SILVER MEDAL PRIZE ESSAY, 1898. 
309 
suggested, this can hardly be done. Even where a “ spade v exists, at 
the end of a trail, some difficulty may be experienced, though possibly 
not much extra exertion will be needed, unless the spade should be 
particularly heavy aud cumbersome as it certainly appears to be in 
carriages of the type proposed by “ Canet.”* * * § 
The Q.F. field equipment has also been objected to on the score of 
want of accuracy in shooting. This undoubtedly was a fault of the 
earlier equipments, where the “jump” was considerable, but this 
defect has been to a great extent overcome in some of the carriages 
more recently made. This was proved in a series of trials which a 
short time ago took place in South Africa. It was there shown that a 
battery of Q.F. field guns was capable of firing with great accuracy at 
a range of 1,250 metres.! Also, in a trial for rapidity and accuracy 
with a 13-pr. Maxim Nordenfelt Q.F. gun on a field carriage, it was 
found that 75% of the shrapuel bullets fired, at a range of about 2,200 
metres struck the dummies aimed at.f 
The working of the Q.F. gun is also influenced by the difference in 
ammunitiou, and this affects the utility of the weapon for service pur¬ 
poses. The metal cartridge case, so well known in connection with 
quick firers, is open to serious objections, the chief of which, briefly 
are :— 
(1.) Extra weight (our 12-pr. Q.F. case, empty, weighs 5£ lbs.).§ 
(2.) Liability to damage in limbers and become detached from the 
projectiles, if these are fixed to them. 
(3.) Danger to horses when many empty cases are lying about. 
(4.) Necessity for either hand or automatic extractor. 
On the other hand, the metal case, containing as it does its own 
system of obturation, and also the means of igniting the charge, enables 
a simpler arrangement for closing the breech to be adopted, and 
at once does away with the use of friction tubes. Also there is no 
danger of scoring or damage to the vent, for vents and removable vent 
bushes are no longer needed. But the objections outweigh these 
advantages. Until quite recently experts have maintained that the 
metal case is a necessity, and many appear to be still of this opinion. 
They urge that the system of obturation so successfully used with our 
field guns is not applicable to quick firers, but trials which have lately 
taken place rather point to their being mistaken in this. The French 
claim to have introduced a Q.F. field piece, with which “ bare ” 
cartridges are used,|| and from recent experiments made by us with 
heavy quick firers, it would seem that the metal case is by no means 
necessary.^ The abolition of the case might possibly result in some 
slight diminution in rapidity of fire, but notwithstanding the value of 
rapid fire, a small sacrifice in this respect would seem fully compensated 
for by the advantages otherwise gained. Although rapidity of fire is 
* “Revue de l’Armee Beige,” November, December, 1896, diagram page 132. 
t “ Revue de l’Armee Beige,” May, June, 1897, page 99. 
X “ Revue d’Artillerie.” February, 1898, page 459. 
§ “ Handbook 12-pr. Q.F. gun,” 1896, page 12. 
|| “ Revue de l’Armee Beige,” July, August, 1896, page 93. 
If “R.U.S. Institution Journal,” Nov., 1897, page 1423, Jan. 1898, page 79, Mar. 1898, 
page 319, 
