RBL 20-pounder Armstrong gun

RBL 20-pounder gun
16 cwt field gun with limber
TypeNaval gun
Field gun
Place of originUnited Kingdom
Service history
In service1859 – 19??
Used byBritish Empire
Production history
DesignerW.G. Armstrong Co.
No. built412[1]
Variants13, 15 and 16 cwt[note 1]
Specifications
MassNaval : 13 long hundredweight (660 kg) or 15 long hundredweight (760 kg)
Field : 16 long hundredweight (810 kg)[2]
Barrel lengthNaval : 54 inches (1.372 m)
Field : 84 inches (2.134 m) bore & chamber[2]

Shell21 pounds 13 ounces (9.894 kg)[2]
Calibre3.75-inch (95.2 mm)
BreechArmstrong screw with vertical sliding vent-piece (block)
Muzzle velocityNaval : 1,000 feet per second (300 m/s)
Field : 1,130 feet per second (340 m/s)[3]
Effective firing range3,400 yards (3,100 m)

The Armstrong Breech Loading 20-pounder gun, later known as RBL 20-pounder, was an early modern 3.75-inch rifled breech-loading light gun of 1859.

  1. ^ 412 were in service in 1877 : 89 16cwt (land service), 31 15cwt & 292 13cwt (sea service). Quoted in Treatise on Manufacture of Ordnance 1877, page 150. Holley 1865, page 13 quotes 257 as at 1863 : 9 land service & 1 sea service manufactured by Elswick Ordnance, 16 land service and 231 sea service by the Royal Gun Factory. From the Report of the Select Committee on Ordnance, 1863.
  2. ^ a b c Text Book of Gunnery, 1887
  3. ^ 1130 ft/second firing a 21 lb 13 oz projectile, using 2 lb 8 oz R.L.G.2 (gunpowder) propellant. Text Book of Gunnery, 1887


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