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The RML 16-pounder 12 cwt gun was a British Rifled, Muzzle Loading (RML) field artillery gun manufactured in England in the 19th century, which fired a projectile weighing approximately 16 pounds (7.3 kg). "12 cwt" refers to the weight of the gun.
The 16-pounder 12 cwt Rifled Muzzle Loader was the field gun selected by the Royal Artillery in 1871 to replace the more sophisticated RBL 12-pounder 8 cwt Armstrong gun, which had acquired a reputation for unreliability.
The 16-pounder saw action in the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 and the First Boer War of 1881, as well as the Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882, where four Batteries were deployed. It remained in front-line service with the Royal Artillery until the late 1880s when replaced by the 15-pounder Breech-Loading gun.
Many were re-issued to Volunteer Artillery Batteries of Position from 1889, with 16-pounders among 226 guns issued to the Volunteer Artillery during 1888 and 1889.[3] The 1893 the War Office Mobilisation Scheme shows the allocation of thirty seven Artillery Volunteer position batteries equipped with 16 Pounder guns which would be concentrated in Surrey and Essex in the event of mobilisation.[4] Most remained in use until 1902. In 1906 the 1st Shropshire and Staffordshire Royal Garrison Artillery Volunteers took them to their annual camp in Bare, Morecambe. The last were not finally withdrawn until 1908.
16-pounder RML as time gun, Bordon Camp, c1910
Some guns were issued to different parts of the British Empire. In South Australia eight guns were issued to the South Australian Volunteer Artillery. Six guns were issued for use by the Trinidad Artillery Volunteers in the 1890s