Metcalfe Henry. A Course of Instruction in Ordnance and Gunnery

Second Edition. — New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1891. — 672 p.The great advances which have been recently made in our knowledge of the properties of gunpowder have subjugated the “Spirit of Artillery”, as this agent has been termed, to a seemingly docile servitude. These, with corresponding improvements in Metallurgy, have led to such changes in nearly all that relates to firearms as to make necessary a comprehensive revision of the course of Ordnance and Gunnery, established by the late Colonel James G. Benton in 1861, and modified from time to time by his successors on the Academic Board.
The subject has outgrown the limits of the small encyclopedia in which Benton comprised all that was then essential for the ordinary officer, as well as for the student, to know of the materiel of war.
It has also lost much of the stability which characterized it when spherical projectiles were still generally employed. The labors of men of science and the energy of inventors are continually extending the boundaries of knowledge and undermining positions which appear most fixed.
Therefore, instead of giving to the course a descriptive character, it appears advisable to frame it so as to present as simply as possible such of its principles as are the most important, and appear the best established.Captain Henry Metcalfe (October 29, 1847 – August 17, 1927 in New York) was an American Army ordnance officer, inventor and early organizational theorist, known for his 1873 invention of a detachable magazine for small arms, for his work on modern management accounting, the development of the "time card" and his theory on the role of middle management.Definition.
Explosive Agents.
Ingredients of Gunpowder.
Manufacture of Gunpowder.
Interior Ballistics.
Velocimeters.
Pressure Gauges.
Phenomena of Conversion.
Noble and Abel's Experiments.
Combustion of Gunpowder in the Air.
Combustion ok Gunpowder in the Gun.
Sarrau’s Formula for Interior Ballistics.
History of Gunpowder.
High Explosives.
Metallurgy.
Projectiles and Armor.
Manufacture of Projectiles.
Means of Communicating Fire.
Gun Construction.
Exterior Ballistics.
Varieties of Cannon.
Artillery Carriages, Principles.
Various Artillery Carriages.
Horse and Harness.
Artillery Machines.
Hand Arms.
Small Arm Ammunition.
Small Arms.
Cannon Without Recoil.
Accuracy of Fire.