7.7 cm FK 96 nA

At the end of the 19th century, artillery formed a tendency to switch to smaller caliber guns, firing shells with blasting explosives and using smokeless powder . Germany was considered one of the leading states in the field of artillery thanks in large part to the work of the Krupp designers. In 1896, this company, commissioned by the German army, developed a new 77-mm gun, called the “Field Gun of the 1896 Sample” (7.7 cm Feldkanone 96). The army command was determined to save on "extra" devices, which could also break, so the design of the new rifled gun was as simplified as possible. The terms of reference did not provide for the availability of recoil devices, in addition, the gun had separate shell loading, which at that time was already an outdated solution and reduced the rate of fire.

The contract for the release of the gun was already concluded when in 1897 the French army adopted a 75-mm gun of the 1897 model with an eccentric shutter, loading with a unitary cartridge and anti-recoil devices with a hydropneumatic principle of operation. The advantage in the rate of fire and accuracy of shooting, thus, turned out to be on the side of the potential enemy - the French. Therefore, already during the production of the gun of the sample of 1896, the engineers of Krupp and Erhard redesigned the gun under the carriage with anti-recoil devices. As a result, an almost new system was obtained, although the design of the bore remained unchanged. The new gun retained the index "96", but with the addition of nA - neue Art, that is, a new design.

The gun had simple and reliable anti-recoil devices on a box carriage. The carriage consisted of two parts: a stationary machine and a tube connecting the machine with the barrel and used to mount recoil devices. The 27.3-gauge barrel was made of nickel steel. The shutter was used wedge, horizontal, opening to the left. The recoil devices consisted of a hydraulic recoil brake and spring knurled . The gun had screw lifting and swivel mechanisms. The shield cover was 3 mm thick, the upper and lower sheets could be folded for ease of transportation and camouflage in position. The upper part of the shield cover had a soft upholstery and could be used as a seat for two numbers of cannon calculation during movement. The wheels are equipped with brakes, used mainly in the stowed condition.

For firing, shots of cartridge and separate loading with several types of shells were used: shrapnel grenade, grenade, shrapnel, smoke shell, gas (chemical) shell. The shells of the 77-mm field gun of sample 1896 (nA) had an optimal configuration of shells for maintaining their velocity over long distances. However, the main type of shells - shrapnel - had the smallest range in comparison with analogues. This was due to the design of the remote tube that did not give a long burning time. Another disadvantage of the shrapnel shell was the smaller weight of the shrapnel balls, which required high final speeds of shrapnel to defeat.

The disadvantages of the German 77-mm field gun model 1896 (new design) include weak ballistics in comparison with the counterparts of the First World War. However, this shortcoming was compensated by a larger mass of shells and small distances of light artillery fire due to the lack of appropriate fire control facilities at the beginning of the war. In the future, the designers had to work on improving the ballistics of subsequent gun samples.