Gunnery in 1858: Being a Treatise on Rifles, Cannon, and Sporting Arms / Explaining the Principles of the Science of Gunnery, and Describing the Newest Improvements in Fire-Arms

by William Greener

It may be remembered that a warehouse caught fire from an adjoining mill, and the explosion was supposed to have been produced by the ignition of the elements of gunpowder stored in the warehouse in a crude state. The upper story of the building contained a large quantity of crude sulphur, and the basement story about the same quantity of nitre, whilst chemicals of various kinds were stored in other parts of the building; but according to the accounts published there was no large quantity of carbon in the warehouse; nevertheless, a terrific explosion took place, and after a lengthened investigation, the conclusion arrived at was this: the sulphur melting, mixed with the nitre, gunpowder was thus formed, and igniting, exploded, producing the terrible effects.

But gunpowder may be made without sulphur, whereas gunpowder without carbon is an impossibility; and though the elements of gunpowder had all been present, no explosion could have occurred, unless they had become mixed in the intimate manner already described.

It is true some of the chemical substances in the warehouse might have produced a fearful explosion: but a more plausible explanation is to be found in the fact, that gunpowder was at that time much more valuable abroad than at home; and it is quite possible that some kegs of gunpowder might have been stored away in this warehouse, until a convenient opportunity presented itself for their removal.

The foregoing remarks will serve to explain how it is that powder varies so much in strength and quickness of fire. If the elements are imperfectly incorporated, the powder can never be equal to that which is properly made; and the manufacturer, having ascertained the best proportions in which to mix the elements, had better improve his machinery for incorporating them, rather than his knowledge of the chemistry of gunpowder. These observations will also serve to explain the apparent anomaly, that the French, and some of our other continental brethren, are held to produce a much inferior sporting gunpowder to that which is manufactured in old England.

Gunpowder is now made by all the sporting gunpowder manufacturers from No. 1 to No. 5 grain; and it appears certain that a further increase in the size of the grain would be advantageous; for many years of patient and laborious experiment clearly show, that the old notion of gunpowder being blown out of an ordinary sized gun in an unburnt state, is one of the “purest of vulgar errors:” such a thing indeed cannot possibly happen unless the powder be bad, or the gun imperfectly made, or injudiciously charged.

I am satisfied that I am under rather than over estimate, when I assert that six drams of ordinary sporting gunpowder may be beneficially and completely exploded in a barrel of 14 bore, 2 feet 6 inches long, with a resisting projectile one ounce in weight above it. This, however, being more than a double charge for such a gun, cannot be pleasantly practised; and it is only asserted by way of argument.

Assuming, then, for argument’s sake, that six drams of gunpowder are exactly consumed in passing from the breech to the muzzle of a gun 2 feet 6 inches long, and that the shot, therefore, acquires its greatest velocity as it leaves the muzzle, it follows that the ordinary charge of 2¹⁄₂ drams will be wholly consumed before it has traversed half the length of the barrel, and consequently the charge of shot must here acquire its greatest velocity. It is certain, then, that the shot must travel the latter half of the barrel at a diminished velocity, and its velocity must continue to diminish as it passes up the barrel; for two obvious reasons—1st, The column of air in front of the charge is more condensed, and thus offers a greater resistance to the exit of the charge; 2nd, The velocity is continually diminished by the increased friction of the charge against the barrel.

The perfection of projectile science is to make the projectile acquire its greatest velocity at the instant of leaving the muzzle; and if, by increasing the size of the grain of gunpowder, we can diminish the rapidity of its explosion—thus causing it to burn and generate fresh gas up to the muzzle of the gun—the projectile will then acquire its greatest velocity, and leave the gun to the best advantage: this is the important point which has hitherto been overlooked, not only in fowling-pieces, but in the expansive principle of rifles.

For artillery practice of every kind, whatever the weight of the projectile, gunpowder of a granulation suited to the weight of that projectile is essential, if we would produce the greatest possible effect by the least expenditure of means.

In artillery, at this most important time in war’s history, no attention whatever is paid to this essential principle. A long 10-inch gun, a 68-pounder, and a short 6-pounder are all charged with powder of the same granulation; whilst by a more judicious use of gunpowder of suitable granulation, the range might be extended, just as it is in sporting arms, to nearly 20 per cent.