Accuracy- Part 2

[CharlesZ]

A couple of months ago I started a thread on accuracy with my Civil War rifles.
I've reached a conclusion on the subject which most of you have probably known for some time.
After experimenting with powder charges, lubes, lubing bases, lubing side grooves, ad infinitum, I finally came to the correct answer. I went from .575 minie's to .577. Bang, bang, you're dead!
I even lubed the bullets differently for different shots. I'd clean, and not clean.
Find the right size conical for the bore of your rifle and you will hit where you aim, everytime. I would add that you should examine the bullets and make sure the skirts are undamaged and true round. A bent skirt or a bullet skirt out of round will cause a flyer and you'll start to doubt your procedures.
Yet this begs the question-- During the war, were issued rifles mated that closely to the bullets produced for their use? How tight were tolerances in the manufacture of rifle barrels and bullets produced for the .58 caliber rifle?

 

[Swampman]

I don't think accuracy was much of an issue considering their tactics. Smoothbores remained in use throughout the war.

 

[Zonie]

Just my opinion but I think the tolerances for the rifled muskets and minie' bullets were worse during the CW than they are now.
After all, they wanted FAST PRODUCTION, not target accuracy.

As Mark said, the military still had the Old School mentality when it came to battles.
Large bodies of men firing at large bodies of men.
Picking out an individual man as a target was not often done.

Even when picking out a specific man as a target was done, the size of the man was about 18 inches wide by 5 1/2 feet tall. A hit anywhere on the target would be considered a success.

 

[Swampman]

Sam Watkins does mention a soldier shooting a running rabbit at 250 yards with an a Pattern 1853 Enfield in "Co. Aytch".

 

[August West]

Sam Watkins does mention a soldier shooting a running rabbit at 250 yards with an a Pattern 1853 Enfield in "Co. Aytch".

I once shot a flying robin with a 22 single shot. Same rifle would barely shoot inside 2" at 25 yds with any ammo I ever tried in it. Also saw my son snap shoot a running rabbit in the head with a ruger single six. IMO if you can't do it more than once in a row, it's luck. Chris

 

[Swampman]

I'd rather be lucky than good.

 

[CharlesZ]

By the end of the war, when trenches were the norm, it was said that a man could not raise his head or a sniper would pick him off. Something changed from the early days.
In addition, there were sharpshooter units. These men had to have had experiences with fitting a conical into a rifled barrel.

 

[paulvallandigham]

No, of course NOT! During the Civil war, both sides still used Napoleonic Field Tactics, relying on volume fire rather than accuracy, even after Rifles were issued to the troops. It was more important that the gun be quickly reloaded, than to fire accurately. So, Minie balls were sized purposely much smaller, so that they would go down even a highly fouled rifled barrel, during battle. :surrender:

 

[Trot]

Also generally speaking, Enfields were .577 caliber and Springfields were .58. To avoid the problem of issuing two different size minie's they started issuing undersized balls that would work in either.

 

[luieb45]

I agree with CharlesZ because in all of the accounts I have read towards the end of the war trench warfare started to become the norm. But in the beginning napoleonic tactics were what were used exclusively.

 

[nkbj]

Techniques evolve rapidly after the shooting starts...except with HQ.

 

[J.D.]

Didn't union troops open fire on Confederates at 500 yds at the Devil's Den, at Gettysburg. I seem to remember that Confederates took heavy casualties before they made the cover of the rocks.

IMHO, hitting a man size, moving target at 500 yds with a CW rifled musket is pretty good shooting.

God bless

 

[fleener]

The South had Whitworth rifles. On both sides you had a certain amount of individuals that could and did shot very well, better than average.

I own a couple of english sporting rifles in .451.

I can and do routinly shoot them off hand for fun. Hitting a sil. ram at 500M off hand is a hoot. The last time I did this was in Dodge City KS, last year with 30 mph cross wind during a practice session. I had been working on my wind reading and shooting prone, so the rifle was already dialed in. The wind was blowing so hard I could not hear the bullet hit the target.

Making long shots with rifles of that period is not that hard if you have the experence and the right equipment

snapper

 

[HOGGHEAD]

Maybe a lot of them were not concerned about accuracy. I really do not know. However I read a book about the Berdan Sharp Shooters. So I am pretty sure some of them were concerned about accuracy. It was a really good read. But I imagine alot of you guys have read this book. But if not, I would highly recommend it. Tom.

 

[Tumblernotch]

The regulation Minie (Burton style) for the US .58 cal rifle-musket was .575 cal. .005" windage.

The regulation Minie (Pritchett style) for the P53 Enfield pattern rifle-musket was .568 cal. .009" windage. This bullet was kept encased in the greased end of the cartridge when loaded which acted as a patch. The Pritchett didn't have cannelures to hold grease.

The government didn't make undersized bullets so they could use them in either gun. The US type Minie could and was used in the Enfield when needed, but with only .002" windage did get stuck at times due to heavy fouling from rapid firing. The cartridge paper could be removed but lead fouling could occur and there was no lubricant which would make the ball even harder to load. On the other hand, if the paper cartridge was left on the Pritchett, it could be used in the Springfield pattern arms with good effect though there would be some excess windage. If bare, the accuracy would suffer greatly and more lead fouling would occur. But this had little noticeable effect on tactics or casualties since aiming at individuals was not taught as much as firing at an opposing line of battle, although by many accounts, many soldiers speak of picking their targets. One book I have by McKee & Mason speaks of reports that told of some soldiers carrying two different sizes of bullets so that they could keep firing even when the barrel was too heavily fouled to accept the regulation bullet. If this is true, I would say that they were carrying .54 cal. Minies (.530). These were common since so many on both sides, especially the Confederates, used many rifles of this caliber, most notably the Austrian Lorenz.

As for the sharpshooters using rifle-muskets, I have read accounts where they did take extra care in the loading of their weapons. But, unless they had access to a mold maker they were pretty much stuck with the standard bullets. If any of them did anything, it would be to perhaps paper patch a Minie to destroy what windage they could.

The North swaged most of their Minies rather than cast. And pretty much most of the Enfield Minies were swaged as well. So far I've not found documentation of any bullets being swaged in the Confederacy. Allowing that the swaging machines were kept in good order, this made for a more uniform bullet in size and weight than a cast bullet. So when dealing with cast Minies, there was some variation in bullet diameters. In the above named book, I see .58 cal. Minies ranging in size from .572 to .576, mostly cast Confederate. But, as a rule on both sides the regulations called for .005" windage for both the .58 and the .69 Minie bullet.