The Rifled Musket

[RWebb]

got all excited by one of the ongoing gun threads, so thought I'd start this for all you guys to post on...

[Jeff Higgins]

With the introduction of the French designed Minie ball, initially one of the deadliest arms known to man. For the first time, the average foot soldier had a weapon accurate enough to actually single out an adversary and hit him. While tactics of the day still emphasised mass volley fire, followed by a bayonet charge, even that massed volley proved to be far more deadly than ever before. This was a real game-changer back in its day.

[targa911S]

so was shooting at officers. that was against the rules of war before the american revolution.

[Taz's Master]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

With the introduction of the French designed Minie ball, initially one of the deadliest arms known to man. For the first time, the average foot soldier had a weapon accurate enough to actually single out an adversary and hit him. While tactics of the day still emphasised mass volley fire, followed by a bayonet charge, even that massed volley proved to be far more deadly than ever before. This was a real game-changer back in its day.

But not for long. The Minie was invented in the 1840's, the Henry rifle was invented in the 1850's. Breech loading rifles and metallic cartridges quickly made rifled muskets obsolete.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by targa911S

so was shooting at officers. that was against the rules of war before the american revolution.

Then wasn't George Washington LUCKY...

[tabs]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

With the introduction of the French designed Minie ball, initially one of the deadliest arms known to man. For the first time, the average foot soldier had a weapon accurate enough to actually single out an adversary and hit him. While tactics of the day still emphasised mass volley fire, followed by a bayonet charge, even that massed volley proved to be far more deadly than ever before. This was a real game-changer back in its day.

Yep, Fredricksburg, Antitiem and Pickets Charge....Cold Harbor was the last of it..after that it became TRENCH WARFARE...

The machine gun ended the bayonet charge or almost any charge for that matter...

Then came the tank...

[tabs]

Originally Posted by Taz's Master

But not for long. The Minie was invented in the 1840's, the Henry rifle was invented in the 1850's. Breech loading rifles and metallic cartridges quickly made rifled muskets obsolete.

Now if U were really sharp you could tell us why with the advent of the Breech loading rifle with metallic cartridges aroud about 1860 the CW was fought with those muzzle stuffing pieces of obsolesce.

[targa911S]

Originally Posted by tabs

Then wasn't George Washington LUCKY...

We were the ones that broke that rule. Adapting indian tactics we took out the British commanders and left the grunts to fend for themselves without comand. Until then it was unheard of to purposely take out commanding officers.

[targa911S]

them er some nice shootin irons Tabs.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by targa911S

We were the ones that broke that rule. Adapting indian tactics we took out the British commanders and left the grunts to fend for themselves without comand. Until then it was unheard of to purposely take out commanding officers.

It is NOT cricket to do that....

[MRM]

Apparently he was, based on the number of horses he had shot out from under him. And both sides in the Civil War had snipers, but they were so disliked by the infantry because they singled out individuals that they had to be kept separate from their own men or they would have been killed.

The rifled muskets and Minnie Ball ammo changed the tactics in the Civil War. For the first part of the war, the generals - mostly Union - insisted on using the modified fire and volley tactics that were developed successfully in the Revolutionary war and used ever since. Generals being inclined to fight the last war. But those tactics were disastrous when faced with accurate long range rifled muskets and Minnie Balls and the sides dug in for the new style of trench warfare.

Eventually the North figured out that the weakness in the muskets was that they couldn't be fired very quickly and if the men were arranged properly, one ball could kill only one man. So they developed the basic tactic of swarming and overwhelming the trench by sending so many men the defenders couldn't shoot them all. This was refined into sending a column two men wide and thousands of men deep perpendicular to the enemy's trench. The first rows of men would be shot to pieces, but only the first few at a time, leaving thousands to get into the trenches, with half going to the left and the other half going to the right.

This tactic was so successful that it was still being used in 1914 when WWI broke out (generals being inclined to fight the last war). Just as the rifled barrel and Minnie Ball made fire and volley obsolete, automatic weapons made the technique of going "over the top" and overwhelming the enemy's trenches by throwing more men at the trench than the enemy had bullets was made obsolete. And just as in the Civil War, it took the generals a few years to realize that the main feature of automatic weapons is that they fire repeatedly, without having to stop to reload, or even aim. Millions of lives were wasted and the best minds of a generation were lost by generals proving that you cannot send enough men at a trench defended with automatic weapons to take the trench. At least not without losing so many men that gaining the objective was not worth it.

Sometimes when I consider the total absurdity of mankind and the universe at large, I think of the connection between the Minnie Ball and automatic weapons, how they caused tactics to change in much the same way, and of all the lives lost before the people who were supposed to know better realized that their sacrifice of other people's lives wasn't working in the face of a new technology.

