“Persons who are conversant with artillery practice will be able to appreciate the accuracy of this firing; but, for the information of those who are unacquainted with the subject, I may state that the ordinary 6-pounder field-piece, which in point of weight forms the nearest approach to the present gun, is perfectly useless at a distance of 1,500 yards, and is very uncertain even at 1,000 yards. It is only, therefore, with heavy artillery that a comparison can be drawn; and it will be sufficient to state that in tabulating the practice made with such ordnance the deflections are invariably recorded in yards, whereas with this rifled gun they can only be properly given in inches. “With respect to penetration, the following particulars will be regarded as equally remarkable, considering the small weight of the shot and the length of the range. The butt was 3 ft. thick, and was composed of six layers of rock elm bolted together, so as to form a solid block. One shot passed entirely through; another struck near the edge and glanced; and the remaining six penetrated within a few inches of the opposite side. “Shell firing was next tried at a distance of 1,500 yards; the gun being fired at the same elevation and with the same charge as in the previous practice at the butt. “In this case two targets were erected, one behind the other, so as to appear as one object when viewed from the gun, and a space of 30 feet was left between them. The front target was intended to exhibit the perforations of the shell before bursting, and the back one to show the effect of the fragments resulting from explosion. “After some preliminary experiments twenty-two shells were fired at the front target, and of these only one missed the object of aim. The following are the particulars:--Seventeen hit the first target direct, and burst behind it, the fragments penetrating the second one; three grazed and burst immediately in front of the first target, and perforated both with the pieces; one hit the bottom of the first target and exploded in the ground, and the remaining one missed entirely and burst on some rocks nearly on line beyond. A strong side wind was blowing at the time, and accounted for the deviation of this single shell. “Four shells and three shots were then fired at an elevation of 6 degrees, from a distance of 2,000, or, more accurately, 1,964 yards. All these struck within the breadth of the target; but the elevation being scarcely sufficient, they all fell a little short, except one shell, which, ranging somewhat further than the others, hit the target and burst as usual. “The results of this shell-firing were as follows:--The front target contained 51 holes, and the back one 164, while the ground between and adjacent to the targets exhibited about 70 perforations by fragments of shells, the greater portion of which were afterwards recovered by digging.