364 
COMMENDED ESSAY, 1898. 
The gun. 
The mounting. 
be as simple as possible : and I believe that no constructor has, up to the 
present, been able to produce a Q.F. field gun and mounting that can be 
called simple as compared with ordinary field equipments. 
To take the gun first. To load quickly it must have some form of 
single motion breech action, involving several additional parts to actuate 
the breech screw, and much accurate fitting of them together. To 
enable the layer to fire the gun as soon as he is ready—a necessary 
arrangement if the gun is to be really a quick firer—mechanism is 
required of some kind which cannot be so simple as a friction tube and 
lanyard. If metallic cartridge cases are used, there must be added some 
form of extractor to eject the fired case. 
The mounting of a Q.F. gun must differ in many respects from 
an ordinary field carriage. In the first place it must be so constructed 
that after the first round there shall be practically no movement of the 
wheels to the rear on firing, so as to eliminate the operation of running 
up after each round, and to enable the layer to keep at his sights during 
the fire. This is effected by some sort of anchorage in the shape of a 
spade, or broad plate of steel, attached either to axletree or trail, and so 
arranged as to be automatically driven into the ground at the first 
round, when it takes a bearing and holds the carriage from further 
movement to the rear. Brakes are also added to assist. The result of 
this forcible holding of the carriage in a fixed position is that, on firing, 
an enormous stress is brought upon the structure. The stress is not so 
great when the spade is attached to the axletree, but is still very con¬ 
siderable. This entails either an otherwise unnecessary increase of 
weight in giving additional strength to resist the shock, or the adoption 
of a buffer with all its complications and liability to derangement, 
to reduce its violence, or both. Either of these arrangements is 
objectionable from the field gunner’s point of view. 
It must also be remembered that the spade would not act on rocky 
ground. Also, if under the trail, no traversing can be done with the 
handspike when the spade is in the ground, and this points to the 
advisability of providing a mechanical traversing gear on the carriage, 
under the hand of the layer : the quick-firing qualities of the gun 
as regards quick laying would certainly be improved by this addition, 
but it means extra weight and further complication of mechanism. It 
is possible however, that this traversing gear might be dispensed with, 
taking into account the fact that field guns have, as a rule, to be layed 
carefully for elevation, but only roughly for direction. 
In the case of Q.F. guns mounted on board ship or in fortresses, the 
recoiling mass—gun and mounting—can be made very heavy, which 
will much diminish the violence of recoil, and facilitate its suppression 
with a view of increasing the rate of fire : but this cannot be done with 
a Q.F. field gun without either increasing the weight behind the teams, 
or diminishing the number of rounds that can be carried on gun and 
limber. Some constructors propose that extra weight shall be given to 
the gun and carriage, when in action, by seating two of the gunners 
working the gun on the mounting during firing : but the evil effects on 
the men during long continued firing would probably be so great as to 
render this method inadmissible. 
We see then that we cannot have a Q.F. field gun without compli¬ 
cations, more or less, of gun and mounting ; which imply extra weight 
behind teams, cannot be depended upon to act properly on service, and 
are not easy for comparatively untrained men to understand. 
