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Terminal Ballistic of Minie Ball

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  • Terminal Ballistic of Minie Ball

    It is often said that minie balls inflict particularly devastating wounds to the victim because its low velocity lead. Can anyone explain how that works? Is it because it dumps energy more completely?
    All those who are merciful with the cruel will come to be cruel to the merciful.
    -Talmud Kohelet Rabbah, 7:16.

  • #2
    Originally posted by Triple C View Post
    It is often said that minie balls inflict particularly devastating wounds to the victim because its low velocity lead. Can anyone explain how that works? Is it because it dumps energy more completely?
    Actually the "Minie" ball (originally pronounced Min-yay after its French designer - but you know how us Yankees modify languages to our own tastes) was rather soft lead with little or no tin in it for hardness. The base of the bullet was concave (like a spoon) so the high pressure gases of the gunpowder would expand the edges out to form a gas check in the barrel.

    It could be used in either smooth-bore muskets or long rifles with grooves and lands (where it was best for keeping the rounded end forward).

    Minie ball bullets were cast in various calibers with .36 being the smallest and .58 the largest. The most common in Civil War firearms were .50 caliber.

    For lubrication, grease or honey wax was molded into the grooves. This helped clean the bore of rifled barrels so more shots could be loaded without doing a full brushing and cleaning too often (also very special black powder was ordered using charcoal from only one type of tree to reduce smoke and fouling).

    Upon impact on an enemy soldier, the soft lead would mushroom almost immediately. the grease or wax lubricant was more like a liquid and tranferred the impact of mushrooming to the rest of the bullet (liquid is not compressable which makes depth charges effective even if they don't hit the sub).

    If a bone is hit, the mushrooming lead bullet would literally shatter it and extend the damage to muscle, tissue, nerves and blood vessels. Major damage to the human body was due more to the softness of the bullet mushrooming almost immediately on impact rather than velocity (and lack of Nylon or Kevlar body armor with Berylium-Carbide striker plates that didn't come around until a hundred years later).

    Some gun experts have claimed the Minie ball from a Kentucky Long Rifle was effective up to 600 yards. Effective perhaps in striking power, but the sights used in those days would not necessarily confirm accuracy (though a few "sniper" rifles were tried out with adjustable peep sights and even a crude telescopic sight was field tested -- but none were standard issue).

    If you can catch a re-run of the History Channel's episode of "AMERICA - the History of Us" about the Civil War, it gives a pretty accurate description of how mean the Minie ball was.
    Able to leap tall tales in a single groan.

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    • #3
      So the devastating "effectiveness" comes from it mushrooming like a hollow point without being a hollow point? Would a lead ball using the same type of soft lead lead to the this type of effect?
      "Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

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      • #4
        ^^ if you don't mind filling the rifling with lead, lol.

        I used to have a TC Contender .44 Mag. I made the mistake of running a bunch of target wadcutters through it one day, what a mess.

        After that it was one JHP for every 2 wadcutters.
        "We will go through our federal budget – page by page, line by line – eliminating those programs we don’t need, and insisting that those we do operate in a sensible cost-effective way." -President Barack Obama 11/25/2008

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        • #5
          Originally posted by gunnut View Post
          So the devastating "effectiveness" comes from it mushrooming like a hollow point without being a hollow point? Would a lead ball using the same type of soft lead lead to the this type of effect?
          For a lead round ball, gas check was accomplished by the wad of cloth wrapped half-way around it before ramming down to the powder. Depending upon what you used for wadding also affected range and accuracy. Silk was considered ideal but too expensive unless purloined from ransacking a house in enemy territory.

          Even in a rifled barrel, the round ball would pick up some "stabilizing" spin, but its spherical shape was actually detrumental and excessive air drag behind it slowed it down.

          A Minie ball, on the other hand, was designed for rifled barrels with the base expanding to form the gas check. Thus no wadding to buffer the force of the burning gun powder and no embers sitting fire to the bushes you are hiding behind. Though its base was "flat", it was a much heavier round (requiring a tad more gun powder) and fully stabilized by the rifling thus and being "cylindrical" in shape rather than "spherical" the cone of air drag behind it was less than a round ball.

          I've seen sheets of silk powder bags whipping around in the air from the 16"/50 guns of both the New Jersey and Missouri. But the projectile has a copper rotating band that forms the gas check so the unburnt pieces of powder bags had no affect on accuracy. I have also heard that in Viet Nam the New Jersey tested for better gas sealing and rifling cleaning by slipping a plastic garbage can bag in front of the projectile as it was rammed into the barrel. How true this is, I don't know but sounds plausible.
          Able to leap tall tales in a single groan.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by highsea View Post
            ^^ if you don't mind filling the rifling with lead, lol.

            I used to have a TC Contender .44 Mag. I made the mistake of running a bunch of target wadcutters through it one day, what a mess.

            After that it was one JHP for every 2 wadcutters.
            You have to use cast lead bullets with lubricating grooves in them (with lubricant of course). This helps keep your barrel a bit cleaner.

            About 50 years ago Colonel Tim McCoy hosted a western movie series on Saturday morning TV. In commercial breaks he would give history lessons on branding irons, saddle designs, guns, etc. He showed his own Colt .45 single actions and explained that he cast and loaded his own. BUT, he also dipped the bullet in melted wax to clean out the residue of the round fired before it.

            Remington used to sell .22 rimfire bullets well advertised that they were wax coated. I think I still have a box of them around here somewhere.

            Tim McCoy's show eventually led to just one hour long history lessons. He used 3 or 4 Saturdays to give the full history of the Spanish American War. His description of the Battle of Manila Bay was of personal interest to him as one of the Spanish Battleships captured was the first ship he served on as the bugler.

            Yes, "Colonel" Tim McCoy was actually a NAVY veteran, not Army. His "Colonel" title was given to him when he was hired as a technical adivisor for western movies when they used real Indians (oops - Native Americans) and he could speak at least one of their languages. I forget if it was Cherokee or Lakota, but at the end of each show he would sign off with a sweep of his hand and say "Wash-Tay", supposedly meaning "Until we meet again".

            I sure wish I had history teachers like him in school.
            Able to leap tall tales in a single groan.

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            • #7
              when I was younger, (knee high to a grass hopper) my dad and some friends went black powder hunting, using either .50 Hawkins Plains rifles or in my dad's case a Pennsylvania drop comb .45 cal rifle. I do remember seeing the results of a deer leg bone being hit by one of the .50 cal rifles (carbines really).. the bone was shattered completely almost from end to end into small particles. Not sure if it was because of the slow velocity or what.. but it sure made a mess of things..

              minie ball


              then you have the maxi-ball



              and the round ball (with minie ball above them)

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              • #8
                Last time I knocked a deer over with a 355gr Maxi the bullet mushroomed to the diameter of a nickel and literally knocked the buck over, something I've never seen a supersonic .308 do. There might be something to Taylor's K.O. factor after all.
                sigpicUSS North Dakota

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                • #9
                  Ah... the good ol' days before the Hague Convention ;-)
                  All those who are merciful with the cruel will come to be cruel to the merciful.
                  -Talmud Kohelet Rabbah, 7:16.

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                  • #10
                    I switched to a minnie-type bullet in my .44 cap and ball revolver years ago. The improvement in accuracy was remarkable.
                    sigpicUSS North Dakota

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