396 
MINUTES OE PROCEEDINGS OF 
ENGLISH VERSUS GERMAN FIELD GUNS; 
A COMPARISON. 
BT 
LIEUT. S. C. PRATT, E.A. 
Till very recently it has been difficult to obtain reliable data as to 
the new German held guns. It is, however, impracticable to preserve 
an impenetrable veil over such a subject, and the details embodied in 
the following table (corrected, as far as possible, up to date) may be 
assumed to be nearly correct. At first sight it seems strange that the 
German Confederation should have re-armed the whole of their artillery 
force with weapons differing in no essential principle from the B.L. held 
guns employed in the last war. A consideration of the following figures 
will, however, tend to dispel any-doubt as to the wisdom of the change, 
if it is remembered that the old 8 C and 9 C guns were inferior in almost 
every point to the 9-pr. and 16-pr. M.L. guns in our service. 
English. 
German. 
English. 
German. 
Horse 
artillery 
9-pr. M.L. 
Light field 
battery 
9-pr. M.L. 
Horse 
artillery 
7*85 c B.L. 
(officially 8 C .) 
Field 
battery 
16-pr. M.L. 
Field battery 
8-8 c B.L.' 
(officially 9 C .) 
Weight of gun. 
6 cwt. 
8 cwt. 
7‘68 cwt. 
12 cwt. 
8-86 cwt. 
Calibre . 
3 ins. 
3 ins. 
3*09 ins. 
3’6ins. 
3'46 ins. 
Preponderance. 
10 lbs. 
7 lbs. 
99 lbs. 
10 lbs. 
99 lbs. 
Number of grooves. 
3 
3 
24 
3 
24 
Length of rifling. 
62*3 ins. 
59‘8 ins. 
60-2 ins. 
58‘04 ins. 
58 - 8ins. 
Twist in calibres . 
1 in 30 
1 in 30 . 
lin 50 
lin 30 
1 in 50 
Weight of gun-carriage packed... 
2057 lbs. 
2320 lbs. 
1966 lbs. 
2957 lbs. 
2163 lbs. 
Charge ... 
1-75 lb. 
1-75 lb. 
275 lbs. 
3 lbs. 
3-3 lbs. 
Initial velocity (feet per second) 
1391ft. 
1381 ft. 
1522 ft. 
1352 ft. 
1460 ft. 
Common shell (full) . 
9-1 lbs. 
9-1 lbs. 
11*2 lbs. 
16-2 lbs. 
15-4 lbs. 
Bursting charge . 
7‘5 ozs. 
7*5 ozs. 
6'5 ozs. 
18 ozs. 
9^ ozs. 
Shrapnel (full) . 
9*8 lbs. 
9*8 lbs. 
12-2 lbs. 
16-4 lbs. 
17-9 lbs. 
Number of bullets in shrapnel ... 
63 
63 
122 
119 
209 
Bounds carried (gun and limber) 
40 
40 
40 
28 
34 
Total rounds (gun and wagon) ... 
148 
148 
154* 
100 
136* 
Weight behind gun-team . 
3778 lbs. 
4051 lbs. 
3936 lbs. 
4768 lbs. 
4222 lbs. 
* Eight ammunition wagons to each battery. 
Note. —The German guns are of cast-steel, strengthened at the breech by a wrought-iron jacket. 
The grooves are V-shaped and diminish in size towards the muzzle. The breech is closed by a soft 
metal gas-check tightened up by a cylindro-prismatic wedge. 
