Armstrong rifled breech-loading gun
Cañón rayado de retrocarga de Armstrong
- Date
- 1855-1859 · confidence medium
- Place
- Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- William Armstrong
- Field
- Conflict
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A coil-built wrought-iron gun with a rifled bore and a vertical-screw breech closure, more accurate and with far greater range than smooth-bore muzzle-loaders. It was adopted by the British army and navy from 1859.
Rifled breech-loaders have precedents (Wahrendorff, 1840; Cavalli, 1846); rifled muzzle-loaders by Whitworth and Krupp also rivalled Armstrong, and the British army reverted to muzzle-loading around 1865 owing to breech problems.
What it led to
- modern rifled artillery
- the armour-versus-gun race
- the Elswick armaments industry (Armstrong Whitworth)