Exterior Ballistics

CAPTAIN INGALLS has succeeded in presenting within the limits of 128 pages, for the most part a very good and complete account of the various methods now in use for calculating range tables and solving important problems relating to trajectories of shot. The subject of ballistics is divided into three parts—interior ballistics, which treats of the motion of the shot within the bore of the gun, of which very little is known; exterior ballistics, which deals with the motion of the shot after leaving the muzzle and till it strikes an object; and the remaining part treats of the penetration into an object struck. The author confines his attention to exterior ballistics. His book is purely mathematical, but well adapted to the wants of the artillerist. It is in reality a second edition.Exterior Ballistics in the Plane of Fire.By James M. Ingalls, Captain First Artillery, U.S. Army, Instructor. (New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1886.)