Musket and Minnie Balls: Discovering the Past

Musket balls have been in use for about 500 years. Simple round lead balls were used as cheap ammunition for various types of guns even as firearms became more technologically advanced. At times other metals and even stone were employed as projectiles in handheld firearms. Although some of this ammunition predates the introduction of the musket they are still generically referred to as musket balls.

The arquebus was an early muzzle-loaded firearm used in the 15^th to 17^th centuries. Its predecessor, the primitive hand cannon required using one hand to hold a lit match to light the powder. The matchlock innovation of the arquebus allowed the use of both hands to hold and aim the weapon. The barrel was typically four feet long and required a stand for support to get any kind of accuracy. In the salvage operation of the 1622 Spanish shipwreck Atocha, many lead ammo balls were recovered meant for these early firearms.

During the 16^th century the smoothbore musket slowly began to replace the arquebus across Europe. A new type of soldier primarily armed with muskets had the designation "musketman" or "musketeer". Early matchlock muskets were accurate only to about 50 to 70 yards. Later in the 1600's the matchlock was replaced by the introduction of the flintlock firing system. The flintlock could be fired by pulling a trigger, generating a spark from the flint hammer striking the musket pan which ignited the gun powder. Smoothbore muskets fired solid round shots that were typically two sizes smaller than the bore, wrapped in a loosely-fitted paper patch to fill the barrel.

The minnie ball is actually not shaped like a ball at all. In 1847 Claude Minié, a captain in the French army, introduced a soft lead bullet that was conical in shape with ridges at its base that was able to engage with the barrel's internal grooves at the moment of being fired. This tight fit between the barrel and the projectile (rifling) created a spiraling effect which made the rifled musket far superior to the smoothbore musket because of increased accuracy. The minnie ball first saw widespread military use in the American Civil War. Some estimates blame 90% of Civil War casualities on injuries caused by minnie balls. This Civil War connection makes minnie balls especially of interest to history buffs.

The invention of the minnie ball made musket balls obsolete. The minnie ball had a relatively short history of use as the copper jacketed bullet, invented in the late 1800's, displaced the minnie.

Lead ammunition that has been used has a good chance of looking deformed because of its relative softness. A lead musket ball that hits a rock, tree or other hard surface can appear flat as a pancake. Those that are found in their original shape have the most value to collectors. They have probably been dropped or if in a group could be part of a spill or lead cache. Minnie balls are usually worth more than musket balls because of their short time of use relative to musket balls, even in the case of musket balls which are hundreds of years older.