What was the range of round shot on level ground?
score:5
In answering the second question (i.e. "how far a cannon ball would continue bouncing/rolling on dry, level ground following the initial impact?"), the result will be maximized when looking at what was called "ricochet fire".
Ricochet fire. Round shot was usually fired at the flattest trajectory to achieve the maximum killing effect. A shot fired at point blank would hit the ground at the first graze point a relatively shot distance from the gun. It would then bounce approximately half the distance and strike the ground at the second graze point, rebound half as far again to strike at the third graze and then roll or bounce a little further; all very dependent on the nature of the ground and the position of the gun.
The actual range of the cannon would be based on a number of factors, such as the weight of shot, the elevation of the gun, the size of the charge (and the quality of the powder) and the windage of the gun (i.e. the space between the ball and the barrel). In the real world, it would be rare to find a battlefield that had a large expanse of dry, level, unobstructed ground to reach these extreme ranges. In most cases, damp, uneven ground and undergrowth would slow the progress of the ball so that it stopped short of the experimental maximums.
An example of this can be seen in the ranges for a light 6-pdr field gun. At point blank (i.e. with the barrel horizontal) the range to first graze (i.e. the first impact with the ground) is 256 yards but the extreme range, when the ball comes to rest, is 1,630 yards. So the subsequent bouncing and rolling after the first impact is 1,374 yards, which is over 5 times the range to first graze.
Higher elevations gave a longer initial range but reduced the subsequent bouncing/rolling. For the same 6-pdr fired with a barrel elevation of 4 degrees, the ball would travel 1,500 yards to first graze and stop at an extreme range of 1,800 yards. So, in this case, the additional range caused by bouncing and rolling was just a fifth of the range to first impact.
Source: British Napoleonic Field Artillery, C.F.Franklin (Spellmount, 2012)
Upvote:5
The answer depends on the cannon.
By the 16th century, cannons were made in a great variety of lengths and bore diameters, but the general rule was that the longer the barrel, the longer the range. Some cannons made during this time had barrels exceeding 10 ft (3.0 m) in length, and could weigh up to 20,000 pounds (9,100 kg). " from wikipedia (emphasis added)
More post
- 📝 Which tools were available in 1933 for the Chinese government to intervene in the money market?
- 📝 What was the rate of premarital conceptions in England from 1850 to 1890?
- 📝 By mid-1945, was Japan capable of maintaining the war even in the absence of further direct American attacks?
- 📝 Why didn't Gengis Khan invade India?
- 📝 What courses would have been required to get a B.A. in America in the 1930s?
- 📝 When did the U.S. Postal Service completely transition from horse-drawn to motorized transport?
- 📝 Why was Kaliningrad placed under the Russian SFSR rather than the Lithuanian SSR?
- 📝 Sources for archer vs other unit comparisons?
- 📝 What was the policy on academic research being published beyond the iron curtain?
- 📝 Where can I find more information on the Federated Malay States V.F.?
- 📝 Communist resistance groups in the Nazi German military
- 📝 How many Scots were present at the Battle of Bauge?
- 📝 What uniform is Alexander Duncan McLennan wearing?
- 📝 Reference request - Books on Israel-Palestine conflict
- 📝 Did Admiral Ghormley have access to intellegence reports on Japanese movements prior to the Battle of Savo Island?
- 📝 When did the modern visa system become widespread?
- 📝 When did home weather thermometers become popular/common?
- 📝 Were there natives In Iceland prior to the Irish monk's landings?
- 📝 What mistake did abbot [Jacques?] Delille make when eating an egg at the Court of Louis XVI?
- 📝 Stonehenge-like olive presses?
- 📝 Are these outfits of children of Nazis historically accurate, and if so, what is their meaning?
- 📝 Why did armies meet on the battlefield, and how often did they? (medieval times)
- 📝 Was the 35 year age minimum chosen for US president roughly equal to the average life expectancy for a reason?
- 📝 Why did the father of algebra speak Arabic instead of Persian?
- 📝 How influential was the Jewish boycott against Nazi Germany?
- 📝 How did pumps work during the Age of Sail?
- 📝 What laws governed the Punjab under British rule during the Board of Administration between 1849 and 1853?
- 📝 By which year did smiths achieve the ability to handle metal in an exact way that's necessary for the printing press?
- 📝 In WWII, why did people not run away from executions?
- 📝 Who was the Irishman that betrayed Coronel's gold claim?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What was the range of round shot on level ground?
- 📝 What was the congressional level of support for Emancipation Proclamation?
- 📝 What was the typical range of travel of a Pennsylvanian resident for everyday life in the late 18th early 19th Century Pennsylvania?
- 📝 What was the range of people's social lives like, before the technology for long distance communications developed?
- 📝 In general, what was the level of technology like in central Africa, just before the scramble for Africa?
- 📝 What was the available level of agricultural technology in late 2nd century China?
- 📝 What was the basic structure of power in the CPSU and how were the politicians at each level chosen?
- 📝 What was the range of medieval bombards?
- 📝 What was the experience level of officers during the American Civil war?
- 📝 Did Adolf Hitler ever address the fact that his own appearance was almost an exact opposite of what he considered the ideal Aryan appearance?
- 📝 What was the historical context of the 2nd amendment to the US Constitution?
- 📝 During the breakup of the Soviet Union, on what basis was citizenship granted or withheld for each of the fifteen new republics?
- 📝 What was the typical peasant's diet like in Europe during the High Middle Ages?
- 📝 What led some people to (correctly) believe that there was no land under the ice cap at the North Pole?
- 📝 What was the status of Arab Christians during the crusades?
- 📝 What was the religion of the Arabic people before conversion to Islam?
- 📝 What was the purpose of Nazi extermination camps?
- 📝 What was the internal Soviet reaction to the moon landing?
- 📝 What was the function of the walls of Jericho?
- 📝 What was the pound (unit of weight) initially equal to?
- 📝 At what point was the Byzantine Empire's decline irreversible?
- 📝 What was the reason for Soviet troops to withdraw from Yugoslavia in World War II?
- 📝 What was the point of horse armour?
- 📝 What was the first solar eclipse that was demonstrably predicted in advance?
- 📝 What was the role of the Soviet Navy during WWII?
- 📝 What was the plan for an abort of the Enola Gay's mission to drop the atomic bomb?
- 📝 What was the economic basis for West Berlin?
- 📝 What is the evidence to claim that political order in ancient Rome was sufficiently different under "kingdom", "republic" and "empire"?
- 📝 What was the average height of Roman men and women?
- 📝 What was the longest a World War II submarine stayed at sea without being resupplied at a port?