Because it was limited to rather light powder charges, and was not all that accurate anyway, the Minie's ball never really found favor in the civilian markets. They were, however, busy developing their own improvements. Enter the "picket bullet", or the "sugar loaf" bullet, essentially a solid base version of the Minie'. These were short in length, not really much heavier than round balls, and were still patched. But they were getting there - now they were experimenting with ever longer, heavier bullets.
The ultimate development of all of this became the cross-patched conical lead bullet. Much heavier for caliber than the round ball, Minie', or picket bullets. Bore sizes started to drop, as even .40-.45 caliber rifles were now throwing heavier lead than the old .54, .58, and .69 caliber front-stuffers.
Fancy target rifles were even made with the barrel initially longer than desired, with the forward 3"-4" being eventually cut off (after having guide pin holes drilled) to form what was known as a "false muzzle". This false muzzle was a loading guide to ensure the bullet was centered on the patches, and that the whole works was introduced properly into the muzzle:
The patches were finally abandoned when we learned we could seat a "naked", grease grooved bullet if its driving bands were properly sized. The bottom driving bands are bore diameter, so they will start easily with a thumb, and the top driving bands are groove diameter so they will engrave the rifling on the way down. These, incidentally, require a rather clean bore if we have any hope of loading them. Here are my two favorites again, with the round ball for comparison:
Alas, today we have gone a step or two further with a couple of modern developments. First was the plastic sabot, made to hold an undersized jacketed pistol bullet. The most common of these are .50 caliber sabots holding.44 caliber bullets meant for the .44 magnum. Next up along this road of development were essentially modern "Minie'" bullets, comprised of a bore diameter jacketed spitzer with a plastic cup base, hollow on the bottom, mimicking the function of the hollow base on the Minie'. These will, however, take substantially heavier charges without blowing out.
