This program gave me just a little heartburn:

(1) Mentioning smokeless powder and muzzle loading cannons in the same sentence.

(2) Describing the M102 howitzer as a "self-propelled gun."

And a few others.

But William Atwater (the guy with the bullet-head and no neck) whom I generally admire, made an astonishing statement. He said that a bronze cannon cannot be rifled. I've never heard that before and can't imagine why bronze cannot be engraved.

Can anybody shed some light on this? Or is Atwater just wrong?

This program gave me just a little heartburn:

(1) Mentioning smokeless powder and muzzle loading cannons in the same sentence.

(2) Describing the M102 howitzer as a "self-propelled gun."

And a few others.

But William Atwater (the guy with the bullet-head and no neck) whom I generally admire, made an astonishing statement. He said that a bronze cannon cannot be rifled. I've never heard that before and can't imagine why bronze cannot be engraved.

Can anybody shed some light on this? Or is Atwater just wrong?

Well, the first mention I can find of a "rifled bronze cannon" is here;

Original Discovery of the Rifled Cannon.

These experiments, though contributing each for its part, to the stock of general knowledge, had not yet produced any material change in the system of firearms, when M. Reichenbach, a captain of artillery in Bavaria, constructed in the year 1816, a rifled bronze cannon, with seven grooves, and loaded it with conical balls. Though the deviation was very great at first, the result was nevertheless very remarkable and created a certain sensation in German military circles. Unfortunately, the moment was not auspicious for the prosecution of his discovery. Europe was just emerging from one of the bloodiest and longest wars she had ever been engaged in, and the longing for peace was such that Capt. Reichenbach's cannon was made the innocent victim of this disposition of public mind. He was besides arrested in the prosecution of his discoveries by several other reasons, the main one being the difficulty of loading the piece by the muzzle, after a certain number of rounds, and the fear of increasing the expenses of the Bavarian treasury, nearly exhausted in consequence of the war with France. He was thus compelled to discontinue his experiments, and to give up the idea of perfecting his work. This must not, however, deter us from acknowledging that the original idea of combining the rifled bore with the conical ball belongs in great part to Reichenbach.

Don't know why Col. Bill would have said that. Maybe it wasn't practical?

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James L. "Jim" Rhiner

Don't know why he would have said "can't". Not only can bronze cannon be rifled they have been and the United States used them. Now, whether it is practical or not is another question entirely.

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Gunsmithing since 1961

Well, I have continued to research this problem and it appears that Dr. Atwater misspoke.

It's not that bronze cannon cannot be rifled, they most certainly can. The problem is that bronze is not very hard and the rifling quickly wears out.

Cast iron cannon weren't rifled either, for the opposite reason: the metal is too hard and brittle. Turns out that the only good rifle metal is steel.

Don't expect accuracy on TV. On "the military channel" they have shown self propelled guns several times, and called them 'tanks'.