Southron Sr.
06-22-2009, 01:45 PM
The general consensus of arms historians is that during 'The Late Unpleasantness Between the States," Minies issued by the U.S. Ordnance Department were all "swaged" (cold formed from lead wire in dies) while the C.S. Ordnance Department issued Minies that were cast in gang moulds.
While that is largely true, I have been going thru Capt. (later Major) John Mallet's records of the C.S. Ordnance Department and the follow interesting facts have emerged:
1. The Charleston Arsenal was turning out Enfield bullets by swaging lead wire on HAND presses that were imported thru the Blockade.
2. The Macon gunsmith, D.C. Hodgkins (of Hodgkin's Carbine fame) became an employee of the Macon Arsenal and built an automated swaging machine that could turn out several thousand swaged bullets a day! Hence the Macon Arsenal was mass producing swaged bullets for issue.
In 1862 thae "most common complaint" of the soldiers in the Army of Northern Virginia was that the ammo they were issued for their rifle-muskets from the Richmond Arsenal was "oversize," which would cause the bullets to jam in the fouled bore of their muskets as it was being loaded. Some soldiers even went to the extreme of seeking .54 Mississippi minie ammo so they could easily load it in their .577 and .58 rifle-muskets after their bores became fouled in battle.
Mallet traced the fault to the fact that the Minies cast in gang moulds were then run thru a sizing die. As the dies wore (enlarged) they were not replaced, hence, the "oversize" bullets. On one investigtion he found that some of those worn sizing dies were turning out .576 diameter bullets-which might be fine for accuracy, but only for a few shots before the bore became jammed!
Last but not least, even though the C.S. Ordnance Department "Officially" adopted the paper patched, Enfield style cartridge-Mallet ordered that the naked balls be cast & sized or swaged to a .560 diameter. Of course, since these minies were to be "paper patched" their diameter would be increased somewhat with the paper patch.
Later he was overruled by the head of the Ordnance Departjment, Colonel Gorgas and the size of the naked Enfield rounds was increased to .562.
While the C.S. Ordnance department officially adopted the Enfield style round, it was not a success because: (1) The Confederate arsenals could not obtain adequate supplies of the high quality paper required to keep the Enfield style round in continious production & (2) As the Enfield style cartridge was LONGER than either the C.S. produced Gardner ammo or the Confederate copy of the U.S. cartridge, the soldiers complained that the Enfield style rounds did not fit properly in their cartridge boxes.
Hence, there was NEVER one SINGLE type of C.S. rifle-musket issue cartridge issued because of the difficulties of producing the paper patched Enfield style round, but a variety of issue rounds.
Last but not least for you LUBE HISTORIANS, the "Official" Confederate lube formula was: 2/3's Beeswax to 1/3 Tallow!
While that is largely true, I have been going thru Capt. (later Major) John Mallet's records of the C.S. Ordnance Department and the follow interesting facts have emerged:
1. The Charleston Arsenal was turning out Enfield bullets by swaging lead wire on HAND presses that were imported thru the Blockade.
2. The Macon gunsmith, D.C. Hodgkins (of Hodgkin's Carbine fame) became an employee of the Macon Arsenal and built an automated swaging machine that could turn out several thousand swaged bullets a day! Hence the Macon Arsenal was mass producing swaged bullets for issue.
In 1862 thae "most common complaint" of the soldiers in the Army of Northern Virginia was that the ammo they were issued for their rifle-muskets from the Richmond Arsenal was "oversize," which would cause the bullets to jam in the fouled bore of their muskets as it was being loaded. Some soldiers even went to the extreme of seeking .54 Mississippi minie ammo so they could easily load it in their .577 and .58 rifle-muskets after their bores became fouled in battle.
Mallet traced the fault to the fact that the Minies cast in gang moulds were then run thru a sizing die. As the dies wore (enlarged) they were not replaced, hence, the "oversize" bullets. On one investigtion he found that some of those worn sizing dies were turning out .576 diameter bullets-which might be fine for accuracy, but only for a few shots before the bore became jammed!
Last but not least, even though the C.S. Ordnance Department "Officially" adopted the paper patched, Enfield style cartridge-Mallet ordered that the naked balls be cast & sized or swaged to a .560 diameter. Of course, since these minies were to be "paper patched" their diameter would be increased somewhat with the paper patch.
Later he was overruled by the head of the Ordnance Departjment, Colonel Gorgas and the size of the naked Enfield rounds was increased to .562.
While the C.S. Ordnance department officially adopted the Enfield style round, it was not a success because: (1) The Confederate arsenals could not obtain adequate supplies of the high quality paper required to keep the Enfield style round in continious production & (2) As the Enfield style cartridge was LONGER than either the C.S. produced Gardner ammo or the Confederate copy of the U.S. cartridge, the soldiers complained that the Enfield style rounds did not fit properly in their cartridge boxes.
Hence, there was NEVER one SINGLE type of C.S. rifle-musket issue cartridge issued because of the difficulties of producing the paper patched Enfield style round, but a variety of issue rounds.
Last but not least for you LUBE HISTORIANS, the "Official" Confederate lube formula was: 2/3's Beeswax to 1/3 Tallow!