A MONSTER GUN.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 795, 30 March 1871, Page 3

A MONSTER GUN.

The following is an account of the recent firing of a heavy gun made for the British Government:—

The trial of the 35-ton gun was continued at the Boyal Arsenal proof butts, this stage of the experiments possessing additional interest from the fact that the charge of powder was that which the gun will have to bear in actual service, viz., 120 pounds. The cartridge was nearly three feet in length, resembling a large flannel bolster, the 120 pounds of pebble powder with which it was filled rattled like so many marbles, each pebble being somewhat larger than.an acorn. This being rammed home by half a dozen stalwart artillerymen, was followed by the projectile of 700 pounds, which had to be lifted to the cannon's mouth by a crane, and pressed close against the cartridge; the two nearly half filled the bore. Two such charges were fired by electricity, without doing the gun any apparent injury ; and a gang of men was then set to work to dig the projectiles out of the sandbank in which they had buried themselves 30 feet or more, in order that the pressure gauges with which they were fired might be examined. The velocity, as before, was measured by the Navizleurs apparatus. The final proof with 150 pounds of powder will be delayed for a few days, in order that impressions may be taken of the bore to ascertain if there are any signs of flaw or crack.