During the Civil War, advances in cannon technology increased power, range, and accuracy. Some large, old smoothbore cannon were rifled and banded to enhance firepower. Banding, which heated and tightened bands of wrought iron around a cast iron barrel, strengthened a cannon to withstand the increased pressure created by greater powder charges. Rifling, which cut spiral grooves in a weapon's bore, gave a projectile a stabilizing spin that increased accuracy. Rifled cannon had greater range than smoothbores of similar size, and their elongated, aerodynamically shaped projectiles could be larger, heavier, more accurate, and more destructive than older round shot and shells, whether used as solid shot or filled with explosives. At Fort Sumter, the original armament consisted of cast iron smoothbore guns mounted en barbette on the parapet and in the first tier of the casemates. The recoil of the wooden carriages allowed crews to service these muzzle-loading guns, and a forty-two-pounder smoothbore cannon stands near the fort entrance.