Musket ball

“ The effects of different rates of velocity on wounds are seen in the variations which occur in proportion to the distance which the missile has traveled before inflicting the injury. A cannon-ball which, with but slight velocity of motion added to its [21] weight, would knock a man over, at ordinary speed will carry away a limb without disturbing the general equilibrium of the body. A musket-ball that would be arrested half way through a limb is now replaced by a ball which, at like distance from the point of discharge, will pass through several bodies in succession. ”

“ By taking a ball of solid lead of a smaller size than the calibre of the musket, and placing it on the charge in a gun, and as much or nearly so of powder, over the ball, the effect we are assured is, that when the gun is fired, the ball will pass out without any very sensible force, and even drop [40] a few yards from the gun, although the report will be as great as if the charge and ball had been used in the usual manner. This trick is often performed by jugglers, to the great astonishment of the spectators. The mode of catching a cannon ball is also of the same character. ”

“ A wound made by a musket-ball is essentially contused, and attended by more or less pain, according to the sensibility of the sufferer, and the manner in which he may be engaged at the moment of injury. A musket-ball will often pass through a fleshy part, causing only the sensation of a sudden and severe, although sometimes of a trifling blow. If it merely strike the same part without rupturing the skin, the pain is often great. Major King, of the Fusiliers, was killed at New Orleans by a musket-ball, which struck him on the pit of the stomach, leaving only the mark of a contusion. ”

“ With respect to small arms, it is found that wads of different kinds have different effects upon the projectile, by modifying the action of the charge; and from experiments which have been made in the United States with a musket pendulum, the following results have been obtained: With a charge equal to 77 grains, a musket ball, wrapped in cartridge paper, and the paper crumpled into a wad, the velocity of the ball was 1342 feet; and when two felt wads, cut from a hat, were placed on the powder, with one on the ball, the velocity was 1482 feet. ”

“ A musket ball, suspended by a string which is not subject to stretch, and on which are marked the different required lengths, answers the above purpose, may be easily acquired, and is directed to be frequently compared with an accurate standard in the adjutant’s possession. ”

“ The hunter who has no love for the saddle, and prefers stalking, should provide himself with some breech-loading rifle or carbine, carrying a heavy ball—the heavier the better. The most effective weapon is the needle-gun used in the army, having a bore the size of the old Springfield musket, and a [458] ball to correspond. A bullet from this weapon usually proves fatal. But there is little genuine sport in such practice. ”

“ The office of the spirally-wound feather in communicating a rotary motion, and thereby balancing, by an opposite force, the tendency of the missile to swerve in any given direction, is fulfilled by the spiral groove of the rifle. Of course, the ordinary smooth musket is unfitted to the conico-cylindrical ball. Discharged from such a barrel, there being nothing to keep the point in the direction of its flight, it soon tumbles over, like an arrow without a feather, and strikes wide of the mark. ”

“ Six drachms of powder is the full service charge for a flint musket, and four drachms of a percussion musket; yet this immense pressure can be resisted by a cylinder of iron not more than one quarter of an inch thick, and not iron of the best quality.
Experiment 2.—A good musket barrel had a cylinder of brass, three inches long, turned to fit the muzzle, and soldered in, so as to close it air-tight. The plug, or breech-screw, was removed, and a felt wad was pushed in with a short piece of wood, marked to the exact depth the charge would occupy, to prevent the ball rolling forward. ”

“ From the walls and the lumber-rooms of these old dwellings many other arms had been brought to light which were doubtless esteemed as things of price by our forefathers, but which would seem strange to your eyes in these days, when a musket may be fired once in every two minutes, and will carry a ball to a distance of four hundred paces. ”

“ Occasionally, though rarely, an accidental concurrence of circumstances may lead to the conical bullet pursuing a circuitous instead of a direct course, especially when, after traveling a certain distance, its speed has become diminished; and, as round musket-balls are not yet wholly discarded from warfare, it is necessary to call attention to the observations which have been made on this subject. ”

“ The Gardiner shells are so constructed as to have no different appearance in the cartridge from the common minnie ball—only the title on the box, and an examination of the ball when separate from the cartridge, giving any indication of its explosive character. ”

“ So much for the poisoned ball "sent by the Confederates."
Any person ought to know perfectly well that it was not necessary to invent or construct a rifle ball especially adapted to carry poison, when the common minnie ball itself, dipped into liquid poison and coated, as ball cartridges are usually finished, with wax or tallow, would have effected the same purpose. ”

“ There is something inherently masculine also in the universal dominance of the projectile in their games. The ball is the one unescapable instrument of sport. From the snapped marble of infancy to the flying missile of the bat, this form endures. To send something forth with violence; to throw it, bat it, kick it, shoot it; this impulse seems to date back to one of the twin forces of the universe—the centrifugal and centripetal energies between which swing the planets. ”

“ But the question is, whether in a well-constructed rifle, the bullet does strip? and if not, then a gaining-twist is unnecessary and objectionable, as it offers to the ball’s progress a continually increasing opposition, while the ball itself is subjected to a continually increasing urging force from the inflamed gunpowder in the barrel, so that, as the velocity of the ball increases, so also does the resistance to its escape. ”

“ He also states that the limit of the powers of leaden balls having been attained, it became necessary to find a method of constructing rifle balls, so that the fore part should be capable of sustaining the pressure of large charges of fired gunpowder, without change of form, and retain that shape best adapted for overcoming the resistance of the air, on which all accurate distant practice depends; and at the same time having the part of the ball next the powder sufficiently soft and [103] yielding to spread out under its pressure, so as to fill the barrel and grooves perfectly air tight. ”

