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Round Shot

 
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Round shot is an obsolete solid projectile
Projectile

A projectile is any object propelled through space by the exertion of a force, which ceases after launch. In a general sense, even a Football or baseball may be considered a projectile....
 without explosive charge fired from small arms
Small arms

Small arms is a general term used by the armed forces to refer to infantry weapons, such as the firearms that an individual soldier can carry....
 or cannon
Cannon

A cannon is any tubular piece of artillery, that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellants to launch a projectile over a distance....
s. As the name implies, round shot is spherical
Sphere

A sphere is a symmetrical geometrical object. In non-mathematical usage, the term is used to refer either to a round ball or to its two-dimensional surface....
; its diameter is slightly less than the bore
Caliber

The term caliber designates the inside diameter of a tube, the diameter of a solid wire or rod, or a measurement of the length of a gun relative to its diameter....
 of the gun it is fired from.

Round shot was made in early times from dressed stone, but by the 17th century, from iron.






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Different Types of Cannon Balls Vasa
Round shot is an obsolete solid projectile
Projectile

A projectile is any object propelled through space by the exertion of a force, which ceases after launch. In a general sense, even a Football or baseball may be considered a projectile....
 without explosive charge fired from small arms
Small arms

Small arms is a general term used by the armed forces to refer to infantry weapons, such as the firearms that an individual soldier can carry....
 or cannon
Cannon

A cannon is any tubular piece of artillery, that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellants to launch a projectile over a distance....
s. As the name implies, round shot is spherical
Sphere

A sphere is a symmetrical geometrical object. In non-mathematical usage, the term is used to refer either to a round ball or to its two-dimensional surface....
; its diameter is slightly less than the bore
Caliber

The term caliber designates the inside diameter of a tube, the diameter of a solid wire or rod, or a measurement of the length of a gun relative to its diameter....
 of the gun it is fired from.

Round shot was made in early times from dressed stone, but by the 17th century, from iron. It was used as the most accurate projectile that could be fired by a smooth-bore cannon
Cannon

A cannon is any tubular piece of artillery, that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellants to launch a projectile over a distance....
, used to batter the wooden hulls of opposing ships, forts, or fixed emplacements, and as a long-range anti-personnel weapon.

Along with pellet shot and grapeshot
Grapeshot

Grapeshot is a type of Anti-personnel weapon ammunition used in cannons. Instead of solid shot, a mass of loosely packed metal slugs is loaded into a canvas bag....
, round shot was one of the early projectiles used in firearm
Firearm

A firearm is a tool that projects either single or multiple projectiles at high velocity through a controlled explosion. The firing is achieved by the gases produced through rapid, confined combustion of a propellant....
s.

Round shot was popular during most of the age of sail
Age of Sail

The Age of Sail was the period in which international trade and naval warfare were dominated by sailing ships, lasting from the 16th to the mid 19th century....
, being replaced after the invention by Benjamin Robins
Benjamin Robins

Benjamin Robins was an England science, mathematics, and engineer.Robins, Benjamin was a Newtonian mathematician, military engineer for the British East India Company, and pioneering ballistics researcher who invented the ballistic pendulum and authored New Principles of Gunnery ?the first significant application of Newtonian science to e...
 of the extruded bullet around the mid-19th century.

Round shot has the disadvantages of not being tightly fitted into the bore (to do so would cause jamming). This causes the shot to "rattle" down the gun barrel and leave the barrel at an angle unless wadding or a discarding sabot
Sabot

A sabot is a device used in a firearm or cannon to fire a projectile, such as a bullet, that is smaller than the caliber diameter. The term is also applied to a battery stub case, a device used similarly to make a small battery usable instead of a List of battery sizes one....
 is used.

Round shot has been totally replaced by modern bullet
Bullet

A bullet is a hard projectile propelled by a firearm, Sling , or air gun and is normally made from metal. A bullet does not contain explosives, but damages the intended target by tissue or mechanical disruption through impact or penetration....
s in small arms
Small arms

Small arms is a general term used by the armed forces to refer to infantry weapons, such as the firearms that an individual soldier can carry....
 and by modern shells
Shell (projectile)

A shell is a payload-carrying projectile, which, as opposed to Round shot, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage includes large solid projectiles previously termed shot ....
 in artillery
Artillery

Artillery is a military Combat Arms which employs any apparatus, machine, an assortment of tools or instruments, a system or systems used as weapons for the discharge of large projectiles in combat as a major contribution of fire power within the overall military capability of an armed force....
. Round shot is used in historical recreations and historical replica weapons.

Pellet shot (now simply called 'shot') is still used in shotgun
Shotgun

A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called lead shot, or a solid projectile called a shotgun slug....
s.

See also

  • Carcass (projectile)
    Carcass (projectile)

    A carcass was an early form of incendiary bomb or shell , intended to set targets on fire. It comprised an external casing, usually of cast iron, filled with an highly flammable mixture, and having three to five holes through which the burning filling could blaze outward....
  • Chain-shot
    Chain-shot

    In artillery, chain-shot is an obsolete type of naval ammunition formed of two sub-calibre balls, or half-balls, chained together. Bar shot is similar, but joined by a solid bar....


External links

  • from the Castello Sforzesco
    Castello Sforzesco

    Castello Sforzesco is a castle in Milan, Italy that now houses several of the city's museum and art gallery collections.The original construction on the site began in the 14th century....
     in Milan
    Milan

    Milan is the second largest city of Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. It is the capital in the Province of Milan, as well as the Regions of Italy capital of Lombardy....
    , Italy
    Italy

    Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....