Civil War Use Of Smooth Sided Minies

[nkbj]

Recovered relic bullets from the Civil War show a multitude of designs for hollow based bullets. numerous manufacturies and numerous importers, various calibers, some with or without lube grooves, thin skirts, thick skirts, swaged, cast, long, short, blunt and pointy. And the forms of the hollows in the bases of the bullets show many different designs as well with some not even being round. Seeing all this got me to wondering about whether or not all the smooth sided hollow base bullets were actually shot paper patched. Do any of the fellas know, were some smooth sided bullets perhaps used without paper patches? Now that I started thinking about it, well, perhaps for some of them the lube for the next shot was contained in the base hollow of the previous shot.
Anyone familiar enough with the subject to know?

 

[Whitworth]

Short answer, yes. Smooth sided bullets were paper patched cartridges. Go to YouTube and watch Brett Gibbons video on how the Enfield was loaded.

 

[nkbj]

I know how the Enfield was loaded. There were various calibers of smooth sided bullets in use as the war ran its course, not just imports or for that matter English imports.

 

[Whitworth]

He explains the construction of the cartridge and why no grooves were need for lubrication.

 

[dave951]

Yes, Civil War minies. Enfield bullets were smooth side and essentially paper patched