The M1877 was first designed and produced by the Obukhov State Plant in Saint Petersburg and was fairly conventional for its time and most nations had similar guns with similar roles such as the French Canon de 240 L Mle 1884 or British BL 10 inch gun Mk I – IV.

The barrel was a typical built-up gun of the period with reinforcing hoops which was built from cast iron and steel.

The gun had an early form of Krupp horizontal sliding-block breech and it fired separate-loading, bagged charges and projectiles.

Due to its limited angle of elevation 20°, the M1877 was a low-angle direct fire weapon instead of a high-angle indirect-fire coastal defense mortar like many of its contemporaries.

In 1916 the Germans transferred four M1877's to the Western Front where they were assigned to heavy artillery battalions of the army.