Why did Civil War bullets have grooves?

[@hickok45]

Very interesting! Thanks for researching this and sharing.

[@TheAbleBodiedSoldier]

Woah I didn’t you watched paper cartridges!

[@treysmith8917]

you mean they aren't blood grooves?

[@neonjoe6180]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@mickeyholding7970]

You're probably aware but it's for engaging the rifling.

[@mathewgoebel4078]

You hit your target they may well be.

[@ungabunga6961]

@@mickeyholding7970 see the thing is, the whole point of rifling is to ensure the optimal alignment of the blood grooves.

[@genekrafft948]

No

[@taofledermaus]

I also heard, or maybe just surmised, that the grooves also scraped out some of the black powder fouling as it travelled down the barrel. We saw some surprising things shooting .69 cal Minie' balls from a 12ga using a sabot. They had great stability through rifling with a spin but also were stabile shot through a smooth bore with no spin at all. The 725 grain Minies are quite unpleasant shooting from a 7.5 lb. shotgun.

[@lucarinaldichini324]

That's taofledermaus in the flesh and bones, guys!

[@papercartridges6705]

There may be an ancillary benefit to having multiple grooves to reduce fouling, but I have never encountered this reason in any of the period documentation, in English or French. Fouling is chiefly controlled by the grease softening the fouling of the precious shot, and then when the bullet expands upon firing, it drives out the fouling ahead of it. The sooner the bullet expands before it moves far down the barrel, the much better job it does scraping fouling. Properly sized bullets (2 thou under bore size) can be fired almost indefinitely.

[@astridingmarsdottir2400]

@@papercartridges6705 I think another aspect of the cannelures or grooves around the cylindrical section of the bullet is it slightly weakens the structural rigidity of the bullet. Initial gas pressure as the powder charge ignites, expands the base ring sufficiently to fill the rifling grooves and prevent blow-by; initial acceleration causes the bullet to slightly foreshorten, or upset into the rifling, thus establishing proper alignment of the bullet to the axis of the barrel.

[@normanbraslow7902]

No.

[@sinisterthoughts2896]

​@@lucarinaldichini324and?

[@MMA10mm]

@Paper Cartridges - I’ve been a shooter, caster, commercial loader, civil war reenactor, WWII historian, handloader, and gun/ammunition researcher for 45 years, and you just taught me something new. My hat tips to you, sir!

[@papercartridges6705]

Thank you for the kind words of encouragement! Glad you enjoyed my niche subjects.

[@warskye5686]

Always learning something new. Great job

[@Maverick966]

​@@papercartridges6705 I have a question, why was the Pritchett bullet slightly more accurate than the Miniè bullet even without the grooves?

[@blackpowderburner7296]

Personally I fill them with peanut butter. The peanut oil it contains softens fouling and my shooting buddy is deathly allergic to peanuts so he never asks to try my rifle.

[@paulis7319]

Those are not grooved. They're ribbed, for the shooter's pleasure. Ok I'll see myself out. 🤣

[@warwolf416]

Huh leave it to the French to develop another advancement in firearms tech for the time. I should stop picking on them 😂. Was great to learn that! I always just thought it was for the grease. Knowing that now, does the grease actually interfere with the grooves stabilizing the ball since your filling them in?

[@richardsolberg4047]

Would think the grease is gone as soon as the bullet clears the muzzle , spin and muzzle blast , look at the crown of a gun shooting even modern lubed bullet , there will be a deposit of grease or wax on it .

[@natecofga4679]

Learned something new today. I thought for the longest time that those grooves were for the bullet to "catch" the rifling in the barrel. I figured that when the power was ignited, the grooves would expand to catch unto the rifling starting the bullets turning. I didn't even think about putting lube on the grooves for easy of loading either. Thanks for the info.

[@ralphh.2200]

The grooves also thinned the sidewall of the bullet at the Ogave, allowing that area to more efficiently expand & better take the rifling at the moment of expansion... as well as providing a more complete seal, post ignition..Enjoyed your video very much.

[@normanbraslow7902]

Ballisticslly, you are right, all other theories to the contrary.

[@jameshoward8609]

You are exactly correct! Besides holding the lube the only reason the grooves are there are to allow the bullet to expand enough to contact the rifling on the inside of the barrel so that it will spin more accurately. Also there are alot of bullets still made with grooves on them. Almost every cast bullet still has them for lube and the same rifle engagement reasons. only plated bullets are not grooved.

