Minie Balls

[steve medlock]

Here's a question which follows on from me loading my Enfield without powder on Saturday (groan).

Rather than blow it out with powder through the nipple hole, for some reason I decided to extract it with the screw from the tool attached to the ramrod. This was a big mistake and I had to retire and get the bullet out at home.

Examining the bullet afterwards. the 5 grooves were well engraved on the length of the bullet and not just the skirt area. So I was wondering whether this is what happens during a normal shot, ie. does the whole bullet deform to fit the barrel and engage the rifling or is it just the skirt area?

Pickups from the bullet catcher are usually so splatted that its hard to tell much at all.

Steve.

[harricook]

Carefull Steve !

....or you will end up with 'Dryballer' under your name instead of Registered User

Cheers

Roy

.

[Flashinthepan]

Hi Steve
I use one of those SafeT unloaders and blow the ball, charge or bits of 4x2 that have become detached from a jag out; with a shot of compressed gas.

When I have had to blow out a musket balls and powder because they haven't full seated, the ball travels about 10 to 15 feet.

If you got one or borrowed a shot of gas from someone who has one you could dry load a Minie ball and send it out with a force behind it but not sufficient for it to deform when it hits the sand.

Is it possible when you were attempting to get the screw thread tool to bit into the lead that the pressure you applied down the barrel deformed the skirt as the ball was pushed back onto the breach face.

Nigel

[robinghewitt]

I offered to do a screw extraction on someone's pistol one day. Of course Mr 'been there done that' sidled over to tell us it never worked, complete waste of time trying really.

After much heaving out it came, sweet as a nut

I have two secrets for success...

1: A modern woodscrew on the end. The kind with a really sharp point and razor sharp, narrow flutes.

2: Have a bore sized plug behind it so it has to go though the ball centre, not between ball and barrel.

[steve medlock]

Yes good advice Robin, it was a wood screw that I used at home after the Enfield tool kept pulling out.

Nigel, yes will get one of those sooner or later. one of my friends on the range had only just taken his out of his bag the week before...

As regards the question though, I don't think the safe T will have any deforming effect on the bullet. I'm wondering whether the force of the charge acting against the initial inertia of the bullet will have a Poissons ratio effect squashing the whole of the bullet out to engage the rifling or whether it is just the base skirt which expands.

I'm messing around with base plugs in the lathe at the moment and just got interested as you do.