In throwing small quantities of certain high explosives, powder guns can be used satisfactorily, but when large quantities are required, the mechanical system of guns possess numerous advantages.  All the high explosives are subject to premature detonation by shock; each of them is supposed to have its own peculiar shock to which it is sensitive; but what this shock may be is at present unknown.  We do know, however, that premature explosions in guns are more liable to occur when the charge in the shell is large than when it is small.  This is due to the fact that when the gun is fired, the inertia of the charge in the shell is overcome by a pressure proportional to the mass and acceleration, which pressure is communicated to the shell charge by the rear surface of the cavity, and the pressure per unit of mass will vary inversely as this surface.  If, then, the quantity of explosive in the shell forms a large proportion of the total weight of the shell, we approach in powder guns a condition of shock to it which is always dangerous and frequently fatal.  The pressure behind the projectile varies from twelve to fifteen tons per square inch, but it is liable to rise to seventeen and eighteen tons, and in the present state of the manufacture of gunpowder we cannot in ordinary guns regulate it nearer than that.  It is not a matter of so much importance so far as the guns are concerned, when using ordinary projectiles, as the gun will endure a pressure of from twenty-five to thirty tons per square inch; but with high explosives in the shell it is a vitally serious matter.  From all I can learn regarding European practice, it appears that not only are the explosives made sluggish, but the quantity seldom exceeds thirty per cent. of the weight of the shell, and the velocities, notwithstanding, are kept very low.  In the pneumatic gun the velocity is low also, but so is the pressure in the gun.  The pressure in the firing reservoir is kept at the relatively low figure of 1,000 pounds per square inch or less, and the air is admitted to the chamber of the gun by a balance valve which cuts off just the quantity of air (within a very few pounds) that is required to make the shot.  The gun is long, and advantage is taken of the expansion of the air.  In no case can the pressure rise in the gun beyond that in the reservoir.

Up to the present time there have been no accidents in using the most powerful explosives in their natural state, and in quantities over fifty per cent. of the weight of the projectile.  I have seen projectiles weighing 950 pounds, and containing 500 pounds of explosives (300 pounds of the blasting gelatine and 200 pounds of No. 1 dynamite) thrown nearly a mile and exploded after disappearing under water.  According to Gen. Abbot’s formula such a projectile would have sunk any armorclad floating within forty-seven feet of where it struck.  Apparently there is no limit to the percentage of explosive that can be placed in the shell except the mechanical one of having the walls thick enough to prevent being crushed by the shock of discharge.  In the large projectiles a transverse diaphragm is introduced to strengthen the walls and to subdivide the charge.