persons who knew little about the matter,
were rather amusing and perhaps a little annoying. I unhesitatingly
state that on all occasions the British Naval guns inch for inch
outranged and outshot the Boer guns; and that the 4.7 Q.-F. even
outranged, by some 2,000 yards, the Boer 6" Creusot. This I saw amply
proved, at least to my own satisfaction, at Vaal Krantz, when the Boer
6" gun on about the same level as our 4.7 was, on Signal Hill, vainly
tried to reach it and couldn't, whilst our gun was all the time giving
them an awful hammering and blew up their magazine.

In one way, and one only, the Boer guns had the advantage over us in
shooting, that is, with their shrapnel shell, many of which were
fitted with a special long range time fuse (double-ringed); here they
certainly overshot us, but failed to make much use of the advantage,
as they invariably burst their shrapnel, through incorrect setting of
fuse, either too high up in the air to hurt much or else on striking
the ground. Another great advantage the Boer guns as a rule possessed
was the heights at which they were placed, generally firing down upon
our guns and troops. Notwithstanding all this, I say again, that their
guns inch for inch were not in the hunt with ours as regards shooting
power, nor was this likely or possible seeing the great length of the
Naval Q.-F. gun and its much heavier charge.

It must be remembered that Naval guns are solely designed and built
for use at sea, or in forts, or against armour; and so to get the
necessary muzzle energy, velocity, and penetration, a long gun is
required; whereas the Boer gun was essentially a field or heavy land
service gun. Their guns up to the 6" being on proper field mountings,
and much lighter, shorter in the barrel, and consequently more mobile
than ours, while firing a lighter charge; and perhaps in this way only
it could be said that they were certainly better and handier than our
guns. On the march and trekking up mountains this must have helped
them a good deal, and from photos which I saw after the Boers had been
driven out of Natal I should certainly say that their heavy guns on
the march must have been much easier to move than ours.

To give an idea of the difference in weight between the heavier guns I
may quote the following figures; that of the Boer guns I take as I
read of them in Military Intelligence books:

_Weight._ _Weight._
British Naval 6" Q