[1] This series of weapons was designed to provide a modern alternative to breech loading conversions of the Civil War-era 3-inch Ordnance rifle.

The guns had an interrupted screw breech with either a de Bange plastic obturator or (on the earlier modifications) a conceptually similar design by Spaniard Luis Freyre y Góngora with a metallic ring, and fired separate-loading, bagged charges and projectiles.

The projectiles weighed approximately 13.5 lb (6.1 kg) and common, shrapnel, or canister types available.

[2] The guns had a box trail carriage built from bolted steel plates with two large wooden spoked wheels.

During World War I, the Army primarily used the French 75 mm gun instead of its own designs, which were mostly kept in the United States for training.