SILVER MEDAL PRIZE ESSAY, 1898. 
313 
effect, a comparison of shrapnel fire alone is necessary, for except at 
“ case ” ranges these projectiles only will be used. 
The supporters of a powerful gun of the present type, hope to 
obtain a 14-lb. shell containing from 280 to 300 bullets * * * § (our 14-pr., 
—or 15-pr. as it is called—only contains 200 t) but unless the bullets 
are smaller than ours, and therefore less effective, it seems, expecting 
somewhat too much to hope for such a shell. Our 12-pr. Horse 
Artillery shrapnel, contains only 162 J bullets but these might no doubt 
be increased to 200 in the 12-pr. Q.F. shell, if the bullets were made 
as small as the 300 in the 14-pr. shrapnel. The advantage therefore 
in shell power, rests with the existing type of field gun, and may be 
taken approximately as 3 to 2. This is a liberal concession in favour 
of the heavier shrapnel, for it has still to be shown that a 14-pr. shell 
of that power can be made. 
We have now to see where the advantage lies in the matter of 
rapidity of fire. To ascertain this, the results of actual trials are 
alone of value. 
A trial between a quick firer and a field gun for rapidity of fire is 
reported in the R.A. Institution Proceedings and the result shews that 
the quick firer fired at the rate of six rounds of aimed fire a minute, 
while the field gun only fired at the rate of two rounds per minute. § 
But the Q.F. was a light gun, a 6-pr., whereas the field gun was a 
powerful one, the result being, that the hits on the target, calculated 
in hits per pound of shell, were the same with both guns. This 
example is instructive, because it shows clearly, that the Q.F. gun 
confers no advantages at all, if its calibre is considerably less than 
that of the gun with which it is compared. A light Q.F. also has all 
the drawbacks inseparable from the use of weak shells. Another trial 
with a somewhat similar Q.F. gun, a 6-pr. by Krupp, was made in 
Germany with very similar results. || These and other experiments, 
convinced experts of the necessity of increasing the power of their Q.F. 
guns, and improvements in manufacture have since enabled much more 
powerful Q.F. field guns to be made. 
One of the most interesting trials with one of these is recorded in 
the “ Revue de FArmee Beige,” June 1897, where a detailed account 
is given of a trial consisting of several series fired for rapidity of aimed 
fire. The gun used was 12-pr. Schneider Q.F. on a field carriage, and 
the results gave an average of very nearly eight rounds of aimed fire 
a minute. There can be no doubt that the gun was carefully laid, for 
although the ranges were short the diagrams given represent all the 
shell as having struck the small target aimed at. A still more re¬ 
markable result is quoted in the “ Revue d^Artillerie,” February 1898. 
In this instance a 12-pr. Q.F. Maxim-Nordenfelt field gun fired 10 
rounds of aimed shrapnel in 59 seconds, with excellent results. Thus, 
so far as rapidity of fire is concerned, great possibilities may be looked 
* “ Journal U.S. Institution,” Nov. 1897, page 1393. 
f “Handbook 15-pr. B.L.,” page 26. 
X “ Handbook 12-pr. (6 cwt.),” 1896, page 22. 
§ “ The field gun of the future.” R.A. Institution Proceedings, Sept. 1895, page 6. 
|| “La Revue Militaire del’Etranger,” 1893, page, 225. 
