Hello everyone, I wanted to post my recently acquired Britains set # 8857 "Royal Artillery Mountain Battery".

This set came out in 1995 and features five mules, carrying a disassembled 2.5" Mountain Gun and five RA gunners. I believe this set represents the unit c.1880s.

It’s a bit "nicked and dented" as some of the mules have had some accidents over the years or shipped with minor defects. In addition, I placed my Steadfast Soldiers set "MTN Screw Gun SF48 Crew" on the same shelf to show what the gun looked like in action.

More on Mountain Guns: "Screw Guns" are an iconic piece of kit of the late Victorian-era. They are small "portable" artillery pieces that were carried by pack animals to accompany infantry columns on the march.

The Ordnance RML 2.5-inch Mountain Gun (or 2.5" RML in short), fired a 7-pound projectile at a range of 3'300 yds (3'018 m) (source, Wikipedia).

(source wikipedia)

These guns were called "screw guns" due to the fact the barrel and breech were two separate parts and needed to be "screwed" together, once dismounted.

According to Col. Mike Snook, this gun could effectively engage targets at its maximum range and was better suited towards massed enemies rather than enemies who are dispersed.

This was due to the small size of the charge (1). That makes perfect sense, given that making the gun smaller would compromise how much "bang" you would get out of the business end.

Do you have any similar sets? I'd love to see them (or any other topical artillery pieces for that matter).

Footnote:1. Col. Mike Snook, "Beyond the Reach of Empire: Wolseley's Failed Campaign to Save Gordon and Khartoum" (2014) pg. 177