'History's deadliest bullet,' Minie ball ballistics (VIDEO)

The Minie ball, or more correctly, the Minié ball, is one of those funny little technologies that completely changed warfare and in its own way altered the course of history.

While it might not be completely fair to cast it as the killingest bullet in all of history — something that came out of a spam can with Cyrillic lettering might be a contender, and let’s not take flying rocks off the table, either — it’s probably the killingest bullet in American history.

For the record, a 575-grain projectile traveling at around 950 feet per second — that’s at the low end for these — makes over 1,100 foot-pounds of force at the muzzle, almost as much energy as a modern intermediate cartridge and with way more momentum.

[Moss Pawn/YouTube]

Read More On:

Latest Reviews

revolver barrel loading graphic

Loading