This system was the "Woolwich" system while it was possible with this system to fire shells at a higher muzzle velocity, and therefore with greater penetrative power, than before, the studs tended to shear, there was excessive wear of the gun liner, and the shells tended to wobble in flight. The type of gun finally adopted was a muzzle-loading weapon which fired projectiles with external studs which engaged with the rifling. These weapons, however, were dangerously prone to failure, frequently explosively, and an alternative armament became urgently necessary.Īn initial attempt at an alternative was the 100-pounder smoothbore Somerset cannon, which, while it was an improvement over previous smoothbore guns of lesser calibre, could not penetrate armour of thicknesses currently being shipped by British or foreign battleships. It was known that rifled ordnance provided more accuracy, a greater range and more penetrative power, which was the rationale behind the development and on-board shipping of the breech-loading cannon developed by the company owned by Sir William Armstrong. These had by then approached their limit in terms of armour penetration, range and destructive power. Until the middle of the 19th century Royal Navy warships had been armed with progressively larger smoothbore muzzle-loading cannon. The muzzle-loading rifle was introduced into service in ships of the Royal Navy, after experimentation with alternative armament systems, after the failure of the Armstrong 100-pounder breech-loaders installed in 1860. They appear to have been the first case of usage of rifled cannons on a battlefield. ![]() They were able to shoot at 3,000 meters either regular shells, ball-loaded shells or grapeshot. ![]() These guns were a considerable improvement over the previous smooth-bore guns which had been in use. The La Hitte rifled guns were used from 1859 during the Franco-Austrian War in Italy. Right image: Shell used in Japan during the Boshin War. Left image: The La Hitte system was based around a shell equipped with lugs which allowed it to follow the rifle grooves inside the cannon bore. The American Longrifle evolved from the German " Jäger" rifle. ![]() A popularly recognizable form of the "muzzleloader" is the Kentucky Rifle, which was actually developed in Pennsylvania. Hand held rifles were well-developed by the 1740s. The rifling grooves cut on the inside of the barrel cause the projectile to spin rapidly in flight, giving it greater stability and hence range and accuracy than smoothbore guns. This is the opposite of a breech-loading weapon or rifled breechloader (RBL), which is loaded from the breech-end of the barrel. In the case of artillery, the abbreviation " RML" is often prefixed to the guns designation a Rifled breech loader would be "RBL", or often just "BL", since smoothbore breechloading artillery is almost nonexistent (except in tank guns).Ī muzzle loading weapon is loaded through the muzzle, or front of the barrel (or "tube" in artillery terms). Muzzle and breechloading artillery served together for several decades, making a clear distinction more important. A shoulder arm is typically just called a "rifle", as almost all small arms were rifled by the time breechloading became prevalent. The term " rifled muzzle loader" typically is used to describe a type of artillery piece, although it is technically accurate for small arms as well. A muzzle-loading rifle is a muzzle-loaded small arm or artillery piece that has a rifled barrel rather than a smoothbore.
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