“With respect to the ricochet of eccentric spherical projectiles, the rotation which causes deflection in the flight, must act in the same manner to impede a straight forward graze. When an ordinary well formed homogenous spherical projectile, upon which probably very little rotation is impressed, makes a graze, the bottom of the vertical diameter first touches the plane, and immediately acquires, by the reaction, a rotation upon its horizontal axis, by which the shot rolls onwards throughout the graze, probably for a straight forward second flight. But in the case of an eccentric spherical projectile, placed with its centre of gravity to the right or to the left, its rotation upon its vertical axis during the graze must occasion a fresh deflection in its second flight, and it is only when the centre of gravity is placed in a vertical plane passing through the axis of the gun, that the rotation by touching the ground will not disturb the direction of the graze, though the extent of range to the first graze will be affected more or less according as the centre of gravity may have been placed upwards or downwards. Whether the rebounds take place from water, as in the experiments made on board the “Excellent,” or on land, as those carried on at Shoeburyness, the shot, when revolving on a vertical axis, instead of making a straight forward graze, suffered deflection which were invariably towards the same side of the line of fire as the centre of gravity; and at every graze up to the fourth, a new deflection took place. ~Knowledge derived from experiments with eccentric shot.~ “The results of these very curious and instructive experiments fully explain the extraordinary anomalies, as they have heretofore been considered, in length of range and in the lateral deviations: these have been attributed to changes in the state of the air, or the direction of the wind, to differences in the strength of the gunpowder, and to inequalities in the degrees of windage. All these causes are, no doubt, productive of errors in practice, but it is now clear that those errors are chiefly occasioned by the eccentricity and nonhomogeneity of the shot, and the accidental positions of the centre of gravity of the projectile with respect to the axis of the bore. The whole of these experiments furnish decisive proof of the necessity of paying the most scrupulous attention to the figure and homogeneity of solid shot, and concentricity of shells, and they exhibit the remarkable fact that a very considerable increase of range may be obtained without an increase in the charge, or elevation of the gun.” ~No advantage in using eccentric projectiles.~