“ Throughout a long experience in wild sports, although I admire the velocity of conical projectiles, I always have retained my opinion that, in jungle countries, where in the absence of dogs you require either to disable your game on the spot, or to produce a distinct blood-track that is easily followed, the old-fashioned two-groove belted ball will bag more game than modern bullets; but, on the other hand, the facility of loading a conical bullet already formed into a cartridge is a great advantage. ”

“ Whatever may be the arguments for heavy substances, they do not avail here, as it is impossible to throw them either with velocity or accuracy; for there never can be certainty, where so much elevation is required. The size of ball we have mentioned, can be thrown with great certainty, as far, if not farther, than any soldier [406] in her Majesty’s service can accurately survey a single object. For the purpose of annoying a dense body of men, such as a square column, such a rifle would be an invaluable gun; as the muskets now made will not throw a ball one-half the distance. ”

“ It is well known, that cannon balls and shot out of common barrels are impelled in a line formed by the centre of the ball, and a compound of the projectile force of the explosion acted upon by the air and by gravitation in its course; the ball has a tendency to rise upward to a certain extent after leaving the muzzle of the gun; its particular motion is as if the ball had a transverse axis, and rolled forward in that axis, in the manner that the wheels of a carriage roll ”

“ In the history of the world no such great crowds have gathered to watch anything the world has ever known—sport or anything else—with so few fights. Base Ball, you see, arouses no brutal instincts. It is a turmoil rather than a battle. It is more a war of skill than a war of strength. Foot ball often breeds fierce fights. That game calls for heavy muscles, don't you see? as well as skill, and I shall dare some critics when I say that foot ball science is less delicate than Base Ball science. Brute strength in one foot ball player can, and often does, overmaster the pure science of another. ”

“ It is an undisputed law in motion that one body may convey to another, by contact, nearly its own velocity, but in so doing, is sure to come to rest immediately. Strike one billiard ball against another, if the blow is centrical, the ball struck receives the motion, the other comes to rest; and so is it with shot: it is only the layers next the muzzle which strikes the target, the remainder fall without travelling the same distance. I have fired three balls from a rifle, and having marked them I found the uppermost projected farthest, and the others in proportion. ”

“ By being a more continuous swing, it is a more natural motion, less trying on the muscles, and gives greater accuracy on account of the twist such a swing imparts to the ball, much on the same principle as does the twist to a bullet from a rifled gun. ”

“ Supposing a ball to be fired when the axis of the piece is parallel to the ground and 16 feet above it, then the projectile will strike the earth in the same length of time that it would have done, had it been rolled out of the muzzle, quite irrespective of the velocity with which it may have been propelled, or the consequent extent of range ”

“ The large and irregular hole made by a Smasher, on the other hand, the ragged and splintered opening caused by the crashing of the large ball against the frames and timbers, was quite likely to be the cause of a foundering. Again, the high velocity of the long gun’s ball, while giving it range and considerable penetrative power, was actually a disadvantage when at close quarters with an enemy. The maximum effect was gained, as every gunner knew, when the ball had just sufficient momentum to enable it to penetrate an opponent’s timbers. ”

“ Again, the heavier bullet performs better than the lighter one at nine hundred yards, simply because the momentum of the light ball is nearly expended at so long a range as nine hundred yards, and its rotatory motion is not enough to keep it in the true line of its flight, whereas a heavy bullet, having from its weight more momentum, preserves for a longer distance the twist and velocity with which it started. ”

“ In the muscles of the neck, and of the right fore leg above the elbow and next to the bone, were found four rifle-balls, and a large fragment of another ball. The wounds had healed up, and each ball was inclosed in a sac with the appearance of having been there several years: one 42-caliber 205-grain lead ball lay in the muscles of the neck, another of same caliber and weight, two 50-caliber 375-grain lead balls, and the large flattened fragment of a ball were in the muscles of one fore leg next to the bone. ”

“ This gives them added purchase and far greater power of resistance. Were they of equal length the pressure upon the ball would be distributed and it could be wrested from the grasp far more readily. No mechanical contrivance has ever been designed that is comparable to the hand in flexibility, deftness, adaptability, or power of prehension. It can pick up a needle or a cannon-ball at will. Its touch is as light as a feather or as stark as a catapult. It can be as gentle as mercy or as harsh as battle. ”

“ An ounce ball, suspended against the back of the pendulum, by the jar or blow it receives and communicates, completely prevents the effect, and the ball is flattened, instead of perforating the object struck: so is it if you place a 1⁄4-inch plate against any support; it thus has the power of perfectly resisting the force of the ball, though fired with considerably more power than is requisite under other circumstances. ”

“ A projectile is set in motion gradually, and is (or should be, if the quality and quantity of the powder, and the barrel, have a right proportion to each other) at its greatest velocity just before leaving the muzzle; consequently the tendency of a ball would be to yield to the increasing force of the powder and pass straight out of the barrel without following the grooves ”

“ When the gun is fired, the button is forced into the cone, and expands the lead, which thus fills up the grooves and gives a spiral direction to the bullet.274 The Minié ball serves the purpose excellently for a short time, but after firing several rounds the iron button is forced through the lead, leaving a portion of it behind, which clogs up the barrel, and renders it unfit for use. ”

“ To get the best result you instinctively reach as far back as ever you can and then reach forward as far as you are able, so that the ball shall have as long a journey as possible in your hand. Perhaps you do not know it but all the time you are moving your hand with the ball in it you are putting energy into that ball, which energy carries it along after you have let go of it. And it is just the same with the shell in the gun. So long as it is in the gun energy is being added to it but as soon as it leaves the muzzle that ceases. ”