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The artillerist's manual and British soldier's compendium

Chapter 25: RICOCHET FIRING.
By F. A. Griffiths
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About This Book

This work compiles practical instructions and technical specifications for artillery and infantry operations, encompassing small arms and percussion firearms, cartridge manufacture, gun carriages, charges, ranges, and gunnery principles. It details service and handling of field and heavy ordnance, battery organization and manoeuvres, naval gun and boat charges, the use of rockets and signalling lights, and procedures for landing seamen with field pieces. Additional material covers drill for riflemen and light infantry, camp and tent management, harness and veterinary guidance, stores and implements, fortification and bridging, and mathematical methods for surveying and estimating distances, supported by plates and diagrams.

8 Inch Gun.
Length, 9 feet; Weight, 65 cwt.; Height of gun above
the plane, 5 feet 7 inches.
Nature Charge. Eleva- First Flight. Second Extreme Time of Number of
of shot. tion. graze. graze. range. flight. grazes.
lb. Degrees. Yards. Sec. Yards. Yards. Sec.
Solid 10 P. B. 315 1”   901 3207 20” 23
10 1° 660 2” 1006 2803 19” 18
10   1½° 818 3” 1240 2433 16” 13
9 P. B. 343 1”   776 2683 17” 12
9 1° 615 2”   970 2483 15” 10

RICOCHET FIRING.

1. When adopted in the field, the guns should seldom be elevated above 3 degrees, as the objects fired at are generally cavalry and infantry, and the lower the angle the longer will the shot preserve its force, and have effect.

2. In the ricochet of a fortification of any kind, the elevation should seldom exceed 10 degrees to throw the shot over the parapet a little higher than the level of the battery; and, on the whole, the best elevation to enfilade a work is from 6 to 9 degrees, measured above the crest of the parapet with corresponding charges.

3. The charge, and elevation being known for any range, when the gun and parapet are on the same level, the same charge, and elevation may be used so long as the difference of level does not exceed one-twentieth of the horizontal distance between them, the elevation being given by the tangent scale, and the gun laid at the parapet, whether above or below its own level.