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SURVIVING GUN FILE (# 175)
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Austro-Hungaria

8cm FeldKanone M 05 - M 05/08

M05/08

Light artillery

Contributor :
Bernard Plumier      http://www.passioncompassion1418.com
     
     
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Location :
Belgium
Brussels
Musée Royal de l'Armée
Coordinates : Lat : 50.84360 / Long : 4.39280
General comments on this surviving gun :


Identical items in the same location : 1
Items covered by this file : 1

Another rare gun in this brilliant museum, with its original camouflage

Markings 'A - 8cm - M5/8 - n°3304 (barred) - n°21173 - 1915 - (F1) - 353 kg'

Rear view on the aiming devices and the breech, whose colour is a proof of a bronze barrel


Historic and technical information
Denomination :     8cm M 05/08 FK Origin :       ( Arsenaux d'état)             ( Skoda )             ( Industrie privée Austro-Hongroise )

Historic context :

Pressurized by its ageing material and the military investments of the other European powers, Austro-Hungaria had chosen in 1899 a new fieldgun that was obsolete as soion as born, since it lacked any kind of elastic link between the barrel and the carriage. This issue induced this State to test in 1901 the German 'Ehrardt' fieldgun that was proposing most of the characteristics of the new generation of quick firing fieldguns. At the end of these satisfying trials, test battery was created in 1902. However, the old Empire wanted to keep the development of its weapons within its own country, so that at the same time a decision was taken to launch a new technical commission charged of the design of a new gun inspired by these experience. License costs were paid anticipatively to Ehrardt in order to avoid commercial claims resulting of the use of this company concepts.

The gun that came out from this long study in 1905 was the fruit of the competition / collaboration between the State Arsenals and Skoda, who was exploring these techniques since some time on its own. The '8cm FK M05' fieldgun was a pretty good weapon, with somehow mean performances. It was equipped with a bronze tube (this metal still being the preferred choice of the Austro-Hungarian military despite its evident inferiority compared to the new steels), a hydro-spring recoil recuperation system, a quick acction mobile block breech, and a shield plate. It was also the first Austrian fieldgun using preassembled shell and cartridge

After some delays caused to the manufacturing program caused by indutrial issues, the first guns were delivered to the units in 1907 only.

The 1905 model was modified in 1908 in order to improve its use in mountain operations, thanks to the possibility of rapidly dismounting / reassembling the gun into 3 separate loads for transportation and adapting it to a narrow width carriage (90 cm total width wheel to wheel). This new version was provided to all field artillery units, and was named '8 cm FeldKanone M 05/08',

It seems more than 3200 such guns were produced. Some of them were capured by the Italian army and used, sometimes after some modifications, under the name 'Cannone da 77/28 modello 5/8'. The guns that were still present in Austria inventories when it was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938 were used during WW2 by the German IInd Reich.

Technical data :

  • Complete description : 8 cm light fieldgun M 1905 and 1905/1908
  • Design year : 1905
  • Calibre : 76.50 mm
  • Weight in firing position : 1020 kg
  • Weight for transportation :
  • Tube length in calibres : 30.00
  • Grooves : 30 4 to 7.10 degrees progressive angle
  • Projectile weight : 6.68 kg
  • Initial speed : 500 m/s
  • Fire rate :
  • Range : 6100 m (shrapnell) - 7000 m (high explosive shells)
  • Elevation range : -7.5 / +18 degrees (M05); -5 / +23 degrees (M05/08)
  • Direction range : 7 degrees (M05); 8 degrees (M05/08) total range


Sources