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The 32-pounder was a spcification of artillery pieces designed and used by the British Armed Forces in the mid-19th century. The cannons were smoothbore muzzle-loading weapons capable of firing a projectile of 32 lb. It was introduced in 1847 and used by the Royal Artillery on land and the Royal Navy at sea.

Design


32-pounders were a traditional design of muzzleloader, in that they needed to be loaded from the end of the barrel. Before it could be loaded the bore of the barrel was cleaned with a sponge after which an explosive charge (gunpowder in a cloth bag) was rammed down into the breech, followed by a projectile. The gun was primed (using a metal spike inserted through the vent that pierced the charge), and fired using a percussion cap (which detonated the charge and forced the projectile out of the barrel).

There were 16 different types of 32-pounder introduced into service, from small 25 cwt with 5 ft barrels, up to larger 58 cwt pieces with barrels of 9 ft. The 58 cwt model was the most common variant of 32-pounder cannon used in land service by the Royal Artillery. It's barrel was 9 ft long and had a calibre of 6.375 in With a 10 lb powder charge (the maximum charge the barrel could withstand, although smaller charges could be used) it fired a projectile with a muzzle velocity of 1900 ft/s.

Conversion to rifled muzzle loader
The introduction of rifled muzzle loading cannon (also referred to as RMLs) rendered smoothbore guns obsolete. However smoothbores still existed in large numbers and various attempts were made to adapt the guns to fire new projectiles. Eventually Captain William Palliser patented a method of boring out the gun barrel and inserting a wrought iron rifled liner. This allowed rifled shot to be fired from old smoothbore cannon and experiments revealed that it made them even more powerful than they had been before. The 32-pounders converted in this way were classed as 32-pounder RML 58 cwt or 64-pounder RML 58 cwt. They had a calibre of 6.3 in and a muzzle velocity of 1245 ft/s. Introduced in 1870, they remained in service until they were declared obsolete in 1908.