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The Minié ball, or Minie ball, is a type of hollow-based bullet designed by Claude-Étienne Minié for muzzle-loaded, rifled muskets. Invented in 1846 shortly followed by the Minié rifle , the Minié ball came to prominence during the Crimean War [ 1 ] and the American Civil War where it was found to inflict significantly more serious wounds ...
Lead could be cast in a ladle over a wood fire used for cooking or home heating, while casting iron required higher temperatures. Greater density of lead allowed lead bullets to retain velocity and energy better than iron bullets of the same weight and initial firing velocity. [2] Minié balls of the mid-19th century could be either cast or swaged.
In 1851, the British adopted the Minié ball for their 702-inch Pattern 1851 Minié rifle. In 1855, James Burton, a machinist at the U.S. Armory at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, improved the Minié ball further by eliminating the metal cup in the bottom of the bullet. [28] [29] The Minié ball first saw widespread use in the Crimean War (1853 ...
From left to right: .577 Enfield Minie Bullet, Burton Pattern Minie Bullets, .58 Springfield (x 2), Williams Bullet missing zinc base, .69 Caliber Minie Bullet. Tamisier grooves are visible. A hollow-base bullet is a firearm bullet with a pit or hollow in its base which expands upon being fired, forcing the base to engage with the barrel ...
The Enfield Pattern 1853 rifle-musket (also known as the Pattern 1853 Enfield, P53 Enfield, and Enfield rifle-musket) was a .577 calibre Minié-type muzzle-loading rifled musket, used by the British Empire from 1853 to 1867; after which many were replaced in service by the cartridge-loaded Snider–Enfield rifle.
Paper cartridge, Minié ball undersized to reduce the effects of powder fouling and for the skirt to grip the grooves when firing: Caliber.58 (14.7320 mm) Action: Percussion lock: Rate of fire: User dependent; usually 2 to 3 rounds per minute: Muzzle velocity: 1,000 ft/s (300 m/s) to 1,400 ft/s (430 m/s) Effective firing range
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A smaller caliber Minié ball could be used to provide as much mass on target as the larger .69 caliber round ball. For these reasons, the Model 1842 was the last .69 caliber musket. The Army later standardized on the .58 caliber Minié Ball, as used in the Springfield Model 1855 and Springfield Model 1861.