[@ralphh.2200]

@@jameshoward8609 Back in the late 70s I bought full packages of originals at the bigger gun shows.They includes a Williams cleaner round and a paper pouch of about a dozen percussion caps. We have the same last name and I enjoyed your Kern River video.

[@boingkster]

For providing a platform against which the air may stabilise the round in flight and also to reduce the friction present while driving the round down the barrel. The grooves were also thought to aid in clearing fouling by utilising their multiple bands to clear fouling more effectively than a plain based bullet.

[@skepticalbadger]

It's not a quiz.

[@rollotomasislawyer3405]

How about to grip the rifling and improve accuracy professor?

[@PhilipFear]

​@@rollotomasislawyer3405 The bullet could be a smaller diameter than the bore to make it easier to ram them down the barrel and expand out into the rifling when powder explodes behind the bullet's hollow base to force the back out into the rifling for the trip out of the barrel....

[@Ugly_German_Truths]

@@rollotomasislawyer3405 it would be counterproductive for that as it increases the way the material of the bullet "walls" has tob e moved to get that contact. A Minié ball is undercaliber until fired, then the expanding gasses widen the hollow at the end until the bullet gets pressed into the grooves. Early models had a "hat" at the end that was supposed to speed up that spreading motion, but it was later found out that just slightly enlarging the hollow worked even better.

[@RidgeRunner86]

In a nutshell, it places the aerodynamic center of pressure behind (aft) the center of gravity relative to the direction of flight. Think fletching on an arrow or fins on a rocket or a tuft of fibers on a blow-dart.

[@rollotomasislawyer3405]

Or... to impart spin to the projectile, improving the accuracy of the rifled musket.

[@PhilipFear]

It places DRAG to the rear of the bullet and thus stabilize flight....

[@MrKentaroMotoPI]

The instability is caused by the Mach-helix effect that occurs at low supersonic Mach numbers (described in 1950's missile aerodynamic textbooks). The Mach-helix effect moves the center-of-pressure forward. The circumferential grooves are oriented in the wrong direction to suppress the Mach-helix effect. The grooves, and the concave base, do move the center-of-gravity forward. The grooves also weaken the bullet aft structure and promote super-plastic material deformation. Rifling efficiency is thereby increased. Modern rifle bullets have shapes optimized to reduce wave drag above Mach 2 (e.g. .223). These shapes are too long to effect a center-of-gravity shift on, but the spin stabilization from higher rifling rotational speed (as pointed out in the video) counters the Mach-helix effect, as does the generally higher flight Mach numbers.

[@weskarcher483]

I found a few of these grooved bullets along with musket balls all over the place in central Texas. Not sure if there was a war here or if it was from hunters.

[@weskarcher483]

Turned out it was fighting between Comanche and settlers. Given all the arrowheads found in the same area they had a heavy fight in that area. The arrowheads were mainly found on the higher ground while the bullets were found near the cliff that follows the dry creek

[@blankeny]

When I was a child living in Glenn Arm Maryland, we as kids dug lead balls circa 1860's out of trees and the balls had small dimples in them much like miniature golf balls...

[@stacybrown3714]

You found "chewed balls" believed to stabilize better in flight than their smooth counterparts. Methods of making them varied but the name came from biting them with the back teeth.

[@blankeny]

@@stacybrown3714 ok, but I truly feel bad for the individuals assigned this feat... I know that is why golf balls are dimpled!!!

[@pepealasquid6005]

​@@stacybrown3714best way to lead poisoning

[@normanbowstead3616]

Brilliant explanation. I’m always intrigued and extremely interested in these technical details. Getting to love black powder shooting even more.👍

[@henryofskalitz2228]

Very very interesting I always thought they were for lubricant only

[@Mrbuggsnot]

The Prittchett and Boxer bullets have smooth sides, so why don't they have trouble with tumbling?

[@papercartridges6705]

That’s an excellent question. The Pritchett/Boxer bullets relied solely on the spin from the rifling to stabilize them. Grooves cause drag and the British made the deliberate decision to use a smooth bullet, to get a higher velocity. Also, British bullets were made by pressure instead of being cast, and they believed this made them inherently more balanced. That said, as a Pritchett shooter, I’ve seen a ton of keyholes. They are much less forgiving to shoot accurately than a Minié with grooves!

