Until September 1914, the only 18-pounder issued shell was shrapnel, fitted with a No. 80 "Time & Percussion" fuze (based on a Krupp design). The timer was set to open the shell and fire the bullets forward before it hit the ground. No 80 Fuze was an igniferous type of time fuze (as were most First World War time fuzes), meaning that it burnt gunpowder at a known rate to give a time from firing to fuze functioning. The shell did not burst, but projected spherical lead-antimony bullets forward in a cone, these bullets were effective up to 300 yards from the burst. 18-pounder carried 374 of the 41/pound size bullets. The fuze was designed to function as close as 50 yards from the muzzle if required, in order to eliminate the need for case shot. Observing shrapnel bursts was difficult and, after many experiments, gunpowder pellets were added to the tube between the fuze and the gunpowder ejecting charge in the base of the shell in order to emit a puff of smoke, this had the added advantage of widening the cone of the bullet spread.