Driving band

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.