What is "round shot"

Round \Round\, a. [OF. roond, roont, reond, F. rond, fr. L. rotundus, fr. rota wheel. See Rotary, and cf. Rotund, roundel, Rundlet.]

1. Having every portion of the surface or of the circumference equally distant from the center; spherical; circular; having a form approaching a spherical or a circular shape; orbicular; globular; as, a round ball. ``The big, round tears.''
   --Shak.

   Upon the firm opacous globe Of this round world.
   --Milton.

2. Having the form of a cylinder; cylindrical; as, the barrel of a musket is round.

3. Having a curved outline or form; especially, one like the arc of a circle or an ellipse, or a portion of the surface of a sphere; rotund; bulging; protuberant; not angular or pointed; as, a round arch; round hills. ``Their round haunches gored.''
   --Shak.

4. Full; complete; not broken; not fractional; approximately in even units, tens, hundreds, thousands, etc.; -- said of numbers.

   Pliny put a round number near the truth, rather than the fraction.
   --Arbuthnot.

5. Not inconsiderable; large; hence, generous; free; as, a round price.

   Three thousand ducats; 'tis a good round sum.
   --Shak.

   Round was their pace at first, but slackened soon.
   --Tennyson.

6. Uttered or emitted with a full tone; as, a round voice; a round note.

7. (Phonetics) Modified, as a vowel, by contraction of the lip opening, making the opening more or less round in shape; rounded; labialized; labial. See Guide to Pronunciation, [sect] 11.

8. Outspoken; plain and direct; unreserved; unqualified; not mincing; as, a round answer; a round oath. ``The round assertion.''
   --M. Arnold.

   Sir Toby, I must be round with you.
   --Shak.

9. Full and smoothly expanded; not defective or abrupt; finished; polished; -- said of style, or of authors with reference to their style. [Obs.]

   In his satires Horace is quick, round, and pleasant.
   --Peacham.

10. Complete and consistent; fair; just; -- applied to conduct. Round dealing is the honor of man's nature. --Bacon. At a round rate, rapidly. --Dryden. In round numbers, approximately in even units, tens, hundreds, etc.; as, a bin holding 99 or 101 bushels may be said to hold in round numbers 100 bushels. Round bodies (Geom.), the sphere right cone, and right cylinder. Round clam (Zo["o]l.), the quahog. Round dance one which is danced by couples with a whirling or revolving motion, as the waltz, polka, etc. Round game, a game, as of cards, in which each plays on his own account. Round hand, a style of penmanship in which the letters are formed in nearly an upright position, and each separately distinct; -- distinguished from running hand. Round robin. [Perhaps F. round round + ruban ribbon.]

    1. A written petition, memorial, remonstrance, protest, etc., the signatures to which are made in a circle so as not to indicate who signed first. ``No round robins signed by the whole main deck of the Academy or the Porch.''
       --De Quincey.

    2. (Zo["o]l.) The cigar fish.

       Round shot, a solid spherical projectile for ordnance.

       Round Table, the table about which sat King Arthur and his knights. See Knights of the Round Table, under Knight.

       Round tower, one of certain lofty circular stone towers, tapering from the base upward, and usually having a conical cap or roof, which crowns the summit, -- found chiefly in Ireland. They are of great antiquity, and vary in heigh from thirty-five to one hundred and thiry feet.

       Round trot, one in which the horse throws out his feet roundly; a full, brisk, quick trot.
       --Addison.

       Round turn (Naut.), one turn of a rope round a timber, a belaying pin, etc.

       To bring up with a round turn, to stop abruptly. [Colloq.]

       Syn: Circular; spherical; globular; globase; orbicular; orbed; cylindrical; full; plump; rotund.

n. (context military artillery English) A solid usually iron spherical projectile fired from a smoothbore cannon.

n. a solid projectile that in former times was fired from a cannon [syn: cannonball, cannon ball]

A round shot (or solid shot, or a cannonball, or simply ball) is a solid projectile without explosive charge, fired from a cannon. As the name implies, a round shot is spherical; its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the gun from which it is fired.

Round shot was made in early times from dressed stone, referred to as gunstone (Middle English gunneston, from gonne, gunne gun + stoon, ston stone) but by the 17th century, from iron. It was used as the most accurate projectile that could be fired by a smoothbore cannon, used to batter the wooden hulls of opposing ships, fortifications, or fixed emplacements, and as a long-range anti-personnel weapon. However, masonry stone forts designed during the early modern period (known as star forts) were almost impervious to the effects of roundshot.

Grapeshot and round shot were some of the early projectiles used in smoothbores.

Round shot was used by naval guns during most of the age of sail, being replaced after the invention by Benjamin Robins of the extruded bullet around the mid-19th century.

In land battles, round shot would often plough through many ranks of troops, causing multiple casualties. Unlike the fake gunpowder explosions representing roundshot in movies, real roundshot was more like a bouncing bowling ball, which would not stop after the initial impact, but continue and tear through anything in its path. It could bounce when it hit the ground, striking men at each bounce. The casualties from round shot were extremely gory; when fired directly into an advancing column, a cannonball was capable of passing straight through up to forty men. Even when most of its kinetic energy is expended, a round shot still has enough momentum to knock men over and cause gruesome injury.

Round shot has the disadvantage 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 is used. This is known as 'windage.'

Round shot has been totally replaced by modern shells. Round shot is used in historical recreations and historical replica weapons.

In the 1860s, some round shots were equipped with winglets in order to benefit from the rifling of cannons. Such round shot would benefit from gyroscopic stability, thereby improving their trajectory, until the advent of the ogival shell.