Bronze Cannon Casting Technology

Type Object Region Europe Time 1590–1600

Bronze cannon casting was a mature late-16th-century European process for casting copper-tin alloy gun barrels by lost-wax or clay-mold methods, cove…

Timeline

1590–1595Western Europe (foundries of the Low Countries) · FlandersFoundry workers controlled copper-tin ratios and casting temperatures, using reusable clay molds and iron cores to reduce pores and cracks, giving bronze barrels more stable pressure resistance by the early 1590s.
1595–1598Ordnance workshops of European states · FranceNational ordnance departments promoted poundage or caliber grading; proof-firing and boring after casting became routine, facilitating ammunition supply and interchangeable carriages, improving logistics for field and siege artillery.
1598–1600Europe · EuropeThe Eighty Years' War and Anglo-French rivalry caused orders for bronze field guns, siege guns, and naval guns to surge; foundries expanded capacity and improved detachable barrel designs for transport, and by around 1600 Europe's bronze cannon supply system was quite mature.

Sources

The Artillery of the Dukes of Burgundy, 1363–1477 — Robert D. Smith and Kelly DeVries (2005)
Armies of the Sixteenth Century: The Armies of England, Ireland, the United Provinces, and Spain — Ian Heath (1997)