The Armstrong system enabled loading of the guns from behind the protection of the rampart whereas the manual system required at least two crew to be exposed on the rampart's top.
2.
The first generation of British RML guns in the mid-1860s typically used Royal Gun Factory, Woolwich, and typically had only a few ( three to nine ) broad shallow rifling grooves, compared to the many sharp-edged grooves ( " polygroove " ) of the Armstrong system.