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Originally Posted by kurtz
I'm talking off the top of my head here, but I believe US and UK ordnance of WWII used seperate Shot/propellant rather than the German (and the 105s) single shell system...maybe that's just the bigger guns though?
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The Germans always seemed to prefer cases, even for
very large guns. I've seen some which must be 16" or better.
In current useage, the 105mm is semi-fixed, meaning that it has a brass or steel case with a number of charge bags. Depending on range, type of projectile, etc, the gunners take out and discard a given number of bags according to a firing table before the inserting the projectile into the case. The other three standard NATO ones are 155mm, 175mm and 203mm. The 175 is just about history and few use the 203mm either. None of these use a case - the projectile is inserted into the breach first, then charge bags are added. Finally, after the breach block is closed, a small primer is inserted, much like a small arms cartridge, to ignite the propellent.
Prior to NATO standardization, there were a plethora of different guns, from 37mm on up. Some used semi-fixed, some did not. The standard British field gun, the 25-pounder, was semi-fixed, as was the US 105mm howitzer. The 37mm and 57mm antitank guns used fixed ammo - the cartridge came fully assemled.
Hope that is of some help.