74. The shot are next to be passed through the cylinder-gauge, placed at an inclination of about two inches between the ends, and supported in such a manner as to be easily turned from time to time, to prevent its being worn in furrows. Shot which slide or stick in the cylinder shall be rejected; the latter must be pushed out from the lower end of the cylinder with a wooden rammer.
D. Van Nostrand Publisher. Julius Bien, pr.
75. The next proof of shot is to drop a few taken indiscriminately from the lot under inspection from a height of twenty feet on a solid platform of iron, or roll them down an inclined plane of the same height against a mass of iron; after which they are again examined for defects of metal.
76. The average weight of shot shall be determined by weighing at least three parcels, of from 20 to 50 each, taken indiscriminately from the lot. As many of the lightest shall be weighed separately as the inspecting officer may deem necessary, and all found to fall below the least weight allowed in the annexed table of the dimensions of shot and shells shall be rejected. Shot made of charcoal iron will be stamped with a * or "burr" near the gate.
SHELLS.
77. Shells should be cast on a half-inch hollow spindle, to allow the gas to pass freely from the core; the fuze-hole would then be sufficiently large to admit the gauge for thickness before the shells leave the foundry.
78. Inspecting Instruments.—In addition to the instruments for shot, there will be required calipers with steel points for measuring the thickness of the shell at points on the great circle at right angles with the axis of the fuze-hole; gauges for the thickness at and opposite the fuze-hole; a conical flat steel gauge for the fuze-hole, marked at the point to which it should enter; a pair of strong hand-bellows, with a wooden plug to fit the fuze-hole and the nozzle air-tight. (See Plate.)
INSPECTION.
79. The surface of the shell and its exterior dimensions, form, weight, and strength, are to be examined and tested as in the case of shot, and subject to all the conditions there specified.