75 mm gun

“ We use two sizes, one with .45 bore for the Navy, which takes an all-lead bullet weighing 480 grains, and the other with .303 bore, the ordinary nickel-coated [Pg 101] rifle bullet for the Army. But as the Maxim gun can be adapted to every rifle-calibre ammunition it is patronised by all governments.
The gun itself weighs 56 lbs., and is mounted for use in various ways: on a tripod, a field stand, or a field carriage with wheels. This carriage has sixteen boxes of ammunition, each containing a belt of 250 cartridges, making 4000 rounds altogether. ”

“ The old, smooth-bore field-guns of the enemy would be completely disabled before they could be brought within cannon-shot of the ten thousand. As soon as the enemy came within rifle range, the ten thousand would open on them with their thousand automatic machine-guns and magazine-rifles. As an automatic machine-gun fires at the rate of 600 shots a minute, a thousand would fire at the rate of 600,000 shots a minute. The magazine shoulder-rifles would fire aimed shots at the rate of twenty-five a minute, and the quick-firing field-guns would each fire shrapnel at the rate of forty a minute. ”

“ Within effective range, however, machine guns, if concealed, should inflict considerable loss on hostile artillery. Engagements with their lines of skirmishers should be avoided, for the risk of disclosing the position of the guns and the heavy expenditure of ammunition involved will rarely be justified by results. Since the gun is not well adapted for keeping up protracted fire, it may be often expedient to withdraw it from action, move it elsewhere, or hold it in reserve for a more favourable opportunity. ”

“ The outbreak of the late war saw all modern armies largely equipped with guns resembling the French “75” in a long-run recoil mechanism, weight of projectile and weight of carriage, etc. The fact that the largest number of horses which could best be handled to maneuver the light guns—about 6—could not pull over a long period a gun or caisson with its limber if the weight was more than about 4500 pounds, resulted in the practical standardization of light guns in all armies. ”

“ The impossibility lies in the marksman and in human vision.
In comparing the effects of rifles, then, we shall suppose them, as in government trials and long-range shooting-matches, to be fired from a "dead rest,"—the only way in which the absolute power of a rifle can be shown. First, for the gun itself. There are two laws of gunnery which must be kept in sight in comparing the results of such trials:—1st, that the shape and material of two missiles being the same, the heavier will range the farther, because in proportion to its momentum it meets less resistance from the atmosphere ”

“ This accuracy may be obtained to 30 or 40 yards provided that the bullet is sufficiently large to enter the chamber, but a size too large for the muzzle. It will accordingly squeeze its way through without the slightest windage, and will shoot with great precision, with a charge of 4 1/2 drams of powder and a ball of pure soft lead. A No. 12 is exceedingly powerful, and if 7 lbs. in weight, it can be fired with one hand like a pistol. This is an immense advantage, as the shooter can hold tight by the howdah rail with his left hand, while he uses his gun with the right. ”

“ If within three, four or five inches from the muzzle, the portion so destroyed can be sawed off, the barrels squared up and it will not always seriously affect the shooting of the gun.
In loading a gun be careful that there be no air space left between the charge and the ball or shot cartridge. In double guns, frequent firing the right [138] barrel, which is the one fired the most, the recoil will often cause the ball or shot charge in the left barrel to be thrown forward from the powder, and when it is fired may either strain or burst the barrel. ”

“ With this easily constructed device, much valuable practice may be had, for if the pole is fairly high, the weight will cause the target to slide as rapidly as the average game bird travels. In using this moving target, just as good practice is obtained with a .22-caliber repeater as with a high-power gun. In fact, the high-velocity ammunition should be used only on a regular range, or where a suitable backstop is erected to stop the high-power bullets. Such a backstop may be constructed of heavy lumber, like old railroad ties, in the form of a crib, which is filled in with sand or earth. ”

