SHRAPNEL FIRE. 
188 
of descent becomes greater, and the ricochet is consequently less effective; 
(3) the angle of the cone of dispersion increasing, it is not so necessary 
to be so far back to obtain the same amount of spread on the object; 
(4) as the angle of descent becomes larger, the amount of ground 
covered by the cone in the direction of the range is smaller; (5) as 
the velocity of the bullets becomes smaller, they tend to fall propor¬ 
tionately further below the trajectory of the shell. 
The following distances of burst may, it is believed, be safely pro¬ 
posed as the best for objects with an extended front:— 
16-pr. ... 
9-pr. ... 
Yards short. Front covered. 
C Under 1000 yds. range . 100 ... 42’0 ft. 
\ From u to 2000 yds. range ... 80 ... 33’6 „ 
j „ 2000yds. to 3000 „ ... 60 ... 25'2 „ 
\ Above this range... 50 ... 21*0 „ 
f Under 1000 yds. range . 80 ... 33’6 „ 
\ From „ to 2000 yds. range ... 60 ... 25 - 2 „ 
j u 2000yds. to 3000 „ ... 40 ... 16*8 „ 
V. Above this range . 30 ... 12'6 „ 
This power of spreading the effect, the value of which need hardly 
be insisted upon, is peculiar to shrapnel with time fuzes only, as will be 
shown further on. 
3. The plans of the ground covered by an effective fire in the case 
of the two lengths of burst of the shell shown in Fig. V., are shown in 
Figs. VI. and VII. The distances covered from front to rear in the 
different lengths of range and burst shown in Figs. I., II., III., IV., 
and V., are as follows :—- 
Burst 
short. 
From target. 
Total 
Range. 
First strike 
in front. 
Last strike 
in rear. 
ground 
covered. 
m 
yds. 
yds. 
yds. 
yds. 
1000 . 
150 
82 
330 
410 
// . 
100* 
52 
300 
352 
It . 
100f 
58 
282 
340 
2000 . 
100 
42 
127 
171 
« . 
80 
35 
120 
155 
2500 . 
100 
36 
100 
136 
// . 
60 
22 
73 
95 
* Laid for centre of target. f Laid for bottom of target. 
That these distances are covered in practice may be inferred from the 
experiment recorded at p. 16 Okehampton Keport. Here a battery 
of 16-prs. was in action against two lines of 100 dummies each, one 
1000 yds. the other 1210 yds. distant from it. 35 rounds of shell were 
fired, which were burst on the average about IQOyds. short of the 
