qsy-complains-a-lot:Bombarde DR ‘Garnier’The bombarde took its name from its credited inventor, comm
qsy-complains-a-lot:Bombarde DR ‘Garnier’The bombarde took its name from its credited inventor, commandant Gilbert Garnier of the French artillery, deputy to the director of the APX state arsenal, and the men who designed its projectile, Driant and Renouard. It was introduced to the frontline in 1917.Its projectile was the large DR percussive rifle grenade, weighing 600gr/1.3lbs, including a 85gr/.19lbs cheddite explosive payload. It was made up of a cast iron fragmentation sleeve, a sheet metal finned base designed to fit over its proprietary discharging cup and a wooden head housing its inertia detonation system, which itself was made up of a shock-sensitive primer and a percussive fuse. The fuse was screwed in only before firing the weapon, and came with a lead-weighted pin that would come undone during launch.The bombard itself was a very simple weapon built using steel beams, springs and DR discharging cups for the launching platform, and cut-down Gras Mle1874 rifles firing ‘Feuillette’ cartridges (blanks) for the ignition/propulsion system. The discharging cups had 9 ventholes, with a spring that could be adjusted to control how far down the grenade would fit on it. The more ventholes fit inside the grenade’s finned skirt the farther it would fly.Ranging guide for the Bombarde DRThe Garnier bombard was symptomatic of French ordnance at the time, with a severe lack of short-range artillery compared to Germany, but a shitload of obsolete single-shot rifles and ingenuity. -- source link