552 
THE EQUIPMENT OE FIELD ARTILLERY. 
Proportion of 
weight of powder charge 
to weight of shell. 
Austrian 10|-pr. 
. 1:5 
M.Y. 1385 f.s. 
Krupp 26J-pr.... 
. 1:4-8 
a 
1443 „ 
German 11-pr. 
. 1:4 
II 
1525 „ 
Armstrong 13-pr. B.L. 
. 1:3-7 
II 
1600 „ 
Trench 12-pr. 
... ... 1:3-7 
II 
1608 „ 
Vavasseur 13-pr. 
. 1:2-2 
II 
1904 „ 
By the latest manufactures in guns also it has been shown that great 
increase of muzzle energy can be obtained within the weights of 8 cwt. 
and 12 cwt. for 12-pr. and 20-pr. respectively. 
position ° f With regard to the gun of position, there at present exists no 
model of what modern science can achieve, nor is it easy to lay down 
any limit with regard to the maximum weight of equipment. We know 
that 18-prs. were used in the Crimea, and that the weight of this gun 
alone, without its carriage, was 32 cwt., and the carriages and fittings 
of 25 years ago were very cumbrous according to our present ideas. 
The 40-pr. M.L.R. gun, carriage, and limber, with 18 rounds, weighs 
about 88 cwt., and, as we have seen, 12 horses are supposed to 
transport at a walk 103 cwt.; it therefore does not seem too much to 
expect that we can now produce a B.L. gun that shall fire a 501b. 
projectile with a high velocity, and that its equipment will admit of its 
being brought into the field. In guns of this kind, flatness of tra¬ 
jectory is just as essential as in the lighter patterns, and this we would 
assert in spite of all that has been urged in favour of howitzers, since 
the experience of Plevna opened up a new line of thought. “We must 
not expect to find a Plevna in every campaign,” and if a campaign is 
going to assume the appearance of a siege, or a succession of sieges, 
then we must draw upon the siege train for our weapons; but the field 
artillery should be equipped on the broad basis of the experience of 
European warfare, and this does not point to the re-introduction of the 
howitzer for field purposes. If we consider the tactical requirements of 
artillery, we will admit that the chief opportunities for high angle fire 
would be in the preliminary stage of the attack of strong earthworks, 
woods, or villages; but we must remember that field guns can apply 
this mode of fire, if necessary, and common shells of improved pattern 
of 30 lbs. or 50 lbs. weight would be found sufficient for all ordinary 
emergencies. 
With an improved armament, moreover, we might expect to effect 
something against field works by direct fire. Nearly 20 years ago a 
40-pr. shot penetrated 14 ft. into clay at a range of 1060 yds, with 
a charge of 5 lbs., and a muzzle velocity of 1180 f.s., and in November, 
1879, the experimental 13-pr., with its service charge, at a range of 
1090 yds., penetrated 3 ft. into a target of “concrete wall 3 ft. thick, 
6 months old, face of wall 66° to line of fire.” It, therefore, is not 
impossible to oppose any field work likely to be constructed on the 
field of battle by direct fire , with the one exception of blinded cover , 
against which high angle fire must be used, and for this purpose, as 
before stated, the ordinary gun with a reduced charge is available. 
