A BRITISH RML 2.5‑IN. (“SCREW”) MOUNTAIN GUN ON ITS PACK CARRIAGE

PERHAPS THE FIRST TIME THIS RARE CANNON MODEL HAS EVER BEEN MADE AVAILABLE FOR PUBLIC ACQUISITION AT AUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES

United Kingdom ordnance, c. 1879–1905; later arsenal stamps of the reign of Edward VII.

Note: This cannon model does not require an FFL to purchase, it is classified by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as an unrestricted antique.

Cast‑steel, two‑part rifled muzzle‑loading barrel (nominal 2.5 in./63.5 mm bore) joined at the reinforce by the characteristic threaded coupling; vent drilled at the breech for friction‑tube ignition; open rear sight. The breech reinforce crisply engraved with the crowned Garter device and legend HONI · SOIT · QUI · MAL · Y · PENSE surrounding ED. VII REX ET IMP., together with arsenal direction markings (“TIGHTEN/SLACKEN”) and inspection numbers including “3‑2‑26,” indicating subsequent ordnance shop attention in the inter‑war period. Mounted in service fashion on a riveted steel box‑trail pack carriage with iron‑shod wooden wheels, trunnion caps, elevating screw, and axle tree seats, exactly the compact, mule‑borne arrangement that made the type famous on imperial frontiers.

Adopted after field trials in the Second Afghan War, the RML 2.5‑inch Mountain Gun, universally nicknamed the “Screw Gun” for its two threaded barrel halves, replaced the aging 7‑pounder and became the quintessential mountain piece of the late Victorian army. Broken into loads for four pack mules (with additional animals for ammunition), it could follow infantry and cavalry into country impassable to wheeled artillery, yet still deliver effective shrapnel and common shell. Batteries of these guns saw hard service across the Empire: on the Northwest Frontier of India, in Egypt and the Sudan (including Tel‑el‑Kebir and the Nile campaigns), in the Second Boer War, and, in Indian and colonial hands, into the early stages of the Great War. Their renown even entered popular culture in Rudyard Kipling’s Barrack‑Room Ballads in the ode “Screw‑Guns.” Pieces retaining a correct pack carriage and clear royal cipher of Edward VII, as here, are especially desirable survivals of this iconic field piece of the high imperial era.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate]  [Relics, Militaria, Accouterment, Equipment, Uniforms] [Cannon, Ordnance, Artillery]