When used against troops there is
also the objection to the high explosive shell that it makes scarcely
any smoke in bursting, and smoke at this point is useful to the
artillerist in rectifying his aim.
In the matter of shells for piercing armor, however, there are no two
opinions regarding the nature of the bursting charge. To pierce modern
armor at all a shell must be made of forged steel, so thick that the
capacity of the cavity for the bursting charge is reduced to
one-fourth or one-fifth of what it is in the common shell; the result
is that a charge of powder is frequently not powerful enough to burst
the shell at all; it simply blows the plug out of the filling hole in
the rear. In addition it is found that in passing through armor, the
heat generated is so great that the powder is prematurely ignited.
If then we can fill the small cavity in the shell with an explosive
which will not ignite prematurely, and yet will burst the shell
properly after it has passed through the armor, the problem will be
solved. Wet or paraffined gun-cotton can be made sluggish enough to
satisfy the first condition; but at present the difficulty is to make
it explode at all.
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