Heavy Guns at Gibraltar.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 38, 23 February 1884, Page 6

Heavy Guns at Gibraltar.

The 100-ton guns at Malta and Gibraltar will be mounted and equipped as follows : The case-shot or canister will contain no fewer than 2,110 balls, of which 1,915 will weigh eight ounces each and the remainder four ounces each. The case.will be of steel, 17.66 inches in diameter,. being rather less than the bore of the gun, and a stay-bolt of wrought-iron will pass through the axis, 40.5 inches long, to increase its rigidity and strength. The total weight of this projectile will be 2,000 pounds, and it is intended to be fired at ships or storming parties at close quarters only, for the case will open immediately on leaving the muzzle and the shower of shots will hardly be effective over half a mile The common, Palliser and shrapnel shells for the same gun will each have a diameter of 7.72 inches, fitting tightly the bore of the gun, and they will be rotated by copper gas checks screwed to the base. The fuse for the common shell will for the present be the general service "Pitman," and that of the shrapnel the fifteen-second muzzle-loading time fuse of wood. Each of these shells will weigh, with its bursting charge, 2,000 pounds. The hydraulic carriages, platforms, loading gear and turrets finally approved for the 100-ton guns, are, wjth' slight modifications, the same as were^tWcfl' at the model fortress in the Royal AfeShal., Two sets of hydraulic loading geafr^tfcre "pQ*< be provided for every gun. 'Y - ' •