This new automatic machine gun has been adopted by the United States Army, Navy and Marine Corps. It is handled by two men, one to aim and fire it, the other to feed the cartridges which are held in brass clips of 30 each. The complete gun weighs only about 35 pounds, fires 400 shots per minute, using regular 30-caliber Springfield rifle cartridges, with a maximum range of 3 miles and an effective range of about 2,000 yards. The weapon is air cooled and can be fired steadily for about 10 minutes without undue heating.
Three-inch Field Gun, Long Recoil Carriage and Limber
Weight of gun, carriage and limber complete, including 36 rounds of ammunition, 4,200 pounds; ground clearance, 22.5 inches. Seats are provided on axle of carriage for two gunners in transportation, one of whom operates the road brake.
Courtesy of the Bethlehem Steel Co.
The development of the rifle from the old smooth-bore musket, by cutting grooves or channels in the form of a screw in the interior surface, was found so advantageous in increase of precision of aim and length of range, that the rifling of cannon in time followed and is now universally used. Breech loading has also replaced muzzle loading, another vast advantage in the use of artillery. A form of breech-loading cannon was introduced in the sixteenth century, but the advantageous use of this device is of late invention. An important result of these changes is the use of elongated instead of round balls, this permitting of the employment of much heavier projectiles for the same width of bore.
Modern Cannon.
Until 1888 the largest cannon in use was the 119-ton Krupp, made in 1884 for Italy; but in 1888-90 the same house produced a 135-ton gun for Cronstadt. The heaviest British gun at that time was of 111-ton weight. This threw a projectile of 1,800 pounds with a muzzle velocity of 2,216 feet per second. But there later came a reaction in favor of lighter guns and quick firers. The heavy cannon of recent times are not cast, as of old, but are made of forged-steel by what is known as the building-up process. The different parts of these are called the tube, jacket, hoops, locking rings, trunnion rings, wire winding, etc.