570 
THE EQUIPMENT OP FIELD ARTILLERY. 
room for one of a lighter description also, thus heavy and light moun¬ 
tain batteries might be organized. 
mountain 56. For this purpose, a gnn that has been greatly used in America 
gun. is worthy of notice; its weight is only 112 lbs., and it has hitherto 
been mounted on a travelling carriage weighing 120 lbs.; but this, no 
doubt, could be replaced by a much lighter one without wheels.* The 
gun is a breech-loader, and it fires a metallic cartridge which contains 
SeeNoteF. both powder charge and shell, and has a range of 7000 yds. To 
avoid the risk of having a percussion cap in the cartridge, the gun 
is fired by a friction tube in the following manner:—The bottom 
of the cartridge is closed by two metal discs: the inner is shown in 
Fig. 6, the outer in Fig. 5. In the outer disc is one hole, in the inner 
there are three symmetrically placed. The gas from the friction tube 
enters at the hole (a) in Fig. 5, and, pressing out the inner disc, ignites 
the powder by means of the holes (b) Fig. 6. When the charge 
explodes, the inner disc is forced back upon the outer, and the hole (a) 
is closed, perfect obturation being thus obtained. The breech is closed 
by a simple sliding breech-block, and the gun could be served by one 
man, though three are more convenient. If a carriage without wheels 
were adopted, two mules could carry the gun, carriage, and 60 or 70 
rounds; if a third mule were employed a total of 150 rounds could be 
carried. 
Machine gun 57. In mountain equipment there is also scope for a good machine 
batteries, gun, but here tightness is a sine qua non , and power must give way to it. 
Without asserting that any one gun is the best for this purpose, we 
would recommend some such weapon as the Gardiner machine gun, 
mounted as shown in Plate YI. The weight of the gun and tripod is 
201 lbs., and a certain amount of delicacy of construction may be 
passed over in a mitrailleur for mountain service as the mode of carriage 
protects it to a certain extent from jars and shaking. 
Mantlets. 
Rockets. 
Instruc¬ 
tional aids. 
58. Small steel mantlets, say 3 ft. x 6 ft. x ins., which would be 
easily transported, would be of great service and afford protection from 
sharp-shooters, and are as necessary to mountain equipment as shields 
are to a field gun. 
59. Rockets are also eminently suited for mountain service; from 
recent experiments it appears likely that we can obtain a trustworthy 
rocket with a guncotton head; when this is accomplished a supply 
should also accompany the Army Corps. 
60. Range-finders and signal apparatus would of course always 
accompany a mountain battery. 
61. We will close this paper with a few words upon “ Instructional 
Aids,” which should form part of the equipment of every battery in 
peace time, and which would enable the battery officers to impart that 
information to their men, without which all improvement in guns and 
ammunition is a delusion and a snare. 
With such a carriage a buffer would probably be necessary as the recoil is very great. 
