Piece of artillery that may take a pounding? (6)
I believe the answer is:
mortar
This might be a double definition.
'piece of' is the first definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'artillery that may take a pounding?' is the second definition.
'mortar' can be an answer for 'artillery' (mortar is a kind of artillery). I am unsure of the remainder of the definition.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for mortar that I've seen before include "16's grinding partner" , "A short cannon for firing shells" , "Brick bonder; weapon" , "Bomb-launching gun" , "Used in building a house - or to destroy one" .)