[@tacfoley4443]

@@papercartridges6705 You really ought to try shooting your Pritchett bullets in my Pritchett rifle. That ought to be interesting.

[@ahwilson1744]

You are going to have to stop with all of your historical research; I enjoy listening to Cliff Claven because he knows EVERYTHING.

[@yt.602]

Thanks for this definitive explanation for the grooves, I've seen many examples of the projectiles and never known the truth. Properly researched by the ammunition designer and by you for this video. Great explanation, very interesting, not at all boring.

[@knoll9812]

Lots of comments snd different explanations. My tuppence Is that more than one explanation can apply Also they gave grooves becuse they worked.the french test and kept the bbest.thry didn't have to explain. Imperical versus theory

[@RidgeRunner86]

Groovy video!

[@michaelsmith2733]

Those 58 cal mini's were bad news. If the bullet didn't kill you the surgeon would.

[@edwinokeefe2345]

" Taking control of their minds ' is 1984

[@owenlaprath4135]

I was never interested in the Civil War, but this is a fascinating morsel of engineering history!

[@Pappysan]

Americans are the only people in history that fought a war to end slavery! That war was the "Civil War!"

[@kalashyboy4774]

Question for you guys/audience , now I understand that this won't apply in modern rifles or many modern guns in general, but in old revolvers/replicas and modern short barrel revolvers where your getting low speeds, and can shoot cast bullets, would this concept reapply itself ? Like if I did this in my .45 1873 or a 3 inch 38spl top break?

[@papercartridges6705]

The grooves were found to increase accuracy more at long range (sometimes 400 or more yards), for really slow twist, low velocity bullets. I think a .45-70 will have fast enough spin that grooves probably wouldn’t help much, and for a pistol, I don’t think they would serve any purpose really. We only see Tamisier grooves used in the relatively short period of time 1845-1870 when rifles used very slow twist rifling, and had a very low velocity, but they were trying to improve their long range accuracy out to 300+ yards for military purposes.

[@asherdog9248]

An episode on the Gardner bullet would be interesting.

[@coololdluke3905]

It was the 1860s, everything was groovy in the 60s

[@TexasEngineer]

I heard from a Civil War battle museum that the North and South used a different number of grooves to tell if it was freiendly fire. They had their bullets sorted into North and South by the number of grooves. I have not heard this anywhere else. Is this just an anomaly of a particular battle?

[@papercartridges6705]

Another myth about the grooves is that Union bullets had three grooves and Confederate bullets had two. It probably started with the Confederate Gardner bullet, which did have two grooves, but only amounted for perhaps 10% or less of all CS produced rifle musket bullets. Both sides generally produced bullets with three grooves, with considerable variations in shape and weight, from arsenal to arsenal.

[@mahbriggs]

I am not very well versed in black powder weaponry. I had assumed that the groves were to help the mini ball skirt to expand and prevent gas blow by. Learned something new! Good subject, and a really interresting presentation!

[@rchydrozz751]

I also believe this. The back of the bullet is hollow. Gas pressure from the back, expands pushing outward into the rifling. Same as my pellet guns. The pellets are hollow in the back with a thin skirt, and expand from the co2 into the rifling. To help seal and spin for better accuracy.

[@leneanderthalien]

Minié ball, not "mini'"

[@mahbriggs]

@@leneanderthalien Commonly referred to as "mini" in official publications. Now you have learned something new!

[@scottharris6423]

Boring, no. Interesting! But your explanation does it also apply for the lead bullets that my Dad & I would grease the 2 or 3 grooves for our cast lead bullets for .32 cal, 45 cal. Long Colt, & 45 cal ACP Bullets that we reloaded ourselves?

[@papercartridges6705]

I don’t think the grooves in modern bullets are designed for that effect, they are probably more for holding modern lead bullet lube which is necessary to prevent leading. But as a secondary effect, they may help some way with stabilization. Modern bullets also rotate so fast that they remain much more stable than the very absurdly slow twist of muzzleloaders.

[@robertpresley6414]

I thought it also aided in scraping out the fouling since the grooves face forward.