[RWebb]

the Civil War was noted for its carnage - partly b/c of the much greater killing power of the new weapons (and it was marked by a tremendous degree of weapons development), but the rifled musket and its round, the Minie ball, killed more people than any other innovation

You have to think "well, what about the Ky Long rifle?" - what's the big deal with the rifled musket? AFAIK, it was that the latter could be reloaded much more quickly, increasing the rate of fire. I'd bet they were cheaper to produce and easier to train up on too but don't know for sure.


dunno why they called it a Minie "ball" - tradition maybe

[tabs]

Originally Posted by MRM

Apparently he was, based on the number of horses he had shot out from under him. And both sides in the Civil War had snipers, but they were so disliked by the infantry because they singled out individuals that they had to be kept separate from their own men or they would have been killed.

The rifled muskets and Minnie Ball ammo changed the tactics in the Civil War. For the first part of the war, the generals - mostly Union - insisted on using the modified fire and volley tactics that were developed successfully in the Revolutionary war and used ever since. Generals being inclined to fight the last war. But those tactics were disastrous when faced with accurate long range rifled muskets and Minnie Balls and the sides dug in for the new style of trench warfare.

Eventually the North figured out that the weakness in the muskets was that they couldn't be fired very quickly and if the men were arranged properly, one ball could kill only one man. So they developed the basic tactic of swarming and overwhelming the trench by sending so many men the defenders couldn't shoot them all. This was refined into sending a column two men wide and thousands of men deep perpendicular to the enemy's trench. The first rows of men would be shot to pieces, but only the first few at a time, leaving thousands to get into the trenches, with half going to the left and the other half going to the right.

This tactic was so successful that it was still being used in 1914 when WWI broke out (generals being inclined to fight the last war). Just as the rifled barrel and Minnie Ball made fire and volley obsolete, automatic weapons made the technique of going "over the top" and overwhelming the enemy's trenches by throwing more men at the trench than the enemy had bullets was made obsolete. And just as in the Civil War, it took the generals a few years to realize that the main feature of automatic weapons is that they fire repeatedly, without having to stop to reload, or even aim. Millions of lives were wasted and the best minds of a generation were lost by generals proving that you cannot send enough men at a trench defended with automatic weapons to take the trench. At least not without losing so many men that gaining the objective was not worth it.

Sometimes when I consider the total absurdity of mankind and the universe at large, I think of the connection between the Minnie Ball and automatic weapons, how they caused tactics to change in much the same way, and of all the lives lost before the people who were supposed to know better realized that their sacrifice of other people's lives wasn't working in the face of a new technology.

EnnnnH...Your history is all over the place...Napoleon developed the attack in Column...it presents the least target in the charge or attack. The CW was basically fought with Napoleonic tactics. Cold Harbor was truly the end of it as the Union charged a breast work of logs and shallow trench behind. The Union lost aout 10,000 in casualiies in about 1/2 hour. That was the only action Grant really regreted. After that both sides entrenched at Petersburg. resulting in a stalemate until April 1865.

With the Rifled Musket one could now hit a target with accuracy out to 300 yards. Being hit anywhere with a .58 caliber Minnie would ruin your day. One of the reason why there were so many amputations in the CW was that the Minnie shattered bones..


Also can you answer why the 1912 edition of the Encylopedia Britanica is considered to be the best edition ever printed? BTW it doesn't even mention the Titanic.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by RWebb

the Civil War was noted for its carnage - partly b/c of the much greater killing power of the new weapons (and it was marked by a tremendous degree of weapons development), but the rifled musket and its round, the Minie ball, killed more people than any other innovation

You have to think "well, what about the Ky Long rifle?" - what's the big deal with the rifled musket? AFAIK, it was that the latter could be reloaded much more quickly, increasing the rate of fire. I'd bet they were cheaper to produce and easier to train up on too but don't know for sure.


dunno why they called it a Minie "ball" - tradition maybe

U didn't read Higgins post..about Captain Minnie of the French Army...now did U?

[tabs]

The problem with the rifle which dates to the 17TH century is that it is slow to reload..the Minie is undersized to the bore, and the hollow base expands the bullet upon firing to fit the rifle grooves..

Also in the late 1850's a Brit officer by the name of Whitworth designed a hexagonal bore where accuracy could be attained out to 1000 yards. The CSA liked to use those as sniper rifles. I tink it was the Union General Reybolds who was killed by one of those at that kind of distance right after he said nobody could hit him at that distance.

[RWebb]

"U didn't read Higgins post..about Captain Minnie of the French Army..."

eh? I did read it BTW

[tabs]

A real CW era Whitworth cal 451 circa 1860. This one is probably one of the 10 best extant in the world today SN B143..even the Ramrod is SN'ed to the rifle...this is a Military Match of the type favored by the CSA as a sniper rifle. This one came out of Ozzie land...The problem with the Whit is it is a beotch to load..and ithe type is still used today in LRML matches...

[tabs]

The Union snipers tended to use Heavy Barreled 1/2 stock percussion rifles with what was the precusor to rifle scopes..a long hollow sighting tube...or a very low powered scope..Malcome was one of the first. Then came the Berdan Sharpshooters....which used you guessed it Sharps military rifles using paper cartridges....they basically have double set triggers..The Berdan Sharp Shooters wore a green coloured Kepi..the last one I saw at auction went for 7K and that was about 10 years ago. Sorry I am too lazy to take some pics of the rifles...

