Complex sentence: A carronade was much shorter and a third to a quarter of the weight of an equivalent long gun: a 32-pounder carronade, for example, weighed less than a ton, but a 32-pounder long gun weighed over 3 tons.
Split into simpler sentences: A carronade was much shorter and a third to a quarter of the weight of an equivalent long gun. A 32-pounder carronade, for example, weighed less than a ton, but a 32-pounder long gun weighed over 3 tons.