156 
Q.F. FIELD EQUIPMENTS ON THE CONTINENT. 
Spain, Belgium and Switzerland are carrying out trials with new 
designs of equipments. * 
A good deal of interest, not to say excitement, was caused when a 
short time ago it was announced that the Germans and French were 
actually rearming their field artillery with a Q.F. gun. It appears to 
be more than doubtful as to how far any of the field equipments, of 
whose trials anything is known, are entitled to be called quick fivers 
in the sense that that term has been hitherto employed. We know now 
pretty well what the German gun is like; about the French gun a 
good many wild statements have been made and rates of fire up to 
twenty-five rounds a minute have been claimed for it; most people 
will however require some substantial proof before accepting all that 
is claimed for this gun.f 
Full details have long been published^ as to many field guns which 
have been designed for rapid fire by private firms in England or on 
the continent. Great ingenuity has been exhibited in their designs 
and many novel expedients have been introduced with a view to 
checking recoil and facilitating loading and laying. Rates of fire of 
ten to fifteen rounds a minute are claimed, and yet we find that none 
of these guns, though many of them have been tried, have produced 
any such wonderful results as to induce any Power to instantly adopt 
them ; the introduction of a brass cartridge case and a spade under 
the trail do not in themselves make a gun a quick-firer, and it would 
seem that we are as jet a long way from obtaining the ideal gun and 
carriage which should be such that the gun after firing should return 
to the same position as it was in before firing. In fact it seems ex¬ 
tremely doubtful if such equipment can be made. The adoption by 
Germany and certain other Powers of brass cartridge cases is probably 
largely due to difficulties which have been experienced with the Krupp 
breech mechanism when using smokeless powders. 
But now that universal attention has been turned to increasing the 
rapidity of fire, it will no doubt be found possible to improve breech 
mechanisms, firing arrangements, sights, fuzes and ammunition supply 
and also to reduce the recoil. The Germans appear to have made 
great improvements in all these respects. 
* The United States are also reported to be carrying out similar trials. The Transvaal pur¬ 
chased some Schneider Q.F. field guns in 1896; Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico and Japan are all stated 
to be trying various equipments. 
f Twelve rounds a minute is about the most that can be got out of the 12-pr. Q.F. gun of 12 cwt. 
when mounted in a permanent work. 
$ Revue d* Artillerie , 1896-7-8. 
