107 mm gun M1910 / 30 107 mm gun M1910 / 30 ( ) was a Soviet 106 . 7 mm field gun . The gun was based on an artillery piece originally developed by the French arms manufacturer Schneider prior to World War I and used by the Russian Empire as the 107 mm gun M1910 . The modernized variant , adopted in 1931 , differed from the original design mainly by having a larger chamber and longer barrel , resulting in longer range . The M1910 / 30 remained in production until the mid - 1930s and was employed by the Red Army in World War II , mainly in corps artillery and Reserve of the Main Command units . A number of captured guns were used by the " Wehrmacht " . Development and production . From the late 1920s the RKKA sought to upgrade its First World War era artillery pieces . One of the modernized weapons was the 107 mm gun M1910 , originally designed by the French arms manufacturer Schneider . Modernization projects were submitted by Orudiyno - Arsenalny Trest ( OAT ) and by the design bureau of the Scientific and Technical Committee of the Main Directorate of Artillery ( KB NTK GAU ) . After trials it was decided to adopt the weapon designed by KB NTK GAU , but to fit it with an equilibrating mechanism as used in the OAT project . The modernized weapon was adopted in 1931 as the 107 mm gun M1910 / 30 . The upgrade included the following : The weapon was manufactured by the Bolshevik Plant in Leningrad and by the Barrikady Plant in Stalingrad from 1931 until 1935 or later . Additionally , a number of M1910 pieces were upgraded by Bolshevik , " No 7 " , " No 13 " and " KKZ " plants . Description . The barrel of the M1910 / 30 was longer than the original barrel and was fitted with a slotted muzzle brake ( which reduced recoil by 25 % ) ; in order to balance the barrel , a special weight was fitted to the opposite end of the tube . The breech was of the interrupted screw type . The recoil system , consisting of a hydraulic recoil buffer and a hydropneumatic recuperator , was located in a sleigh below the barrel . The box trail carriage was nearly identical to that of the M1910 . It had either unsprung wooden wheels or metal wheels with solid rubber tires . With wooden wheels , the speed of transportation was limited to about 6 km / h . A team of eight horses was needed to tow the gun ; another six towed an ammunition box with 42 rounds . Organization and service . Red Army . The M1910 / 30 guns were issued to corps artillery . In 1941 , three variants of corps artillery regiment s existed : In September 1941 rifle corps of the RKKA were disbanded , therefore corps level artillery ceased to exist . 107 mm guns were then issued to Reserve of the Main Command units , in 12 , 18 or 24 - piece gun regiments or 36 - piece gun brigades . When corps level was reintroduced in 1943 , most 107 mm pieces were again given to corps artillery . New corps artillery regiments had 16 - 20 pieces and along with 107 mm guns included 122 mm guns and 152 mm howitzers . Many 107 mm guns were also used by the independent artillery regiments of fortified regions and by independent battalions and batteries belonging to fronts and armies . The M1910 / 30 were used by the Red Army in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol , where four pieces were lost . They also saw action in the Winter War ( 12 pieces in the 7th Army , 24 in the 467th Artillery Regiment of the 8th Army , 12 in the 51st Artillery Regiment of the 9th Army ) , apparently without losses . In June 1941 , according to different sources , the Red Army possessed 828 ( including four belonging to the navy ) or 863 pieces of this type . 474 107 mm guns , including a limited numbers of the new M - 60 , belonged to western military districts . Many were lost at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War . In 1943 , the RKKA had at least 490 107 mm guns of all models , the majority of them M1910 / 30 ; some remained in service until the end of the war . A surviving piece can be seen in the Artillery Museum in Saint Petersburg . " Wehrmacht " . A number of M1910 / 30 guns were captured by the " Wehrmacht " and pressed into service in both field and coastal artillery . In German service , the gun was designated the 10 , 7 cm K 352 ( r ) . In March 1944 , the " Wehrmacht " still possessed 17 pieces , all on the Eastern Front . Summary . The modernization of the M1910 / 30 gave the Red Army a relatively lightweight , reliable corps artillery piece with improved range and a wide array of ammunition . On the other side , it failed to address other drawbacks of the weapon . Because of its unsprung wheels , the M1910 / 30 was unsuitable for high - speed transportation . A very small traverse of 6 degrees limited the effectiveness of the gun against enemy tanks , despite decent armor penetration . For the sake of comparison , the standard German 105 mm gun , the 10 . 5 cm sK 18 , surpassed the M1910 / 30 in range ( 19 km , or 21 km for a modernized K 18 / 40 ) , traverse ( 60 degrees ) and transportation speed ( up to 40 km / h ) . This , however , came at a price of a much larger weight of about six tons . In 1940 , the RKKA adopted a more modern 107 mm gun , the M - 60 . Although originally intended - and officially designated - as a divisional gun , in practice the M - 60 was never used by rifle divisions ; from 1943 it mainly served in the reintroduced corps artillery . However , soon after the outbreak of war , production of the M - 60 was stopped . In 1943 another 107 mm gun , the 9S - 1 , was developed , but it was never adopted , leaving the M1910 / 30 the last mass production 107 mm piece in Red Army service . Ammunition . The gun fired separately loaded , cased charge ammunition . Two different charges - full and reduced - were used . Use of the full charge was prohibited with the muzzle brake removed , or with old high explosive ammunition , shrapnel and smoke rounds . The explosion of the OF - 420 shell , with the fuse set to the fragmentation action , resulted in damage to 90 % of targets in the 6 to 14 meters area and to 50 % of targets in a 20 to 42 meter area . When the fuse was set to high explosive action , the shell made a crater 1 - 1 . 5 m in diameter and 40 – 60 cm deep in an average soil . The shrapnel shell contained more than 600 bullets and covered an area about 800 m long and 45 – 50 m wide .