Ordnance BL 12-pounder 6-cwt Gun, Royal Artillery Park, Halifax, Nova Scotia. The British Breach Loading 12-pounder of 6-cwt was brought into service in Canada in 1897. Using cordite as an explosive charge, this new gun could fire a forged steel shell to a distance of 5,120 metres. At the same time a new dual purpose fuze (air and ground burst) made it possible to explode a shell at a predetermined time or on ground impact. During the Boer War, Canada sent three batteries to South Africa, each equipped with six of these new guns.