Rifling reduced uncertainty by imposing spin on the shell. It could regularise shell behaviour and make firing results more repeatable, even though it increased barrel wear. That trade made sense when designers lacked the computing power and modelling tools needed to predict every interaction among projectile, propellant, and barrel. Later smoothbore weapons became practical once other technologies could recover or surpass the required accuracy.
Notable Point · 41:24-42:36
Rifling traded barrel wear for predictable shell flight
Rifling imposed wear but gave crews a more controllable and predictable shell path when later computing and modelling tools did not yet exist.