Schneider-Canet 75mm field gun type PR
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I. Features Gun-body in
hardened steel and hooped housing to the muzzle composed by a tube and two
jackets assembled by a screwed hoop. Breech with eccentric screw mechanism,
interrupted threads, opening with an uninterrupted single action of the
hand-lever. Repeat firing device with
hammer and safety arrangement against premature fire and prolonged fires. Covering tubes of the
cylinders of the buffer and the recuperator, assembled to the gun, and
recoiling with it. They can be easily
dismantled. Hydraulic buffer
containing the check buffer. Spring recuperator divided
in two columns lodged into two covering tubes. Cradle of stamped steel sheet of
the same kind of the shield carrying the bronzed recoil slides. Elevating gear fitted
for an independent line of sight with range dial device on the right, and
sitogoniometer (goniometric angle of site measurer) on the left. Goniometric sighting gear
with optical sight. Prismatic device for back aiming. Carriage of
stamped steel sheet. Traversing on
axletree bed. Trail spade composed
by a fixed ploughshare in forged steel and a folding part in steel
sheet. Firing seats for the
aimer and the firer. Wooden wheels with
steel tyre and steel nave. Gun-shield made by
steel sheet of the French artillery type Gun and wagon limber of the
same kind, with chests for the ammunition and knapsack-rack with grid to
carry the cannoners equipment. Armoured wagon body that can
be tilted, provided of a trail that, depending on the circumstances, can
receive an armoured observatory. Fixed ammunition lodged in
the sockets. Shrapnel with
charge at the bottom equipped with time and percussion fuze. Thin-walled high explosive shell
equipped with percussion fuze and loaded with high explosive (Schneiderite). Pure
nitrocellulose powder
made in France. Mechanical fuze-setter for time
and percussion fuzes lodged in the shrapnel ammunition wagons. II. General properties The power is
obtained by means of a projectile weighting The
mobility is very satisfactory due
not only to the moderate weight of wagons and carriages, but also to their
balancig and good states of their drawing. The
steadiness on firing is complete.
The accurate setting of the return cylinder buffer and of the check buffer
suppressed at the same time the recoil, the rising, and the tendency to
throwing during the retun in firing position. The traversing gear shifting on
the axletree bed suppressed the entire systemic component which tends to
deregulate the traversing. The
complete return in firing position
is assured under angles greatly superior to those enabled by the carriage.
The action of the check buffer assures a return in firing position regular
and without shock. The division of the spring in two columns, both composed
by many elements, makes unimportant the breaking of a spring; the breaking of
a spring is greatly reduced by the weak rate where their metal works. The
ranging fire and the progressive fire with time fuze are made widely easier by the adoption
of the independent line of sight. The
execution of the indirect fire is
as simple as the direct fire, owing to the combined arrangements of the
aiming, sighting, and observation devices. The
safety on fire is complete; the
eccentricity of the breech and the mechanical safety-piece of the firing gear
prevent any trouble. The protection of the cannoners is
perfectly assured thanks to the gun-shield and to the tilted armoured wagon, placed
side by side next to the gun. The
rapidity of fire can reach a rate
of 25 – 30 rounds per minute with progressive and sweeping fire with time
fuze, thanks to the easiness of the breech action, the independence of the
loading and of the aiming operations, to the use of the fuze-setter, and good
layout of the artillery matériel as a whole. III. Numerical references and data
SOURCE : This
is the translation of an advertisement of the French firm Schneider-Canet
published in 1908 (SCHNEIDER & CIE. Matériel de campagne ŕ tir rapide de For the Bulgarian artillery, Schneider built two
different prototypes of the 75mm field gun with springs: PR and PR1. At the
request of the French Navy in 1916, these two guns were installed on a center
pivot mount and employed to arm two requisitioned trawlers. |
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