Also known as: cast-iron guns.
| Quality | Strong in compression but brittle |
|---|---|
| Typical guns | Columbiads, seacoast smoothbores, banded rifles |
| Reinforcement | Wrought-iron bands, as on the Parrott and Brooke rifles |
Cheap and strong, but brittle
Cast iron was plentiful and cheap and stood compression well, which made it the metal of the war's heavy ordnance, from the great columbiads to seacoast guns. Its weakness was brittleness: a flawed casting or an overcharge could burst a cast-iron gun without warning.
To use cast iron for rifles, which faced higher pressures, designers shrank wrought-iron bands over the breech, as in the Federal Parrott and the Confederate Brooke, and Rodman's hollow-casting process improved the soundness of the largest iron guns.
On this site
Sources & further reading
- United States Army, Ordnance Department. The Ordnance Manual for the Use of the Officers of the United States Army. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1862.
- CivilWarArtillery.com research archive: manuals, reports, and reference pages.