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Author Topic: Rifled bronze cannon?  (Read 751 times)

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Offline kevthebassman

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Rifled bronze cannon?
« on: September 21, 2009, 04:51:23 PM »
I was farting around the other day and found myself in Forest Park here in St. Louis, and came across the Confederate Memorial with it's resident cannon.  I decided to take a look at it, naturally.  It was a large bronze gun, I don't know the measurements.  On closer inspection though, I realized that this gun was rifled.  I always thought that they didn't rifle bronze guns?  Am I mistaken in that assumption or is this gun an odd duck?
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Offline subdjoe

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Re: Rifled bronze cannon?
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2009, 05:08:42 PM »
It seems as if just about everyone tried a rifled bronze gun.   No one managed to really make it work. One that I know of was the Tredegar 2 1/4 inch mountain rifle.  They turned out I think a dozen of them, tried them, and melted most of them down.  Either two or four escaped being melted down.  Here is a bit on one that was for sale a few years ago.  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8823348203644460947#
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Offline Cannoneer

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Re: Rifled bronze cannon?
« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2009, 06:28:52 PM »
Kev,

The James rifles were another Civil War experiment in rifled bronze cannons, with the same end result; bronze just doesn't possess the type of hardness that can endure the repeated friction of projectiles wearing on the rifling.

James Rifles
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Offline GGaskill

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Re: Rifled bronze cannon?
« Reply #3 on: September 21, 2009, 08:24:02 PM »
Yes, the basic problem was the bronze was not strong enough for the rifling to remain effective.
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Offline cannonmn

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Re: Rifled bronze cannon?
« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2009, 09:14:42 PM »
I'm familiar with that cannon, if it is the same one shown in this article.  I'm also familiar with how such Spanish cannons were distributed by the Secretary of War in 1900, so I reported that to a couple of people in St. Louis.  I called the person mentioned in the article, Big Fred, and told him also, but I'm not sure he believed me.  Anyway, I've been to the National Archives and studied the records regarding these guns, so there's no real question about how they got where they are. 

I see the article doesn't mention anything about the rifling, but many older Spanish cannons were rifled on the Beaulieu system beginning in 1862, to give them increased range and accuracy.  Most of the bronze guns so rifled in Spain had six deep grooves, which engaged twelve zinc studs protruding from the cast iron projectile.  The Beaulieu system was widely used in Europe and many other countries, but was never adopted in the US.  I've read reports of an Austrian rifled bronze gun (Beaulieu system) captured by the US Navy aboard a blockade-runner and tested at the Washington Navy Yard.  The results were not good.  The biggest problem was actually the very heavy recoil of the gun, which quickly broke the carriage and bent the elevating screw.

http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2008-09-03/news/cannon-fodder-the-mystery-of-the-spanish-gun-in-forest-park/

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