The principal advantages of this type of gun over the built-up is
economy of manufacture and greater facilities for inspection of
materiel in the layers over the tube. The wire wrapping has itself
a large reserve of strength due to the high elastic limits that may
be given it. Two methods are used to wrap the wire: (a) at constant
tension (b) at varying tension so that when the gun is fired with the
prescribed pressure, all layers of wire shall be subjected to the
same tangential stress. The latter method is theoretically better, but
because of the ease of manufacture, together with the large factor of
safety possible, the wire is usually wrapped at a constant pressure.
THE BUILT-UP GUN.
All army guns except small howitzers or mortars are of the built-up or
wire-wrapped type. Built up guns of less than 5” caliber, or howitzers
up to 8” caliber consist of an inner tube and a jacket shrunk onto this
tube. The jacket covers the breech end of the gun and extends forward
to the center of gravity. Built-up guns of larger caliber have one more
layer of hoops in addition to the jacket, one layer of hoops usually
extending to the muzzle.
The bore of the tube forms the powder chamber, the seat for the
projectile and the rifled bore. Rifling consists of a number of helical
grooves cut in the surface of the bore. The soft metal of the rotating
band of the projectile is forced into these grooves causing the
projectile to take up a rotary motion as it passes through the bore.
This is necessary in order to keep the projectile stable in its flight.
TWIST.
By twist of rifling is meant the inclination of one of the grooves to
the element of the bore at any point. Rifling is of two kinds: (a)
Uniform twist, or that in which the twist is constant throughout the
bore, (b) Increasing twist or that in which the twist increases from
the breech towards the muzzle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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