Sir William Armstrong's 18-pounder breech-loading rifled cannon became the first weapon of its type used in action during the initial British operations against the Taku Forts in China. They were used initially to great effect in the bombardment of Sinho and served throughout the following campaign. They were still not perfected, though, and the British returned to muzzle-loaded rifled cannon until the end of the 1860s. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Robert Melvin Blackwood, The Battles of the British Army ... (London, Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent and Co., 1910), 375.