76 mm M1900 field gun

76 mm M1900 field gun
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General Information
Military designation:	76 mm M1900 field gun
Manufacturer country:	Russian Empire
Developer / Manufacturer:	Putilov works
Development year:	1900
Weapon Category:	gun
Technical specifications
Caliber :	7.62 cm
Elevation range:	−6 ° to + 11 ° angular degrees
Side straightening area:	± 2.5 °
Furnishing
Maximum firing range ; Effective combat distance:	8,500 meters ; 7,500 meters

The 76 mm field gun M1900 ( Russian: 76-мм пушка образца 1900 года ), also called the 76 mm field gun Putilow M1900 , was a light rapid-fire gun of the Imperial Russian Army . It was used in the Russo-Japanese War , World War I , Finnish Civil War , Russian Civil War, and the Polish-Soviet War .

history

Cross-section of the M1900. The separate upper and lower mounts that absorbed the recoil of the gun can be clearly seen.

The 76 mm M1900 field gun was developed in 1900 by engineers from the Putilow works . The Russian army had advertised a gun since 1898, for which Krupp, Shamona and Schneider had applied. The Putilow-Werke were awarded the contract, however, and thus the M1900 became the first Russian 7.62 cm (3 inch ) gun , as well as the first Russian gun with a barrel return - which enabled a firm stand when firing.

The guns were manufactured in the St. Petersburg arms factory , among others .

In the Russo-Japanese War 1904/05 the gun was used for the first time, among other things with the 6th East Siberian Rifle Artillery Brigade ( 3rd Siberian Army Corps ), and was its Japanese counterpart, the 75 mm field gun Type 31 , in cadence and range clearly superior. However, the Japanese compensated for this with a numerical superiority in the guns.

The gun was also used in the First World War. Although out of date and already relegated to the arsenals, it was given back to the troops to compensate for the high number of guns lost. It was also used in the Russian Civil War and after the victory of the Bolsheviks, they sold or handed over the gun to Baltic states such as Finland or Poland . The Poles reduced the caliber to 75mm to match the rest of their gun fleet , which consisted mostly of French 75s .

description

The M1900 was equipped with a hydromechanical pipe return and pre-hollow device. It had an upper and a lower mount. The upper carriage was movable and slid - anchored in a groove - in a rail on the lower carriage back and forth. In Holm was a tube filled with oil, taken as a return brake. There were 40 rubber rings in this tube, which were compressed when fired and cushioned the recoil, in order to then bring the upper mount back into the firing position. The gun barrel was provided with thermal insulation. In the firing position, the gun weighed a little over a ton. Initially without a protective shield, one was added later, but the protective shield increased the weight of the gun. The maximum range was 8,500 meters and the effective range was around 7,500 meters.

The breech block was equipped with a so-called crank lock, the first in a Russian gun. However, the recoil mechanism proved to be inadequate and therefore the M1900 was only manufactured in small numbers. The M1900 was further developed and in 1902 the 76 mm division gun M1902 followed . Both gun versions, M1900 and M1902, were issued to the troops from 1903.