The wrought-iron band shrunk over the breech is the visual signature of the 10-pounder Parrott rifle. Robert Parker Parrott designed it that way at the West Point Foundry at Cold Spring, New York: cast-iron barrels were cheap to produce but couldn't take the pressure of a rifled round at the breech, so he heated a wrought-iron sleeve red-hot, slid it over the barrel, and let it shrink-fit as it cooled. The result was a rifled gun the Union could buy for $187 — half what a 3-inch Ordnance Rifle cost — and field by the hundreds. The trade-off was reliability: Parrotts had a reputation for bursting at the muzzle, where there was no reinforcing band.

The set is the gun in action with a four-man Union crew. The lanyard man pulls taut to the rear, the No.1 stands with sponge staff vertical at the muzzle, a third figure leans into the trail, and the chief-of-piece works at the breech. All four wear the Union artillery dark blue shell jacket, sky-blue trousers, forage caps. Pair the Parrott against the Confederate gun crew in 'Give 'em Another Round' for a counter-battery duel, or set it beside the 3-inch Ordnance Rifle in a two-gun Federal rifled battery — the same role, the cheaper and the more expensive options side by side.

W. Britain 31313 Artillery Firing 10-Pound Parrott Gun. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Five-piece set: four Union artillerymen plus 10-pounder Parrott rifle with cast-iron barrel and wrought-iron reinforcing band on olive-painted oak carriage. Boxed.