COMMENDED ESSAY, 1898. 
359 
must be done in a short time, before he can repair his mistake. Such 
instances crowd upon the memory or imagination—Artillery incautiously 
showing itself on the march, or unlimbering in a position where its 
arrival is not unexpected or the range of which is known, Cavalry or 
Infantry crowded in a defile, or the like. 
In all these cases decisive effects may be obtained, but to obtain them 
rapid fire must be used: and an equipment that enables rapidity of fire 
to be increased has thus much to recommend it. 
It will be well now to consider to what extent rapidity of fire would 
be increased by the introduction of a Q.F. field equipment. 
Results obtained on the practice ground* show that a good rate of Rate of fire with 
“ magazine ” fire and “ case ” fire at Cavalry and “ surprise ” targets, simp e guns ' 
from modern “ simple ” field guns, is from two to two and a half rounds 
per gun per minute. At longer ranges the fastest times seem to fall to 
only about one round a minute per gun ; but I believe that rapid fire 
has lately been tried at medium ranges, when the rate per minute 
arrived at was about two rounds per gun. For ordinary purposes the 
average rate of fire (other than “ magazine ” fire or with case) is found 
to be only about four to five rounds per minute from a battery of six 
guns : that is without getting bad shooting, or in other words without 
waste of ammunition. As far as rapid fire with “ simple ” guns is con¬ 
cerned however, we may, I think, safely take its rate at about two 
rounds per gun per minute. 
Now Q.F. field guns can undoubtedly do much more than this, but Rateoffire to be 
we must be careful not to over-estimate the rate of fire proposed to be g.F!guns Wlth 
obtained with them, for the following reasons. 
It is quite possible to make a Q.F. gun, intended for field service, 
with which 20 unaimed or 12 or 15 aimed rounds could be fired in a 
minute ; but we can only expect to attain this rapidity on the proof 
range or experimental practice ground, where all conditions are favour¬ 
able—excellent layers, smart detachments well accustomed to the piece, 
ammunition prepared and ready to hand, easy range and well-defined 
targets, and, above all, absence of an enemy. It is not possible that 
similar results would be obtained by detachments composed partly of 
half-trained recruits or young soldiers, partly of reservists just called 
up on mobilization and probably making the acquaintance of the gun 
for the first time ; such detachments working their guns in the hurry 
and bustle of the fight and under the mental stress of hostile fire, their 
enemy perhaps hardly visible. 
Moreover fuzes must be set, and set accurately, or the shell may just 
as well be thrown away ; and the rate of fire of eight rounds per minute 
per gun, suggested as feasible by a French author,! gives less than eight 
seconds for the setting of each fuze ; it is therefore probable that such 
a rate of fire could not be kept up without previous preparation of the 
ammunition—except at the ranges at which we now use “ magazine ” 
fire, for which no preparation of fuze is required. In the examination 
in fuze-setting V 30" is allowed by the “ Instructions for Practice ” for 
setting six fuzes, so we may say a first-class fuze-setter takes nearly 
15 seconds on the average to set a fuze accurately : we must therefore 
* See remarks by Col. Marshall, R.A., in the discussion on Major May’s lecture on 
“ Co-operation between Guns and Cavalry.”—R.A.I. Proceedings, May, 1895. See also 
Okehampton reports. 
t “ La question actuelle de 1’Artillerie de campagne.”—Revue Generale des Sciences, 
15/10/97. 
