197 
FIELD ARTILLERY FIRE. 
BY 
CAPTAIN W. L. WHITE, R.A., 
(School of Gunnery, Shoeburyness.) 
CHAPTER III. 
Effective Fire. 
The great desideratum being to open an “effective fire” before the 
enemy can do so, it will be as well to investigate what is meant by 
effective fire, before dealing with the methods by which it may be ar¬ 
rived at. 
The projectiles of the 12-pr. B.L. gun with which the effect is to be 
produced are, in our service, at present as follows : 
A case shot containing 314 bullets at 34 to the pound. 
A shrapnel shell containing 177 bullets at 84 to the pound and 
having its bursting charge in the head. 
A common shell of forged steel, containing a bursting charge of 
lb. and breaking up on explosion into some three or four 
pieces. 
In order to compare our projectiles with those of foreign artilleries, 
a table showing the leading characteristics of foreign field guns is 
added. Chapter XI. 
The principal differences in the ammunition of foreign countries as 
compared with our own are : 
a. That they all use an iron ring shell in preference to a common 
shell of steel or iron. These ring shell break up into from 100 
to 160 pieces. The French use neither common nor ring shell, 
except for high explosives, but iu lieu thereof use their old 
shrapnel “ obus a balles ” which carries its bursting charge 
down the centre. 
b. All shrapnel have the bursting charge in the base, except the 
French “ obus a mitraille,” which, like our own, has it in the 
head. 
c. Germany and France have adopted a high explosive for use as 
the bursting charge of a certain proportion of common shell. 
6 . VOL. XIX. 27 
