Rifled artillery consists of guns whose bores are fitted with spiraling grooves to impart a stabilizing spin to the projectile to give it accuracy. The earliest pioneer of modern rifled artillery was the Italian major Giovanni Cavalli, who exhibited his first design in 1946. It was a cast iron gun, whose barrel bore was cut with simple two-groove rifling to receive and propel an elongated projectile, which was fitted with corresponding lugs matching the gun barrel bore grooves. Other rifled cannon pioneers included Colonel Treuille de Bealieu, who developed a rifled system that made use of studded projectiles.
During the Austrian-Prussian war (1866) and the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) saw both enemies fielding a large number of quick-firing, breech-loading rifled guns. During the latter armed conflict, the Prussian Army was equipped with advanced Krupp 80-mm breech-loading guns, with rifled barrel bores. They were made of steel, firing ammunition with reliable time fuses. The artillery pieces were aimed directly at the French infantry, opening fire during the German infantry attack, providing covering fire. After the war, these German artillery tactics would soon be copied by most European nations.
Rifled artillery was important and advantageous only in direct fire mode because of its precision and range; in other words, in guns with little elevation. During World War I, however, with the emergence machine guns and massive use of artillery, the infantry was forced get out of sight in deep trenches below ground level. A gun direct fire could hit the enemy. Hence, armies had to make use of howitzers for indirect fire, shooting shells in a lob trajectory; that is to say, in a high arc, to make the shell fall down vertically from above into the trenches. Howitzers, with wide angle elevations, became more important that guns (cannons). Thus, to shoot in indirect fire, rifled barrel bores were no longer required.
The gun barrel bore of a mid-19th century rifled artillery piece.
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