I picked up a like new brass gunners quadrant at, of all places, a marine flea market in Hollywood FL.
It's marked in mills of elevation and not degrees.
Does anyone know why the army used mills?
I ought to know since I was in the artillery but I was in a Nike guided missile school as an instructor and never even saw a field piece fired. Shot down lots of drone aircraft though.
It may have something to do with the amount of range advance with increased elevation????
Its going to help when I fire my BP cannons. I will be able to get repeatable elevations no matter the ground level. My home made quadrant with a pendulum is not very accurate.
BTW As a matter of interest, mills means "milliradians" or 1/1000 of a radian and there are 2 Pi radians in a circle.
It's marked in mills of elevation and not degrees.
Does anyone know why the army used mills?
I ought to know since I was in the artillery but I was in a Nike guided missile school as an instructor and never even saw a field piece fired. Shot down lots of drone aircraft though.
It may have something to do with the amount of range advance with increased elevation????
Its going to help when I fire my BP cannons. I will be able to get repeatable elevations no matter the ground level. My home made quadrant with a pendulum is not very accurate.
BTW As a matter of interest, mills means "milliradians" or 1/1000 of a radian and there are 2 Pi radians in a circle.