Blame the French.

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Thursday, September 9, 2010

Published Saturday, February 7 2009 - (0) Comments

A bit of trivia for you. Did you ever wonder why they called bullets mini-balls during the Civil War?

Those big chunks of lead flying out of the barrels of Enfield and Springfield rifles were not mini even by today's standards. The average size being about .58 caliber, or slightly more than a half-inch across at the widest point. Compare that to the bullet fired from an M-16 today which is .223 caliber, or just under a quarter-inch at the widest point.

To confuse matters even more the mini-ball wasn't ball shaped but elongated, or conical.

Blame it on the French. The mini-ball was developed by Claude Etienne Minie' in 1848 and is more accurately a minie'-bullet.

The round ball used in earlier muzzle loading rifles were close to the same size as the barrel or put into a cloth patch when loaded so they would grip the rifling of the gun and have a consistent spin when fired. This made them accurate but they were difficult and slow to load.

The Minie'-bullet was smaller that the diameter of the barrel making it easier to load. The Minie' also had a hollow base which expanded out when fired to grip the rifling of the barrel giving it the needed spin for accuracy. In addition the Minie' gained additional stability in flight from the conical design.

Claude Minie's bullet insured increased accuracy, range and rate of fire.

Or to put it another way, in the American Revolution it was said that a soldier hit by a round ball fired by a musket more than 75 yards away was just plain unlucky. By the time of the Civil War and the Minie' it was expected.

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