Tag: 4.5-inch Siege Rifle gun

Wikipedia says: The 4.5-inch siege rifle looks like a larger version of the 3-inch ordnance rifle and it is often called a 4.5-inch ordnance rifle. However, the 4.5-inch siege rifle was of conventional cast iron construction and did not use the welded wrought iron construction of the 3-inch ordnance rifle. The 4.5-inch siege rifle fired shells weighing about 30 pounds (depending on the specific type of shell). The tube weighed 3,450 pounds and was 133 inches long. The gun’s only vice was that it suffered from excessive erosion of the vent caused by the hot gasses flowing through the vent when the gun was fired. The vent could become too large to fire the piece after 400 discharges. This problem could be remedied by insertion of a copper vent piece (bouche).

In addition to its use as siege artillery, two batteries of 4.5-inch siege rifles (8 guns total) accompanied the Army of the Potomac as “heavy” field artillery between 1862 and 1864. The big guns were intended for long range firing against Confederate artillery. Although the guns showed very good mobility, they saw little action.