[@papercartridges6705]

I suppose it couldn’t hurt!

[@richardsolberg4047]

Have heard that also , the 3 reasons for the grooves are not exclusive .

[@job38four10]

I was one that thought groves was for lube, air stabilization does make more sense, good info..........

[@patwelsh5561]

Great stuff, Brett. Glad to see you’ve increased the frequency of your uploads recently!

[@phil20_20]

Barnes copper bullets have the grooves. The hard solid copper doesn't engage with the rifling as well as jacketed lead bullets. 😉 Indeed, the bullets would have to be smaller diameter than the barrel grooves if not for the relief provided.

[@ianturpin9180]

Diablo pellets rely on the same to aid accuracy.

[@hnangell]

Thank you! Im convinced and seldom have such an impressive revelations, thank you again!

[@PhilipFear]

Then explain why a Hawken maxi ball (Buffalo bullet) only does one twist in 28 to 48 inches❓🤔❓ And a round patch ball flys best with a 1 in 55 to 1 in 75 inch twist (very slow)❓❓ Modern BP hunting Rifles have a very fast twist (1 in 28 inch) to stabilize the longer bullets....

[@papercartridges6705]

I don’t know. I have no experience with modern bullet styles and won’t pretend to know how they work.

[@PhilipFear]

@@papercartridges6705 The Maxi Ball looks like a big wadcutter.... They're about an inch long and solid lead all the way through and is 320grs.....

[@jamessandlin-hx9jp]

To improve acuracy and distance this war was revolutionary as far as battle went

[@okaro6595]

The original Minnié bullet had an iron plug in the base to cause the expansion. The bullet used in the Civil War that just had the hollow base was invented by James Burton. It made the manufacture much simpler.

[@Eduardo_Espinoza]

James Burton from donut media is more popular than i thot!!!

[@samcolt1079]

WRONG

[@caseyhowell7341]

I would like to see a bullet with dimples like on the surface of all golf balls, this is what gave birth to the game we see today and it's necessity for accuracy that was nowhere to be found until the dimples were added thus reducing surface air drag to a minimum creating the ability to control it with ridiculous accuracy, just wonder would dimples on a copper jacket have the same benefits of pinpoint accuracy even with a rifled barrel that spins it into a stable flight could only be better with less drag maybe even slightly increase the muzzle velocity and overall energy can also increase just from speed.

[@papercartridges6705]

Some people will knurl round balls for that exact reason. They shoot much better than ordinary round musket balls. The concept only seems to work for spherical balls though, but I’m not an expert by any means.

[@KhanTrav]

Liked and subscribed. Thanks.

[@johnslugger]

*Real men don't need lubricant to get the job done!*

[@nonokodog622]

I'm a little suspicious about the the graph of straight vectors ( 4:16 ) of the "slip stream", AKA laminar flow being incident normal to the groove. The flow wouldn't see a flat surface since the bullet is rotating. The air will stick to the bullet creating vorticity which is drag inducing. A buoyancy force will be created opposite to where the air stacks up in greater density. I may be full shit....but that's what i think based on some background knowledge. EDIT: I'm not sure that the physics of vorticity was understood very well in 1833. Also, it's a really hard topic that scares the crap out of me. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navier%E2%80%93Stokes_equations

[@papercartridges6705]

The grooves do create drag which is why the English decided the benefit of the grooves in maintaining stability was not worth the considerably loss of velocity, and the British rifle musket bullets were completely smooth. But I am definitely not an expert on the scientific side and I tried to keep the explanation as basic and as layman as possible for a short video.

[@nonokodog622]

@@papercartridges6705 Love your content, I hope I didn't sound critical. Just thinking out load in the comments...

