Rather than taking up too many posts as separate messages, I thought I'd group my questions on ammo on one post.
(1) How extensive is the term "Minnie Ball"? Does the term apply to all ringed conical bulletts even though they might be a Sharps, Rifled Musket, Merrill, Georgia troops, or Maynard?
(2) What type of bullett was used with shoulderarms having the Maynard tape primer--ball or conical? If conical, were they adaptable to or the same as those attributed to the Maynard carbine?
(3) Why are the CSA Merrills only one groove, and the Union issue 3 groove? Was the breech on CSA Merrill arms, or Merrills captured/picked up by CSA troops modified to accept the one-groove projectile?
(4) I have a .54cal Sharps Richmond Lab. It's 23mm long, 13mm diameter. It has a conical cavity 6mm wide dead center in the base, leaving just a hair more than 3mm of the base encircling it.
This cavity I would judge to be 1.5mm deep, and in the center of that is another cavity, the size of a pinhole.
This pinhole just about accepts the circumference of the head of a round toothpick, and not much depth---I didn't poke too deep or too energetically. From what I have seen on websites describing ammo of the Civil War, I would have expected this to be a solid base. What was the purpose of the conical base?---it would seem the 3mm wall encircling it is too thick to either expand or collapse upon firing. What was the purpose of the pinhole?
Thanks for your reply and help on these.
Best Regards, Larry Toomey