Shawn,

I have not delved into the particulars of the specifications for each round available during the war. My friends and I would like to try cast iron sometime if we can get it. As to shot patterns, rifled tubes tend to string the shot so the spread is very narrow. This tends to stack the hits one on top of the other. This happens because the canister is spinning as it leaves the muzzle. Our 6 pounder smoothbores have a more regulated pattern. Just recently we fired canister from our 6 pounder Cadet Gun(Patterned after one used at the Arkansas Military Institute) at a range of 250 yards. Using 6 foot tall human shaped silhouettes we scored hits on 12 of 15 targets. With a 3 inch Rifle we only scored hits on 6 targets. I must say, rather immodestly, most of our hits would have been fatal.

Firing at a wagon,loaded with silhouettes, we dismounted the bed from the wheels, hitting 4 of the 10 targets in the bed, with the smoothbore, but only slightly damaged the bed with the Rifled gun. Dismounting something from wheels is unusual for canister.

Len