If you look at most pre smokeless guns and cannons, you can often see them having a design that makes sense when it comes to their overall thickness. They are typically wider (often having “hoops”) closer to the breach area for obvious reasons as it’s where the explosion happened. But what I don’t understand is why they often had a slightly flared out bit at the extreme end of the barrel often called “muzzle face”, as often they would try to avoid putting a lot of weight on the extreme end as it would make it harder to move (aiming wise).
In: Engineering
The muzzle is a point of vulnerability.
While pressure inside the gun decreases the further forward you get (so a lot of cannons get thinner) there is nothing in front of the muzzle holding the barrel together. If the muzzle swell (that’s what it’s called) wasn’t there to reinforce the gun there is a chance the pressure inside would make the barrel peel back like a banana.
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