[fred cook]

The first firearm to utilize a self contained cartridge was the Volcanic rifle and somewhat later, pistol. The rifles were first produced in 1856. It was the Volcanic that later became the Henry rifle and later still, the Winchester. The Volcanic bullet was basically a minie' with the powder inside, sealed at the rear with a primer. When the Volcanic was fired, if everything worked properly, the bullet went down the barrel, leaving nothing to be extracted or ejected. The problem was that sometimes the cartridge would fail to fire and then the only way to clear the weapon was to open the breach and use a rod to push the failed cartridge out of the chamber. Not something that you would want to do in the middle of a battle! The Henry rifle (of Civil War fame) production began in about 1859. While many were purchased by individual solders or company commanders, it was never officially adopted by the Federal Army. The "improved" Henry began production in 1866 and had a loading port in the receiver rather than having to load the magazine tube from the front. A wooden handguard was also added.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by RWebb

the Civil War was noted for its carnage - partly b/c of the much greater killing power of the new weapons (and it was marked by a tremendous degree of weapons development), but the rifled musket and its round, the Minie ball, killed more people than any other innovation

You have to think "well, what about the Ky Long rifle?" - what's the big deal with the rifled musket? AFAIK, it was that the latter could be reloaded much more quickly, increasing the rate of fire. I'd bet they were cheaper to produce and easier to train up on too but don't know for sure.


dunno why they called it a Minie "ball" - tradition maybe

Funny, even modern military ammunition is called "ball" ammunition, loaded as it is with full metal jacketed, boat tailed spitzers. Yes, tradition...

Black powder fouling is the biggest single issue facing any arm that uses that propellant. One or two shots is all it takes to turn the inside of a gun's or a rifle's bore into a pretty good representation of the inside of your barbeque. The original smooth bore musket, with its loose fitting, bare lead ball, could continue to be loaded and fired repeatedly without cleaning. Problem was, it just couldn't hit anything. One out of eight or ten shots hitting a man sized target at 100 yards was considered acceptable.

The rifle was far more accurate, but not solely due to its rifling. It used a patch, typically greased cotton, to take up the windage in the bore between it and the ball. This combination fits the bore much tighter than the musket ball which would, in and of itself, make for a more accurate arm. I've shot smooth bore Indian trade "fusils" with a tightly patched ball, and they are certainly accurate enough to hunt with out to 50-70 yards. So, take this advantage - the tightly patched ball - and fire it in a rifled bore. Accuracy can be astounding. I have a couple of rifles that have appropriate round ball twists (very, very slow by today's standards - 1-66" for the .50, 1-72" for the .54) that approach minute-of-angle. No kidding.

The big problem, though, lies in reloading these. When they have a big enough ball and thick enough patch to shoot this well, they must be wiped after every shot. There is simply no hope of ramming a second one home in a fouled bore. When hunting, I typically go .005" smaller on the ball and .005" thinner on the patch, giving up some accuracy for the ability to reload it at least once without wiping. It's a compromise. They still shoot very well - say about two minutes - and they can be reloaded, but typically only once. Not very suitable for a large army.

So, how do we get this patched round ball, rifled bore accuracy out of a rifle we can reload repeatedly when fouled? Captain Minie's answer was an undersized projectile - just like the musket ball - that could literally be dropped down a clean bore. The trick was to have it designed to obturate and fill the bore, grabbing it and the rifling firmly, when the big bang went off behind it. The deep, hollow base - like a modern airgun pellet (and for the same reason, by the way), serves this purpose. It fills the bore quite nicely, even starting out significantly undersized. As the bore continues to foul, accuracy actually gets better for awhile. One can shoot these rifled muskets all day long without ever wiping them. What a boon to warfare...

They are accurate, too. Not patched round ball accurate, but certainly good enough. The Springfields and Enfields I have played with will worry a clay bird at 100 yards, hitting one most of the time. And that .58 caliber Minie weighs something like 450 grains or so. It's not going real fast - something like 1,100 fps as propelled by the service load of 60 grains of FFg - but it sure hits hard. And makes one hell of a big hole.

The rifled musket ruled the battlefield through the Civil War because it was accurate enough, fast enough, very deadly, and dead reliable. Breech loaders were still having teething problems. Repeating breech loaders were the worst, again because of that pesky black powder fouling. Even the Minie ball gave the bore at least a rudimentary scraping every time it was loaded, where the breech loaders could not. They typically started spraying shots as randomly as the smooth bore musket if not cleaned every few shots. That, and arms like the Henry and Spencer ("that damned Yankee rifle you can load on Sunday and shoot all week") were woefully underpowered. It wasn't until the Allin conversion that brought us the Trapdoor and its .50-70 (then later, .45-70) chamberings that breech loaders provided the power and range of the rifled musket. But, even those had their teething problems, centered around that darn black powder fouling. I'm sure one General Custer would have a few words about that...