[@rambysophistry1220]

@@nonokodog622 So, I am really late to this comment, and physics isn't my strongest suit, but forgive me for thinking out loud as I parse through this. It seems to me there are going to be several force vectors acting on the spinning, grooved bullet as it plows through the air. There will be the drag force normal to the reverse face of the bullet, the lift force normal to the reverse of the gravity face of the bullet. There is the velocity vector normal to the forward path of the bullet and a gravity force normal to the gravity face. Because the bullet is rotating there is also a conservation of rotational momentum and its vectors. Several of those forces will be irrespective of whether the bullet is grooved or not. The velocity vector's initial condition is irrespective, the gravity force will be irrespective, as will the rotational momentum. However, the drag force, and lift force, importantly will not be irrespective. When the ungrooved bullet starts to process around its rotation, that is wobble, it will become more and more unstable as the procession worsens with each rotation, until it has become perpendicular to the velocity vector. At which point the bullet will start to rotate around its abnormal axis of rotation and "key hole". Since the lifting force is shoved along the path of rotation like a gyro, and the procession emphasizes instabilities. When the bullet is grooved, however, the drag force increases opposite the velocity vector, the lifting force increases opposite the wobble, and there is a restorative force vector that pushes the bullet back into its rotation along its shorter rotational symmetry plane. It essentially turns procession from a runaway force, to a self-defeating force.

[@nonokodog622]

@@rambysophistry1220 I think we're saying the same thing. Perhaps we can consider an arrow with flights. We know that if the arrow point rotates slightly the opposite side flights will have a force on them pushing the point back. The rotation of course acts like a fly wheel to store energy and creates a torque along the axis which helps the bullet stay stable. The bullet's rotation might also acts like flights as it grabs the air and forms a "boundary layer" very close to the bullet. That air is denser than the air in the laminar flow. The grooves exaggerate the depth of the boundary layer, making it more effective as a sort of arrow flight.

[@rambysophistry1220]

@@nonokodog622 I think the math works out the same, I am just clarifying what I think is happening with the bullet. I could also point to a golf ball, where the dimples increase the accuracy of the ball drastically compared to if it were smooth. Probably with roughly the same force vectors. Either way, I wasn't trying to say you were wrong, just trying to work out what I was thinking, sorry for not being clear.

[@leadshark9461]

Excellent video. Very informative as always. Hope we see more of the Lorenz soon.

[@18661873]

I never stayed awake nights thinking about this but I was always curious. Good video.

[@lumaduecharles32]

Always more to the story. I was sure I knew why. Its not a hat rack. THANKS

[@karinbeyaert9950]

First time in years somebody tells me something I did not yet know in this field!

[@Dougarrowhead]

Very good explanation

[@Chiller01]

Learned something new today.

[@Dominic.Minischetti]

Man I learned something new today! Thanks!

[@damselnoir5905]

Groved for her pleasure!

[@kevinnielsen1356]

Reduces friction, better seal. Obviously. Modern blackpowder bullets have grooves, no mystery

[@xzqzq]

I have decent accuracy with .54 Minie out of 16ga shotgun....what bullet works well with these reproductions ?

[@randyjohnson6845]

I guess this is why I only use the French sabot for my three 209x50 .50 caliber muzzle loader rifles and my two 15" 209x50 muzzle loader pistols.....the French knew what they were doing

[@pjh9104]

Wrong on so many levels.

[@prycenewberg3976]

This explanation makes a disturbing amount of sense. Especially if you consider the trajectory of BP bullets. Maybe a non-cannelure bullet would be aligned with the (relative) wind until the top of its arc (maybe), but it certainly wouldn't be aligned as it started to fall. Placing those cannelures on the bullet probably had a disproportionately big impact at longer ranges, where the bullets would be falling back to Earth.

[@Valandar2]

Sounds like the term "Lube Groove" has just as much terrible history knowledge as the term "Blood Groove" in blades.

[@thomasphillips7215]

Very interesting.

[@jamesroskelly6602]

But they didn't Cromwell and Charles 1 both used musket balls 😂😂😂😂

[@danielcurtis1434]

So basically you want all the weight that in the center. So removing material from the front back of sides will improve stabilization??? I know you want the weight centered front. However the “open tip” hollow points also improve accuracy as seen in “open tip match” ammo like sierra matchking. This seems inconsistent to me???

[@Edelweiss-uv5xi]

I don't believe it for a second. We see similar groves on every male pipe mount in engine bays for a gas seal. I would submit that it's purpose is a pressure seal, nothing more. I am sure he believed it operated as fletching, but that just doesn't really sit within the modern world of aerodynamics. Cute idea though.

[@erg0centric]

I don't think those groves would help at all at supersonic speeds. The airflow would completely avoid them.

[@bumpty9830]

It's LIFT not DRAG on the fletchings of an arrow that stabilize its motion, which has implications for the bullet story.

