Rifled cannon will in some few years be perfectly constructed of cast steel; the projectile being made of gun metal, _i. e._, ninety-five parts of copper to five parts of tin, or of lead and its alloys, and at a probable cost of ten times that of a cast-iron projectile of equal weight.
Rifled cannon must be elevated by raising the muzzle; no depression of the breech must occur as by the usual elevating screw; and the recoil must be received and borne by fastenings and axle in rear of the breech only. Trunnions and all impinging influences are incompatible with correctness of fire. The muzzle must be raised in a similar manner to the raising of a hand rifle, the recoil being thrown backwards, in as direct a line as possible with that of the shot.
It is only on account of the difficulty of experimenting with rifled cannon that they are at all behind rifled muskets in point of perfection. The ardent lover of science is appalled when an experiment costs hundreds of pounds. We have not a General Jacob everywhere who can afford to spend a thousand or two in experiments; but, nevertheless, the lover of science, could he experiment, might attain such extraordinary accuracy of range, as to blow up a smaller magazine than that of Kurrachee at four times the distance; and that, too, with a more certain effect, though with a projectile heavier than several of Jacob’s rifles tied together. Correct direction is certain in proportion to the increase of weight; deflection being in the minimum with the heavier weight, from the well known law of momentum. That astute and energetic sovereign, the Emperor Napoleon, is pursuing experiments with rifled cannon; with what result there can be little doubt.
It must be by the use of rifled cannon that our artillery will regain the place it has lost. A short time will suffice to make the disparity between our artillery and small arms as great as when we were content with the six-pounder field gun and old “Brown Bess.” Ranges will only be ruled by sight, and objects will be hit eventually with as much ease at 5,000 yards as they now are at 1,000. Steel, rifled cannon, and projectiles of gun-metal will assuredly bring about as complete a revolution in artillery as the Greenerian rifle and bullet have effected in small arms.