rb vs conical

[oomcurt]

I'm kind of curous about something. As this deals with "bullets" in general and not strictly hunting as for part of it...If roundballs are so great...and Please..I am not knocking them...why is it that for example in the Civil War the Maxi and Mini came into being? I mean...compared to a deer...a human is kind of a thin skinned critter.

 

[Pork Chop]

I don't know, but can speculate. The mini and maxi don't need patches - one less thing to dink with while being shot at is a good thing. Another is that a heavier round would have a higher probability of going clean through and maybe into the guy behind. Not a bad thing to consider during armed combat.

Just some guesses on my part...

 

[Runner]

Penetration, range, loading, supply simplicity, and energy retention.

 

[walruskid1]

a minie will drop into the barrel and seat with little or no pressure on the ram rod. as fouling increased this became more important. the skirt on the minie takes up the difference in size when the charge goes off. the powder burning causes the skirt to flair out and conform to the rifling.

 

[WV_Hillbilly]

Minie bullets are easier to load in a fouled barrel, due to their being "undersized just enough", and their ability to obturate upon the impact of firing to expand and seal up the bore. This allowed them to be reasonably accurate as well as quicker to load. The trajectory, (though very high and looping like a rainbow), was still better than the same caliber round ball ballistic performance. Any other benefits gained by using the Minie over the round ball are just icing on the cake.

Yes... a .570 round ball would have still been pretty devastating to get hit with--but by the time you got the bore wiped out and the patched ball loaded, the other guy probably already "had you good" with his Minie bullet...

Also less training was required for the Union infantry with regard to weapon use--as many "Northerners" were not as familiar with firearms (due to living an urban life or not being a hunter all (or most of) their lives.)

My $0.02 worth,
WV_Hillbilly

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Why did the trapdoor, the .03, the M-I and now the M-16 follow the minie? Because things evolve with time and technology.

I shoot round balls because they are appropiate for the period weapons I choose to use.

 

Tans....you left out the Krag and the M-14 but so what, the answer was just as accurate. Same could be said for black powder and smokeless. In fact all the answers were accurate.

Vic

 

[tg]

The main advantage of elognated bullets is better stability/accuracy/ heavier projectile over longer ranges along with ease of loading, many styles date back to the rev war period some worked to some degree some did not but they did evolve into a superior long range projectile during the time period that roughly mirrored the development of the self contained cartridge. The round ball on the other hand was what it was and had no where to go it was a short range projectile as it shed energy quickly, light for the caliber, required a time consumimng patch, all these are very undesireable traits...for a modern projectile, but perfect for a primitive traditional pre cartridge gun era ML.

 

[Landngroove]

I believe that Warren Center, of Thompson/Center Arms developed the Maxi-ball in the early 1970's. The Minie, named after C.E. Minie, who developed this bullet, was used in the civil war, as the others have said was easy to load, It was an undersized bullet, with a thin hollow base skirt that was forced into the rifling grooves when fired.

 

[tg]

An interesting note about the TC Maxie Ball, they tried many original moulds and couild not find anything that provided suitable accuracy and ended up using the driving land theory based on artillary projectiles.