[@pfarnsworth84]

Another reason that the grooves would not be beneficial on "modern" bullets is that because most of them are supersonic, wind wouldn't even engage them until after they dropped below the sound barrier, and the result would likely be terrible. Fortunately, since then, we've gotten much better at figuring out ballistics and aero/fluid-dynamics.

[@ralph5450]

Great video...... Minie thanks. (Payback for 2:50)

[@russellkeeling4387]

This could possibly be where the expression "groovy" came from.

[@CameronMcCreary]

It was designed so the bullets would be like the narrator said the bullet would have more stability in flight so, one man could blow another man's brains out of the back of their head more accurately.

[@dougadams9419]

The ignition of the gunpowder forced into the hollow base expanded the soft lead to engage the rifling of the barrel.

[@malcolmgary1086]

YES!!! I greatly appreciated your presentation style AND the knowledge imparted.

[@papercartridges6705]

I appreciate that!

[@neiljohnson6815]

Those are grease groves to lubricate the round to get higher muzzle velocities.

[@schmiddy8433]

Would enough lubricant stay in the grooves after leaving the barrel to reduce the flight stabilizing characteristics? I wonder if unlubed bullets would be any less prone to tumbling

[@Civilwar.relics]

Making it simple the mini ball would sometimes roll when loaded if you didn't hold the heavy gun perfectly, the groves made it so that doesn't happen and shots were more efficient.

[@anderss6818]

You have some some bullets in front of you that don't have grooves, and I am quite sure some bullets without grooves were used in the Civil War. Why did some bullets not have grooves?

[@deweydodo6691]

Probably good for low velocity bullets , but not needed today for the high speed ammo ? JMO .

[@Bhartrampf]

Interesting, i wonder why blck powder cartridge bullets of today have square groves in them, like the 44-40? It isnt particularly fast either, is it because they are loaded into a brass case and their for needed to be more robust? Or is it because we increased the barrel twist, even though the bullet is still going slow? I love the study of interior ballistics, but have always wondered about this.

[@ludditeneaderthal]

Those are actually grease (lube) grooves. They also give lead somewhere to displace to when you run the bullet through a sizing die, besides the base of the bullet, which would have very adverse effect on accuracy. You'll notice swaged lead bullets (sized in actual manufacture) tend to be ungrooved (or knurled), cast bullets of "traditional" type have such square grooves, and cast Lee "tumble lube" type bullets have narrower, shallower, more numerous semi-circular profile grooves. The minieball was used in barrels rifled at "round ball" rate of twist (quite slow, 100-150 caliber twist rate), while a .44-40 has a more appropriate to typical bullet length (35 to 50 caliber twist rate), thus is far better stabilized. The more elongated a bullet, the faster twist rate is needed for "ideal" stability. If such truly piques your curiosity, get a copy of "hatcher's notebook", he has an entire section on ballistics, interior and exterior, as well as a few decades of info on such diverse topics as the "golden age" of machine guns, the perfection of the '03 Springfield rifle, development of the semi-auto battle rifle, and many more quite interesting musings from his career as an army ordnance officer from the turn of the last century until ww2

[@son-of-a-gun]

I guess the grooves around the bullet are meant to create a labyrint seal. The pressure doesn't vent off around the lead bullet. Bullets/slugs with several grooves leave the barrel with a higher muzzle energy. Of course the groove " lips" dig into the barrel spiral far more effective.

[@scottharris6423]

I have subscribed & Liked your channel for more information!

[@johnmckenna8989]

Very interesting, for sure.....It's akin to folks saying 'rifling' was invented to spin/stabilize bullets for accuracy, when in actual fact rifling was invented to 'capture' the fouling from black powder, working so well the grooves were lengthened by 'spiraling' them in the bore....spin/stabilization was just a surprise benefit.....Had many arguments over this one....lol John(west coast, Can.)

[@ranman7688]

Ok, seriously, I had to pause the video for a moment so I could collect myself after his "groovy" joke.

[@archiveacc3248]

question, why do we say "claude minyea" but pronounce his bullet as "mini ball"

[@Cruiser777]

from fowling the barrel? stabilize the bullet more, yeah, that's it. Good insight

[@PaulG.x]

9:33 It's hard to destabilise a projectile turning at more than 300,000 rpm

[@brorjordas1979]

So, the grooves kinda just gave the projectile a slight shape of a diabolo, as like airgun pellets. Drag n all that even mentioned here.. Kinda neat of a video. Was interesting.

