Minié bullet

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Minié bullet with culot , before and after launch
American Minié bullets, archaeological find from the American Civil War
Minié bullet based on the results of experiments carried out by James H. Burton

The Minié bullet is a type of lead bullet developed for muzzle-loaders by the French officer Claude Etienne Minié in 1846 and introduced into the French army in 1849 .

Technical principle

This projectile is characterized by its hollow floor and its under- calibration . The under-calibration makes it easier to load the bullet, even with heavy pollution . The hollow floor expands during firing by the resulting gas pressure on Zugmaß of the barrel , the projectile stabilized by the swirl and seals to the rear, so that the pressure can not escape. The grooves in the bullet were filled with grease. The hollow floor was closed with a small iron hat ( culot ), which was driven into the floor of the projectile when it was fired, thus expanding the projectile in a controlled manner.

This bullet shape was introduced with modifications in various countries. Often rifles were smooth- running through the cutting of trains converted to the new ammunition.

In 1855, James H. Burton, a Harpers Ferry Armory worker, modified the bullet so that it could be used more cheaply and without the culot . The same principle was also used with guns .

The bullet shape is still used today for muzzle-loading shooting.

Effect on warfare

Before the introduction of the Minié projectile, armies were fully or largely equipped with muzzle-loading rifles without rifled barrels. The round balls had a smaller caliber than the barrel and could be rammed into it quickly with the ramrod . When the shot was fired, part of the explosive gases flowed past the bullet, and so it left the barrel unstabilized in the direction of the target and only part of the explosion energy acted on the projectile. In order to have an effect on an enemy with such rifles, their fire had to be massaged and aimed at him in rapid succession. The linear tactics of the 18th and early 19th centuries resulted directly from the mode of action of these imprecise muzzle-loaders: In order to achieve maximum effect, the shooters had to fire close together at high speed.

There were muzzle-loaders with rifled barrels even before the Minié bullet. Their round balls had the same caliber as the barrel, so that the spiral-shaped trains set them in a stabilizing self-rotation when fired and thus shot much more accurately. Since hardly any explosion gases escaped next to the bullet, the muzzle velocity, range and penetration power were significantly higher than with rifles without rifles. On the other hand, there was a lengthy loading process: The bullet had to be driven into the narrow barrel with the ramrod. To make this easier, the ball was often wrapped in a greased plaster beforehand. These disadvantages made rifled barrels unsuitable for the majority of the troops, so that only hunters , carbineers and other special formations were equipped with them.

The Minié projectile changed the image of war dramatically: Suddenly, combat troops were almost entirely equipped with long-range and precise long weapons. The effective combat range increased by a factor of two to three. Nevertheless, a mixture of linear and column tactics was used at the beginning . Enclosed formation and close range firefighting had a devastating effect on casualties. In Europe, this was shown in the Crimean War (1853 to 1856) and in the Battle of Solferino (1859), which was to give the impetus for the establishment of the Red Cross - in the International Museum of the Red Cross ( Museo Internazionale della Croce Rossa ) in Castiglione delle Stiviere , near Solferino, are u. a. to see some Minié bullets. The backwardness of military tactics compared to advanced weapons technology made the Civil War the most costly war in US military history . As a reaction to the Minié projectiles and other innovations in weapon technology (e.g. multi-loaders, mitrailleuses ), the combat distance increased, the importance of trench warfare grew and the resolved forms of infantry fighting that are common today developed. In addition, the importance of grapeshots with their short range decreased significantly and were replaced by machine guns.

literature

  • Caesar Riistow : The Minié rifle and its significance for war use. Mittler, Berlin 1855, (Unchanged reprint: Intersico-Press, Zurich 1976, ( Morion-Reprints. Vol. 10, ZDB -ID 2295615-3 )).

Web links

Commons : Minié bullet  - collection of images, videos and audio files