Cartridge, 105 mm: Illumination M314

some sub-variants (for example the M314A2E1) also have three twist pins. In use the nose-mounted time fuze operates at the selected time after firing. Under the fuze base is a flash channel through which the fuze ignition passes a flash to ignite 50 g of black powder in a cloth bag (81 g on the M314A3, held in a sealed plastic holder). The black powder acts as an expulsion charge to exert pressure down onto the baseplate and cause the shear pins to break, the baseplate then falls away cleanly due to an imbalance created in its shape by a machined recess. The other increments are arranged around the walls of the case and around the primer tube. Charge 1 is the base charge consisting of 238.42 g of propellant M1 (small size). Charge 2 consists of Charge 1 plus a 41.11 g increment of propellant M1 (small size). Nominal charge weight is 279.53 g. Charge 3 consists of Charge 2 plus a 70.87 g increment of propellant M1 (large size). Nominal charge weight is 350.4 g. Charge 4 consists of Charge 3 plus a 96.39 g increment of propellant M1 (large size). Nominal charge weight is 446.79 g. Charge 5 consists of Charge 4 plus a 153.09 g increment of propellant M1 (large size) and a sheet of lead which functions as a decoppering agent. Nominal charge weight is 599.88 g. Charge 6 consists of Charge 5 plus a 243.81 g increment of propellant M1 (large size). Nominal charge weight is 843.69 g. Charge 7 consists of Charge 6 plus a 369.89 g increment of propellant M1 (large size). Total nominal charge weight is then 1.241 kg.