This Artillery Fixation is getting a bit old now.

[Didz]

Actually, I stand corrected. I've just checked the range of mortars and apparently they had a longer range than cannon 670-1,670 yards as opposed to 1,340 yards for a 24 pounder gun. Surprised me I must admit.
[Those figures are from de Vernon's, Treatise on the Science of War and Fortification 1817.]

The other surprising thing was the range of cannister, and I found myself wondering why if it had such a long range its use was so limited. Apparently, the British restricted its use to ranges under 350 yards, whilst the French allowed it up to 600 yards.

There seem to be two possible reasons for this,

Firstly, the amount of cannister carried by a battery was limited and so it was saved for the most opportune/desperate moments of the battle.

Each British 6pdr Gun carried 88 shot, 12 Shrapnell, 8 Heavy Case (long range cannister), 8 Light Case (Short Range Cannister)

Secondly, the reason they didn't carry a greater quantity of cannister in preference to roundshot is most likely because cannister was known to damage the barrel of the gun when it was fired. Apparently roundshot left the barrell pretty cleanly and did little internal damage to it, where as cannister because of its nature tended to disintegrate during firing and would score the inside of the barrel which over time with repeated firing would render the gun useless.

So, basically it seems its use was arbitarily restricted.

Like you I've got used to goading the enemy into attacking me by artillery bombardment, so I'm not too keen on anything that reduces the range of the guns. By rights it ought to take a man at least 5 minutes if not more to walk from extreme artillery range to the mouth of the gun, and in that time the gunners ought to be able to get off at least 5 rounds, and in the final minute possibly three rounds of cannister. Compare that to the actual in game results and you realise that the battlefields need to be wider and the gun ranges longer.