Gun vs howizer?

[Jarmo]

This is probably a little off, until the game arrives, but anyway:

What's the difference between the two?

And what about grenade launcers and mortars?

[Guest Zigster]

A gun uses a fixed amount of propellant and its shell describes a more or less even parabola, obviously increasing in slope towards the end of its flight due to gravity.

A howitzer, apart from elevating and depressing its barrel, can use a variable amount of propellant and its shell travels higher and comes more steeply down, similar to a mortar, achieving a plunging fire.

Also, the howitzer, because of its design, has a lighter carriage than an equivalent gun calibre.

I haven't checked the numbers, but I believe guns generally have a longer range than an equivalent calibre of howitzer, which is why we see both types.

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Der Zig

[jgdpzr]

Another critical difference between the two is muzzle velocity, with an AT gun having far greater than a howitzer. This is a necessity since an AT gun relies on kinetic energy for effectiveness, while a howitzer obviously relies on the high explosives contained in the round.

[Guest Zigster]

Sheesh, I didn't even think of an anti-tank "gun". I saw the words gun and howitzer, and my seven brain cells fixated on indirect firing artillery. I guess anti-tank/anti-aircraft gun would be a third class, being high velocity, flat trajectory and direct fire only.

Tank? What's a Tank?

[tss]

I have seen several different definitions of the weapons. In Finland, an artillery piece is officially

- a howitzer, if the lenght of the barrel is between 12 and 30 caliberes. For example, a 75mm artillery piece is a howitzer if its barrel lenght is between 90 - 225 cm.

- a gun, if the barrel is longer than 30 caliberes, or

- a mortar, otherwise. (I have a translation problem here, because the Finnish word in question is not the same that is used for the ordinary 50 - 120 mm stuff that was in use during WWII but it is used on older type of siege and fortress guns.)

Other definitions take into account the elevation range of the guns, defining a howitzer to be a gun that can fire at angles over 45 degrees.

The difference between granade launchers and mortars is more clear as a mortar (in the modern sense) is basically a tube that rests on a baseplate fires with high elevation angles (almost always over 45 degrees). A grenade launcher fires is a direct fire weapon that is often attached to an assault rifle. AFAIK, during WWII there were no grenade launchers in modern sense but as has come out in other threads, there were rifle grenades that were launched from common rifles.

- Tommi

[Bullethead]

Zigster said:

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>A gun uses a fixed amount of propellant<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I have to disagree. Like our Finnish colleague noted, a weapon is called a gun or a howitzer based on the length of its tube (although different countries have different dividing lines). There have been and still are quite a few bag-loaded "guns" with the capability for varying the powder charge each shot. Today these are almost exclusively heavy artillery pieces, although *most* naval guns above 6" were also of this type.

Some forces also use the term "gun-howitzer", which means a medium-length tube somewhere between a howitzer and a gun. The current US M198 155mm is an example (and this piece is also bag-loaded).

-Bullethead