the field artillery journal - Fort Sill - U.S. Army

THE FIELD ARTILLERY JOURNAL
failed to give proper analysis to the real contributing causes.
There rests an easy process of reasoning in such statements as:
"the play of the gun permitted an error of 17 mils . . . making in
all a cumulative error of 21 mils. . . . Errors as large as 375
yards in range have been found to exist," or again, "the lost
motion in the traversing and elevating mechanisms of the 3inch
carriages is such that it is impracticable to obtain accurate
firing with carriages in this condition." It is claimed that an
intimate understanding of the matériel is not essential—a
reasonable knowledge of the design and functioning of parts of
the 3-inch carriage reveals such statements on their face as
false impressions of the effect of lost motion in the carriage on
accuracy. Attention is invited in this connection to page 176 of
the first paper. It would be particularly interesting and
instructive to those who make these claims if they would
analyze the separate causes which produce errors in the
trajectory, such causes as lost motion in quadrants, and
panoramic sights, slipping of range discs and angle of site
scales of quadrants, etc., in an effort to determine as precisely
as possible the amount of error in mils for which lost motion in
the gears alone is responsible. A similar analysis would prove
of value to those who attribute all sweeping fire irregularities
solely to lost motion in the gears.
16. In conclusion it is gratifying to know that the status of
lost motion in the gears and jump of the projectile is most
satisfactory, first because with the service 3-inch carriages the
lost motion in traverse will be greatly reduced as new traversing
shafts and nuts with taper pins designed for this purpose are now
being manufactured, and second because our new field artillery
arm, the 3-inch carriage, Model of 1913, is designed so that the
jump should be even less than that of our present matériel.
17. Dissecting this technical subject we are brought face to
face with the limitations both of our matériel and personnel.
Our duties are not properly performed if, knowing the precise
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