German sight setting

[mic heinrich]

Does anyone know how the range drum on a German 7.5cm IG18 (infantry gun) work? Range scale on the outside then 5 correction scales for each charge and an angle of sight micrometer. How is the range set?

 

[Ralph Lovett]

Range Drum

I have a short explanation of how a German 15cm lg.sFH 13 range drum sight-mount works on my web site. It is Power Point so give it a little time to load, go to the bottom of the page and far right. Click onto the "How they work--Range Drum" link:

http://www.lovettartillery.com/German%20Artillery%20Related%20Equipment.html

This is not specific to the 7,5cm IG 18 but the principle is the same.

Also, I have one German WW2 10,5cm lFH 18 sight-mount for sale or trade:

http://www.lovettartillery.com/10,5cm_sightmount_for_sale.html

I hope this is of interest

R/

Ralph Lovett
http://www.lovettartillery.com/index.html

 

[mic heinrich]

Thanks Ralph, Very interesting site! As an Artilleryman myself I'm happy with process however need some help with the corralation between the range scale and the 5 charge correction scales? You apply the range on the outside range scale then you have a slider that can be moved to charge 1-5. Is this used to select the charge or adjust range for a particular charge? What are the figures engraved on the charge scales, meters?
In short, I'm after a more technical explaination as I would like to incorporate this gun into a sight setting lesson next week.

Thanks,

Mic..

 

[Ralph Lovett]

Range Drum use

The charge setting is the same as with the US Artillery system, where a decision is made for use of a particular charge, for reasons of selecting high or low trajectory or a smaller number of bags for barrel ware reasons. Then you see first if, lets say with charge 3, you can obtain a particular range. If not, then you have to move up to number 4 Bag charge.

So to answer the question is this to select the charge or adjust range for a particular charge? It is to both select the charge and to adjust for different ranges.

The numbers on the German Range Drums, Range Disk and Range Arches are in meters. Generally, you will see two digits, then additional increments under that set of numbers. For example, 48 for 4800 meters then four increments under that number, each representing 25 meters.

I hope I have explained this in an understandable way.

R/

Ralph