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 Directory

Sir Joseph Whitworth, 'Guns and Steel'

Contents

Introduction

First Comparative Trials Of The Whitworth And Enfield Rifles

Rifle Trials At Hythe in 1857

Trials Of The Whitworth And Enfield Rifles, Made At Woolwich In The Year 1857

A Rifle Fired By The Queen

Report Of The Ordnance Select Committee, 1862

The Henry And Metford Rifles

Hexagonal Rifling

 

Trials Of The Whitworth And Enfield Rifles,
Made At Woolwich In The Year 1857

After the contest at Hythe, a series of experiments were conducted by a Committee appointed by the Minister of War, and the enquiries were especially directed to these points:-

(1) Precision, (2) penetration, (3) range.

The trials were made in July and August, 1857, and the best results obtained from the Whitworth and Enfield rifles were officially reported to be the following:-

Rifle

Range

Figure of Merit

Whitworth
Enfield

500 yds
500 yds

 10.194
18.240
Whitworth
Enfield		 800 yds
800 yds		 18.264
45.750
Whitworth
Enfield		 1,400 yds
1,400 yds		 74.844
110.451
Whitworth
Enfield		 1,700 yds
1,700 yds		 129.762
Beyond range
Whitworth
Enfield		 2,000 yds
2,000 yds		 129.565
Beyond range

In the experiment on penetration, a Whitworth bullet made of a hard alloy passed through 34 half-inch elm boards, while a tubular bullet passed through 34 of the same boards, cutting out clean cores in its passage. The range was 307 yards.

I have not any record of the penetration of the Enfield bullet, except that given in the Hythe trials, where it passed through 12 half-inch elm planks, and was stopped by the 13th plank.
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