The best way of making flannel cartridges, is to boil the flannel in size; which will prevent the dust of powder from passing through, and render it stiff, and more manageable; for without this precaution cartridges are so pliable, on account of their size and the quantity of powder they contain, that they are put into the piece with much difficulty.
The loading and firing guns with cartridges is done much sooner than with loose powder, and fewer accidents are likely to occur. The heads of cartridges, especially for musquetry, are sometimes wrapped in coarse cotton.
In quick firing the shot is fixed to the cartridge by means of a wooden bottom, hollowed on one side so as to receive nearly half the shot, which is fastened to it by two small slips of tin crossing over the shot, and nailed to the bottom; and the cartridge is tied to the other end thereof. They are fixed likewise in the same manner to the bottoms of grape shot, which are used in field pieces.
Grape-shot, in artillery, is a combination of small shot, put into a thick canvas bag, and corded strongly together, so as to form a kind of cylinder, whose diameter is equal to that of the ball which is adapted to the cannon.
To make grape shot, a bag of coarse cloth is made just to hold the bottom which is put into it; as many shot are then thrown in as the grape is to contain; and with a strong pack thread the whole is quilted to keep the shot from moving. The bags, when finished, are put into boxes for the purpose of being conveniently carried.
The number of shot in a grape varies according to the service or size of the guns: in sea service 9 is always the number; but by land it is increased to any number or size, from an ounce and a quarter in weight, to four pounds. It has not yet been determined, with any degree of accuracy, what number and size answer best in practice; for it is well known, that they often scatter so much that only a small number takes effect.
Of the three different sorts of cannon which are used for throwing grape-shot, the 3-pounder seems rather the best; especially when two are used, as the effect of two 3-pounders is much greater than that of one 6-pounder. But the 8-inch howitzer, which can be made to throw in from three to five of its charge (from 12 to 20lb. of shot) becomes thereby a very formidable piece, when it can be used for grape-shot; and this is the howitzer used by the French light or horse artillery.
Proper charges for grape-shot have never yet been effectually determined: we can only give our advice from some experiments; that for heavy 6-pounders, ¹⁄₃d of the weight of the shot appears to be the best charge of powder; for the light 6-pounders, ¹⁄₄th of the weight of the shot; and for howitzers, ¹⁄₈th or ¹⁄₁₀th answers very well.
This kind of fire seems not yet to have been enough respected, nor depended on. However, if cannon and howitzers can be made to throw ¹⁄₃d or ¹⁄₄th, and sometimes half their charge of grape shot into a space 39 by 12 feet, at 200 and 300 yards distance, and those fired 7 or 8 times in a minute; it surely forms the thickest fire that can be produced from the same space.
Tin case-shot, in artillery, is formed by putting a great quantity of small iron shot into a cylindrical tin box, called a canister, that just fits the bore of the gun. Leaden bullets are sometimes used in the same manner; and it must be observed, that whatever number or sizes of the shot are used, they must weigh, with their cases, nearly as much as the shot of the piece.