The gun continued to be employed in fortresses till the end of World War II.

Amongst these was the 8.4 cm Feldkanone Ord 1871, a rifled breechloader field gun with a bronze barrel.

Also in 1871, the Dutch army bought one of these guns, and started to produce it locally in 1874.

Already in 1874 two massive steel barrels of 84 mm caliber were procured from Krupp for testing purposes.

The next step was the procurement of a built-up gun barrel (Ringrohr) from Krupp in 1878, again for testing.

On 24 April 1878 the Federal Council then decided to modernize the field artillery by adopting the Krupp barrel.

[4] In 1880 the Dutch trial with steel bronze guns for the army failed unexpectedly.

It had the same 84 mm caliber as the 8.4 cm Feldgeschütz Ord 1879, but it was a bit longer and had another breech.

Tests of these barrels were positive, and so in January 1887 it was decided to procure 56 of these for the newly organized leichte Positionsartillerie (light siege batteries).

The steel bronze version was placed on a fortification carriage that also fit the other 8.4 cm guns.

In order to absorb recoil it rolled back and upward on rails, and was returned to its position by gravity.

After the introduction of the 7,5-cm-Feldkanone 1903 L 30 the first 8.4 cm Feldkanone Ord 1879 (1881/93) were handed over to the fortress troops.

With this system an ignition casing was inserted in the lock on the side of the breech.

The screw was operated by a hand-wheel situated on the outer face of the right bracket.

To gain leverage, one of the poles sticking upwards on the side of the barrel (see e.g. the photo of the gun in the Waadtländisches Militärmuseum Morges) was placed in an opening at the end of the carriage.

During transport two gunners stood on foot boards that were fixed to the gun carriage,[8] and held on to these poles.

The total length of the gun and carriage was 3,5 m, width (on the axels) 1,7 m, track 1,4 m. The diameter of the wheels was 1,44 m. The barrel was 1,13 m above the ground.

The ammunition box was made of pine covered with tin, and was strengthened at the corners.

The arm rests were of iron and attached to the lid of the box, which opened towards the horses.

Therefore, in indirect fire and with modern ammunition, range could be increased to 7 km.

Some guns were mounted on fixed pivot emplacements with shields in order to defend at close range.

After the adoption of the grenade, the powder charge was loaded by means of a bag made of damp proof silken material.

The head was of cast iron, the cylindrical portion and base were made of steel.

It held 185 hardened lead bullets of 12.5 g. Its explosive charge at the base weighed 64 g.[2] This shrapnel shell was detonated with a time fuze.