed into hard cakes about a quarter of an inch thick; these, when dry, or nearly so, are broken by wooden mallets into small pieces, and reduced into grains by being put into sieves, and forced by means of a wooden roller through circular holes of the proper diameter.