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During the introduction of the RBL guns, what to do with the large stocks of cast iron smooth-bore pieces presented a problem to defence authorities. Despite the Crimean War experience in which the bursting of Lancaster guns cast doubt on the suitability of the metal for rifled ordnance, they still hoped some other system might work.
In 1859 an Ordnance Select Committee commenced a series of tests on cast iron 32-prs (6.375-inch) guns. Those tested included one from each of the inventors above and rifled according to their design. To ensure uniformity all guns were cast by the same firm and from the same batch of metal.
A gun rifled on the system designed in 1842 by Colonel Treuille de Beaulieu of the French Army, which had adopted it in 1856, was also tested, but with the number of grooves reduced from six to three. The Committee eventually decided to adopt the three-groove version for the RML system about to be introduced as it proved the most accurate and the easiest to load. They thereupon dubbed it The Woolwich System.
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WL Ruffell Issue 98 June 1998 |
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