The
driving band or
rotating band is part of an
artillery shell, a band of soft metal near the middle of the shell, typically made of
gilding metal,
copper or
lead. When the shell is fired the pressure of the propellant
swages the metal into the rifling of the barrel, providing a seal preventing the gases from blowing past the shell and engaging with the
rifling to
spin-stabilize the shell. In a small-arms
rifle, the entire bullet is typically covered in copper or a similarly soft alloy, so the entire bullet is its own driving band.