Talk:Valée system

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Incorrect caliber designations[edit]

I suspect that the calibers should be in pounds or centimeters, but not inches. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.102.112.242 (talk) 22:16, 4 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Generally guns, both field guns and siege guns of the time were given a "pound" designation. Thus you would have 24 pound and 16 pound siege guns and 12 and 8 pound field guns. Smaller howizters also tend to use pound designation, while larger ones were measured in inches. Thus probably 6 and 8 inch howizters for siege, while howitzers of 24 pounds or less for field use. Similarly the mountain pieces would have been 12 pounders, probably howitzers. Mortars are generally designated with inches, except the smallest may be given a pound designation.

Of note, the French pound and inch are both larger than the English pound and inch by a small but noticable amount.

This system of artillery dates from the time that French measures would have been migrating to a metric system rather than the more ancient system of measures, thus the six inch howitzer appears to also be a 15 cm.

All of these measures designate the caliber or bore size of the artillery. The "pound" designation is based on the weight of a solid shot fired from that gun. The inch or cm measure usually notes the diamater of a shell, but in some systems it notes the actual bore diamater, thus meaning the shell is somewhat smaller. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.133.50.51 (talk) 03:28, 8 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I have corrected the pound and inch mix-up in the article. If you compare the Valee system with the preceeding systems of French artillery, it is clear the article was not only mixed up on its units, but was so in a very obvious way. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.133.50.51 (talk) 03:35, 8 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]