[@novagiantmedia1154]

Thanks for the video... good to know, I did always wonder about that. Now I know the whole history.

[@OgamiItto70]

Useful? Probably not, really. Interesting? Certainly!

[@LisaMeador-h5n]

When did they quit making bullets with the grooves. I have two that seem newer than the minie balls I have. I can't tell how many grooves there are because the ends are melted/splintered out but they do have at least one ring. Thank you.

[@joewoodchuck3824]

We still have multiple grooves in modern cast lead bullets. I can't speak with authority on the history, but the top groove is a crimp point for the cartridge case mouth to hold the projectile in place. The rest of them are grease grooves.

[@rollotomasislawyer3405]

Not going to even waste my time watching the rest of this. Civil War bullets have bands on them is the same reason modern bullets do, to grip the “grooves” of the riffling in the barrel.

[@hidgik]

Why don't they make the bullets spherical? Would it not eliminate the tumbling issue?

[@danielcurtis1434]

I always read that civil war rifled muskets had a twist rate of 1:40-48”? That’s considerably more than 1:72”? I’m just curious why the twist rate increased abc how it all happened? Anyways first time watching this channel. Great content fir such a small channel!!! Keep up this niche content and I think the sky is the limit!!! You got one more subscriber!!!

[@papercartridges6705]

Some of the short rifles had a faster twist but the US Springfield rifle musket as well as the P/53 Enfield had one turn in 6 feet twist. Because shorter rifles had slower velocity they needed a quicker twist to stabilize the bullets. It also made them noticeably more accurate. Thanks for the subscribe! Hope you enjoy my nerdy ramblings.

[@johngraesser4911]

Not sure about BP arms, but with precision rifles, twist rate is dependant on the length of the bullet.

[@danielcurtis1434]

@@johngraesser4911 I know it’s complicated!!! My understanding is that for stabilization you also need an amount of barrel length. So you want a tighter twist for a shorter barrel for projectiles of the same length. I think the issue is the minie ball was designed to be inherently stable for use in smoothbores. However where the rifling is advertising is probably another story. I really wish someone with physics experience would do a deep dive!!!

[@ZacLowing]

Dozens and dozens of experts didn't watch the video and instead just ran down here to post the wrong answer to the title.

[@MarkTurner-vs7uc]

I have one I found at Gettysburg as a child in the early seventies. Right out of the dirt. Still have it.

[@bob456fk6]

Very informative video. Thanks very much ! 🙂

[@jasonashley4579]

You can find them things everywhere here, all along the little blue river.

[@settlesmachiningtools8671]

Very insightful thanks for the lesson 🙂

[@jimf1964]

They may help stop wobble, but I find them a pain in the butt for reloading in brass cartridges. Gotta get the crimp just right, or seat deep enough to go past them.

[@papercartridges6705]

They give me the same trouble especially loading .45-70 or .577 Snider. If they aren’t lined up just perfectly straight…

[@jimf1964]

@@papercartridges6705 I’m doing 45 colt. Pain in the butt. But it’s my first foray into old school. Maybe I just got a lot to learn, but with difficulty in finding ammo nowadays, I’ll have to reset my dies every time I get new bullets

[@tarnishedknight730]

Are you checking the length of your brass and trimming as needed? Brass does not always stretch the same all around. You can easily have one side higher (longer) than the opposing side. Just a thought.

[@jimf1964]

@@tarnishedknight730 what I meant was the crimp is so easy to end up in one of the grooves and be useless

[@JamesJones-cx5pk]

Why did Joe Johnson not attack Grants troops before or after they burned Jackson?😪

[@PhilipFear]

They are gas check groves that allows the back of the bullet to expand out to engage the rifling groves in the barrel on the way out of the barrel.... This way you didn't have to force it in to the rifling while you ram them down during loading....

[@rockosgaminglogic]

The base obturates to create a gas seal and the grooves make it easier for that to happen.

[@donschutte1418]

Just try shooting one without grease you will learn quick also for obturation

[@krwada]

most modern bullets compensate drag by having a boat-tail