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The Minie Ball haha i have been shot by one before i had to have my leg amputated. The Minie Ball was used in the Civil War and in a few other wars but it was mainly used in the Civil War. It is conelike with a hollow bottom and three or two rings depending on where it waz made.
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What guns did the union use in the civil war?
They used .58 caliber minie bullet's, lead slugs, and Thud Cannon's.
How did the use of the rifle and minie ball change combat tactics in the rifle war?
The use of the Minie Ball did not change the tactics of the commanders of civil war infantry regiments.The biggest change that the minie ball offered was the ability of the infantry soldier to engage the enemy at longer distance,s effectively.The ability of the minie balls skirt or base to bump up to the diameter of the bores diameter and engage the rifling was a vast improvement in accuracy at longer distances than was available with the earlier smooth bore muskets of the time.
Why was the minie ball important?
It permitted very rapid loading of a rifle, permitting a high rate of accurate fire.
What are rifled muskets?
It will help to understand the difference between a rifled musket and a smoothbore musket. Smoothbore muskets fired a round ball, which traveled down the barrel after the powder charge was ignited. In order to be able to load it, the ball had to be smaller in diameter than the bore, because it was loaded at the muzzle. For example, a .69 caliber gun fired a .678 sizd ball, sometimes even smaller. The reason these guns were so inaccurate was two-fold...firstly, because the bullet was smaller, gases could escape around the ball, causing the ball to "clatter" as it traveled the length of the barrel, and therefore would not leave the barrel the same WA each time. Secondly, the ball would leave the barrel, and depending on the clatter or size, it would be very unstable flight. A rifled musket is different....the gunsmith would use a bit to cut rifling into the interior of the barrel, creating a spiral of grooves into the barrel. The grooves were depressions in the surface, and the cut also created a lan, which is the area that was not cut. The rifled musket used a different bullet, called a Minie ball. The Minie ball was a conical shaped bullet with a hollow base, The base was called the skirt, and was fairly thin. When the black powder ignited, it caused the thin skirt to expand, engaging the bullet into the grooves, and imparting spin to the bullet. The spin greatly stabilized the bullet in flight, allowing it to travel farther. It was more accurate because as the skirt engaged, it created a seal from the gases that could normallye scape from a smoothbore. This insured that the bullet left the barrel the same way every time, and the gases were contained actually caused the bullet velocity to increase, whi chgave it a farther distance capability.
What kind of bullet was capable of shattering bones in the Civil War?
The standard rifle in the American Civil war fired a large (.69 caliber) slow, heavy, soft lead bullet. In some cases, they fired a large round lead ball, mixed with smaller buckshot (known as buck and ball) in others, a hollow based bullet, known as a Minie Ball. The combination of weight, slow speed, and very soft lead could shatter a bone in an unlucky shot.
