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Old December 14, 2009, 03:09 PM   #5
Scorch
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Join Date: February 13, 2006
Location: Washington state
Posts: 15,248
Quote:
Isn't that the gun that was later carried on the M-4 Sherman tank?
The Medium Tank, M4 tanks (called the Sherman by the British) carried a 75 mm M3 L/40 gun (3" bore, 40 calibers barrel length or 10') designed in 1927, not the same gun although the same caliber of gun. It was designed for high explosive shells capable of penetrating 3" of armor.

The 1897 75mm field gun of WWI fame is known as the "French 75", and our AEF troops called it "Saucy Cans" after the French "soixante-quinze" (pronounce swa-son canz), which means 75, the bore diameter in millimeters. The French 75 was revolutionary in its time due to fully loaded cased ammunition at a time when many artillery pieces were using separate projectiles and bagged propellant, the breech design which pivoted to eject empties rather than long interrupted thread type breeches, the hydraulic recoil absorption which allowed high rate of fire without re-aiming the gun, and the high muzzle velocity which made it suitable for direct fire, and its use of HE shells while many BP explosive shells were still in use.
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