“ The spin of the bullet keeps its nose pointing forward. If it were not for the rifling, the bullet would tumble over and over, every which way, and it could not go very far through the air, to say nothing of penetrating steel armor. To gain the spinning-motion the bullet must fit into the barrel snugly enough to squeeze into the spiral grooves. Now there is another American machine-gun known as the Hotchkiss, which was used to a considerable extent by the French Army. It is a gas-operated gun, something like the Colt, and it is air-cooled. ”

“ During the last few days the enemy have brought into action from a position within three miles of us a 6-inch gun throwing a 100-lb. shell, which is setting fire to our buildings and is daily causing death among the population. As you are aware, the military guns here are totally inadequate to cope with this new gun. The only weapon which gives any help is one of local manufacture. Under these circumstances, as representing this community, we feel that we are justified in asking whether you have any immediate intention of instructing your troops to advance to our relief. ”

“ The tremendous range of the modern rifle, single arm, or rapid-fire gun, and the development of more powerful explosives for ammunition have wrought this change. The bullet will travel a longer distance at a horizontal position than in the old days when ordinary black powder and a smooth-bore gun were used, and so at hundreds of yards distance the soldiers can aim direct to kill, without making elevation allowances. ”

“ The former seems to be determined by dividing the weight of ammunition a soldier may carry in his cartridge-box by the number of charges he is required to have, and then the gun is made as light as will stand the test of firing,—blunders all the way through; for we never want a rifle-ball to range much farther than it is possible to hit a single man with it; and a missile of the proper shape from a barrel of sixty gauge will kill a man at a mile's distance, if it strike a vital part. ”

“ There are several other types of machine guns, but the most ingenious, and perhaps the most effective, is the Maxim automatic gun. This has a single barrel, about two thirds of which, from the muzzle towards the breech, is surrounded by a water-jacket into which water is automatically injected at each discharge, thus rendering overheating impossible. The mechanism for operating the gun is at the breech, covering the remaining third of the barrel. All that is necessary is to draw back the trigger to fire the first shot ”

“ The “75 per cent.” zone is in the case of the machine-gun about as broad at 2000 yards as that of collective rifle fire at 500. At the School of Musketry, South Africa, a trial between 42 picked marksmen and a Maxim at an unknown range at service targets resulted in 408 rounds from the rifles inflicting a loss of 54% on the enemy’s firing line represented by the targets, and 228 rounds from the Maxim inflicting one of 64%. Another factor is rapidity of fire. ”

“ A small part of the gas generated by the explosion of the individual cartridge operates the mechanism, discharging the bullet, throwing out the empty shell and making ready for the next shot.
A machine gun is designed to enable one man to fire the equivalent of a volley, or series of volleys, discharged by an entire platoon (one-third of a company) of infantrymen. As at present developed, it represents a step toward the evolution of a shoulder-rifle that will throw a continuous stream of bullets. ”

“ The fifty-mile gun that was proposed twenty years ago was designed to stand a much higher pressure than is commonly used, and it would have fired a 10-inch shell weighing 600 pounds with a velocity of 4,000 feet per second at the muzzle.
The Allies built no "super-guns," because they knew that they could drop a far greater quantity of explosives with much greater accuracy from airplanes, and at a much lower70 cost. The German gun at St. Gobain was spectacular and it did some damage, but it had no military value and it did not intimidate the French as the Germans had hoped it would. ”

“ These big muzzle-loaders were formed by shrinking successive jackets over a steel tube which formed the bore. They were rifled with a few wide, shallow grooves, their projectiles being fitted with gun-metal studs intended to travel along the rifling and so give them the spinning movement requisite for accuracy. The biggest guns of this class constructed in this country were the 80-ton guns carried by the Inflexible at the bombardment of Alexandria, though the Italians, who followed us in sticking to muzzle-loaders for a time, had guns of 100 tons. ”

“ The gun’s narrow frontage in action renders it easy to conceal, and when discovered it presents a very small and difficult target to the enemy’s riflemen; on the other hand, when once discovered if it cannot be moved unseen to another position it is liable to suffer a prolonged and concentrated fire from the widely scattered riflemen of the enemy, to which it cannot effectively reply, and which must in time cause loss. Again, its range being limited, it is powerless against artillery except under special circumstances at effective rifle range. ”

