The New French Gun.

Manawatu Herald, 29 November 1900, Page 3

The New French Gun.

■ ■♦ In the account given by the correspondent of the Times of the military manoeuvres held in France recently, a description is given of the new 7501 m. quick-firing gun, the plans of which, it was stated, had been sent to the United States Government. The chief point of the weapon is the pneumatic buffer which gets rid of the recoil sufficiently to necessitate a very slight readjustment of the barrel, once the gun has been laid. The correspondent of the Times did not discover at once the principle on which the pneumatic buffer worked. He says that before the gun was laid the trail was lifted to an angle of 45deg., and brought sharply down to the ground ; and he thinks that this was not/entirely with a view to driving in the spade, but that by this action in some way or other the pneumatic buffer is loaded. He came to this conclusion partly from the sound produced, and partly from the fact that if the gun team stood fast for some time without firing the action was repeated. There was no doubt about the excellence of the mechanism. Only the gun, and not the carriage, ran back after the shot, even though twenty rounds were fired in quick succession. The principle of this gun was one of the secrets which Captain Dreyfus was accused of disclosing to the German attache.