Minié ball in a smoothbore

[jproveaux]

Minié ball in a smoothbore what would happen? Would it be safe to shoot? How Accurate? How deadly?

 

[bpd303]

It would be safe but not very accurate. A Minie needs to be spinning to be accurate.

 

[54ball]

Pretty dang deadly for anything remotely in front of it. Left, right, up and down, no matter. We are talking minute of Bus or Barn accuracy.

A rock will be deadly too with about the same performance.

 

[Grizzly Adams]

It would likely tumble immediately upon exiting the barrel, so accuracy would be poor. That said, if that Minie hit anything going sideways, it would not be pretty.

 

[satx78247]

QUITE DEADLY (as compared to a RB) with a decent hit AND it would be just as accurate/inaccurate as a round ball from a smoothie.

A Minie flies relatively true for the same reason that a thrown dart seldom hits the target "feathers first".
(Generally speaking the deeper the cavity in the Minie's base the more accurate that it will be at "normal RB ranges".)

Try a suitably sized Minie in YOUR smoothie & see how it does, is my advice.

yours, satx

 

[jproveaux]

My bad i ment compared to a round ball...so my main questions would be is it safe to shoot is it accurate and which is better round or minie and why.

 

[jproveaux]

I would imagine that a minie bullet tumbling through the air would cause massive damage to anything it hit. Just say game

 

[jproveaux]

Why would a deeper caving increase accuracy?

 

[jproveaux]

Why iam asking would it be safe because i dont wont the barrel to explode in my face.

 

[Grizzly Adams]

The deeper cavity would indicate a front heavy projectile, which offers some inherent stability. However, I think a Minie is too long to fly straight without some spin imparted on it. And you have no risk of the gun blowing up in your face from using them in your gun in my opinion.

 

[Zonie]

If you kept the powder charge down to the levels that were used in the Rifled Muskets that shot them it would be safe. That powder load was 60-65 grains of 2Fg powder.

That said Minie' Bullets don't come in just any size.

They are usually about .58 caliber.
That means you would need a 23 guage smoothbore to get any kind of good fit that would even begin to shoot accurately.

In a 20 guage a .58 cal Minie' would be about .035 (1/32") loose and you'd need a mighty big hammer to get one started into a 28 guage's .550 diameter bore.
There are a few .54 caliber Minie' bullets that could work in a 28 guage smooth bore.

Getting back to the powder load, a 7/8 oz shot load in a 20 guage is about right. 7/8 ounces of shot equals 383 grains of lead.

Most .58 cal Minie' bullets weigh between 320 and 570 grains. As you can see, a heavy Minie' bullet can weigh more than the 7/8 ounces so to be on the safe side, do not try to increase the powder load.

As for accuracy, as the others have said, if your talking "minute of barn" you'd do all right.

If your talking minute of pie plate at 50 yards your probably out of luck.

Needless to say, if we're talking about a 300-600 grain blob of lead flying at almost 1000 ft/second, anything it hits is in deep trouble.

 

[54ball]

I'll admit I have thought of some unusual rounds for a smoothbore like a scaled down[strike] M1 tank dart[/strike] but I'm pretty sure that's beyond the scope of the forum.

Besides a round ball has performed better than I could ask.

 

[54ball]

For solid shot...

A round ball even if a little small for the bore will fly relatively straight at least for a little while. Despite all you may hear about a roundball inefficiency; this is where it excels, that being a stable and accurate projectile out of a smooth or slow rifle twist bore. That's just the properties of a sphere.

A conical on the other hand has to be stabilized to fly straight. This can be either a tail like a rocket or a spin like a football. With out the spin the butt will always try to out run the nose. A minnie with it's hollow base susceptible to blow out, will be much much worse than a conical slug.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Why iam asking would it be safe because i dont wont the barrel to explode in my face.

Then don't do it!

No one can tell you it will be safe. The possibility of a catastrophic failure is always present. We operate within an envelope of safety. Operating on the edge or outside of it can have consequences.

 

[satx78247]

I don't think that anyone can ASSURE that ANY firearm is truly safe W/O knowing the precise load that you plan to use.

IF, for example, I was going to try a Minie in a .58 caliber SB I would start with about 45 grains of BP & work up from there. = The MOST accurate load is the one to use for game, imVho.
(For example, my little short-barreled "replica of nothing at all" is a "sort of Zouave" design & it seems to do BEST with about 60 grains over my homebrewed 530 grain Minie. - I wouldn't be shy about firing on a moose or elk with it out to 100M, as it is good "antlered game medicine" & quite HANDY out of a tree stand.)

BEST WISHES.

just my OPINION, satx

 

[jproveaux]

Well a Smoothbore don't have grooves so how would a slug/ solid base conical be accurate what would the bullet have to have to be accurate.?. Jw

 

[jproveaux]

Thanks Satx all feedback is much appreciated.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Minié ball in a smoothbore what would happen? Would it be safe to shoot? How Accurate? How deadly?

It will come out the end.
As long as you don't point it somewhere silly.
Who knows.
Very.
B. :thumbsup:

 

[54ball]

A bullet or slug will not be accurate out of a smoothbore because it is inherently unstable with out stabilization. The minnie could be much worse due to the hollow skirt.
The hollow skirt aids it out of a rifle but without rifling that same action could hinder it, especially if gasses blow by one side or the other, that's what I meant by blowout. Even if it does not "blow out" it still has no stabilization.

Heavy charges can blow out a minnie's skirt even in a rifle causing inaccuracy.

A roundball on the other hand is stable as there is no end heavier than the other since it's a sphere.

This is nothing new. All this has been tried before. The armies of the world tried just about everything you can imagine before they dumped their smoothbored muskets in favor of rifled muskets.

 

[Rokon]

Not so! The Lyman diablo shaped 20 ga. slug is a .58 caliber bullet that is highly accurate in a smooth bore.