“ The 37-mm. gun was an antitank weapon only occasionally employed by the 7th Division because there were few Japanese armored vehicles against which to use it. The excessive difficulty of manhandling it into a position from which fire could be delivered against Japanese pillboxes and machine guns rendered it ineffective for that purpose. The 90-mm. guns of the antiaircraft artillery had a considerable number of erratic bursts because of corroded fuzes and worn fuze setting lugs. ”

“ In sporting guns snow may accidentally get into the muzzle or a lump of dirt may “somehow” get in so as to fill the bore, and when the gun is fired, it will probably, yes, most certainly be blown off or blown open where the obstruction exists; the muzzle of a gun being thrust into water for a couple of inches or more will have like effect. The gas formed by burning the powder finds no outlet of escape, and the whole expansive force concentrates itself on the weakest portion of the barrel, and as a result it is forced apart. ”

“ In seven minutes of continuous firing the barrel had grown so large that the rifling failed to grip the bullet at all. The gun was no better than an old-fashioned smooth-bore. The bullets would not travel more than three hundred yards. It is because of this danger of overheating that the Colt and the Hotchkiss guns are always furnished with a spare barrel. As soon as a barrel gets hot it is uncoupled and the spare one is inserted in its place. Our men are trained to change the50 barrel of a colt in the dark in a quarter of a minute. ”

“ The range being so short one can conjecture that the German gunners, realising that they could not miss, pumped ammunition into us at the utmost speed of which their guns were capable without regard to the particular damage which they were likely to cause. Their loss of serenity, due in the {180} first place to the novel circumstances of the case, must have been considerably augmented by the fact that our own projectiles were hitting the wall near the gun muzzles—it was too much to hope that we should actually obtain any hits on the guns themselves. ”

“ Guns of this class are capable of firing service small-arm ammunition at the rate of 800 shots in one minute, but this very high rate of fire is obviously undesirable for several reasons—the principal, from a military point of view, being that, however skilfully the gun is handled, a great waste of ammunition must ensue, and hundreds of shots be wasted in space, however accurate the fire. ”

“ The modern field gun is made of steel, is rifled, loads at the breech, and has great rapidity and accuracy of fire. The extreme range of the 3.2-inch field gun in the United States service is about four miles. This, in fact, is beyond the ordinary range of human vision, and it is but rarely that the ground for so great a distance is free from features that obstruct the view. For these reasons the fire of field guns can seldom be utilized beyond a range of two miles.301 The projectile of the 3.2-inch field gun weighs 131⁄2 pounds, and the charge of powder 31⁄2 pounds. ”

“ Most of their guns were out of action, their ammunition was nearly all expended, they were under a rifle fire that scourged the guns with whips of steel and lead, that cut down any man who moved from the shelter of his gun’s shield. Such guns as were left, such men as could move, continued to fire as best they might at ranges that kept getting still shorter and shorter. ”

“ But the main objection to the second plan is that the volume of effective fire is enormously diminished by the omission of eight-inch guns. The larger area covered with their armor is fairly safe from the six-inch gun at fighting ranges, whereas the eight-inch projectile at any range, and at even a considerable angle of383 incidence, will penetrate it.” In the judgment of the present writer the weight of this argument depends upon what is behind the armor the eight-inch only will penetrate. If battery and men, it is strong, if not decisive ”

“ With all muzzle-loading rifles, the projectile had to be pushed close home to the powder charge; otherwise, the blast would not fully expand its rotating band, the projectile would not take the grooves, and would "tumble" after leaving the gun, to the utter loss of range and accuracy. Incidentally, gunners had to "run out" (push the gun into firing position) both smoothbore and rifled muzzle-loaders carefully. A sudden stop might make the shot start forward as much as 2 feet. ”