OKEHAMPTON EXPERIENCES, 1892 . 
143 
The limber for the new gun is made as light as possible, but is still 
in the experimental stage. 
With regard to the 12-pr. service equipment a good many complaints 
have been made, chief of which is that the results of the fire are far 
less than they should be and not commensurate with the work done. 
This was brought prominently into notice last year, when the hits per 
shell were only 1*5. It most be remembered that this average included 
all ranging rounds, but still it cannot be denied that the effect is not 
what it should be. 
The Ordnance Committee have gone into the subject and have been 
trying several designs of shell with the Horse Artillery gun, and with 
the service gun a shrapnel shell weighing about 15 lbs. This latter 
shell contains 252 bullets, a gain of 75 on the service shell. The burst¬ 
ing charge is in the base. (Hear.) The increased weight of the shell 
is counter-balanced by a saving of weight in the cartridge, since the 
charge of cordite required to give a 15-lb. shell a muzzle velocity of 
1550 f.s. is only 1 lb. Of ozs. The recoil is practically the same as at 
present. The common shell has been constantly denounced as being 
useless, except for ranging, as it opens out without breaking up. 
Trials have been made this summer with a cast-iron ring shell, which 
is supposed to give sufficient burst for ranging purposes and, at the 
same time, to break up very completely and be useful as a man-killing 
projectile. The experiments with this shell are not yet concluded, as 
it is to be tried at Lydd on ground that is more favourable to shrapnel 
effect than that of Okehampton. 
There are one or two weak points in the Mark II. carriage. (Hear.) 
The tyre brake is acknowledged to be bad and the proposed substitutes 
have been mentioned above. 
The long elevating screw which was introduced to suit the traversing 
gear is slow and very liable to injury when travelling, as it projects so far 
below the trail. To obviate this a double screw, one working inside the 
other, has been tried. It works more rapidly, and only projects two 
inches below the trail when run down for travelling. This arrange¬ 
ment worked well, but the trial was hardly exhaustive. Two batteries 
had them this year. 
Cordite. 
The great difficulty that has attended the introduction of cordite is 
that of securing a suitable vent and friction tube. The rush of gas, if 
unchecked, is so violent that the ordinary steel vent gutters away and 
is unserviceable after a few rounds (varying from 10 to 30). Apparently 
the only way out of this difficulty lies in some form of vent-sealing tube. 
More than a dozen different forms have been tried, but as yet without 
very much success, and it has been found difficult so far to design any¬ 
thing that will be both effective as a vent-sealer, and at the same time 
not so clumsy as to affect the service of the gun. 
Sights. 
The modified form of Scott's sights having a drum marked in yards 
is a great improvement. It is also fitted with a clinometer level. The 
