THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
249 
much the fairest plan that both guns should have the same length of 
bore, and that the only variable should be the calibre? We must 
bear in mind that the length of a field gun, in a great measure, 
depends upon convenience in travelling and working. There is a 
certain length which it is not advisable to exceed. 
The fact of a field gun being 3’6 or 3*3 inches in calibre cannot in¬ 
fluence the practical conditions which govern the length of the gun. The 
inference, therefore, that the latter gun would be improved by an increase 
of length, cannot be accepted as an argument in favour of the smaller 
bore. 
The following table gives the lengths of the rifled field guns in use in 
the principal armies of Europe :— 
Table I. 
Nation^ 
Total length of gun. 
Light field piece, 
corresponding to 
British 9-pr. 
Heavy field piece, 
corresponding to 
British 16-pr. 
ins. 
ins. 
England . 
72*00 
78*00 
Austria. 
54*45 
66*38 
France . 
62*99 
79*21 
Prussia. 
74*00 
78*00 
Italy. 
64*17 
85*20* 
Russia . 
70*00 
73*00 
Spain . 1 
76*16 
81*44 
With regard to the latter part of the paragraph, the chain of reason¬ 
ing appears to be that because 31b. of L.Gr. powder has given a muzzle 
velocity of only 1283 ft., as compared with 1358 ft. given by R.L.Gr., 
in a 3*6-in. gun, therefore L.Gr. powder would have given a better 
comparative result in the two guns, as regards muzzle velocity, than 
R.L.Gr. 
This argument, of course, mainly rests upon the figures 1283. If 
these figures correctly represent the normal muzzle velocity with 3 lb. 
of L.Gr. in the 3*6-in. calibre, the argument is legitimate; if they do not 
do so, the argument is groundless. 
To enable my readers to judge for themselves, I shall here quotef the 
official tables which give the results of velocity trials with R.L.Gr. in the 
3*3 and Sffi-in. guns, as well as those of subsequent trials of L.Gr. in the 
3*6-in. gun, and from which the author of “Flat Trajectories” must 
have derived his information. 
* A 24-pr. of 14cwt. 
t “ Extracts from the Quarterly Reports of Proceedings of the Department of Director of 
Artillery,” Vol. IX., p. 143. 
