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Round Ball to Rimfire: A History of Civil War Small Arms Ammunition Part Four (A contribution to the history of the Confederate Ordnance Bureau) by Dean S. Thomas Publications.
Just got my copy this week, and what a load of info this book has!
I’m reading chapter 3: The pursuit of Uniformity in 1863…
It is an eye opener what the Ordnance leaders (Gorgas, and Mallet) were going thru trying to establish any uniformity of ammo production between the various Arsenals. A sample list of a few things wrong with ammo upon inspections…
Ammo too big in diameter
Ammo too small in diameter
Enfield style ammo without the stiff powder cylinder in the cartridge case
Enfield style ammo with too much, or too little paper wrapped around the bullet
Ammo shipped with no powder in the case
Enfield type ammo produced with rotting paper
Loosely wrapped cartridges or cartridge wrappers
Flimsy cartridges made so that they are easily damaged in shipping, or jostled around in cartridge boxes
Powder charges in cartridges that were too small, or too much
Bullets not sized or swaged properly
Enfield style ammo production halted due to lack of good paper
Smooth-sided (no grooves) Enfield bullets lubed and wrapped just like US style ammo
Cartridge box designs not compatible with various sizes of ammo produced or imported
It would be enough to drive anyone crazy! A lot of letters going back and forth, (between Mallet and Gorgas) detailing the problems, and how to deal with them. A lot of testing of ammo to specific rifles in the pursuit of finding the right design to work. A detailed chapter on actual specimens, with a lot of pictures of surviving examples of bullets and cartridges.
This is a great book to have in your library.
Kevin Dally
Just got my copy this week, and what a load of info this book has!
I’m reading chapter 3: The pursuit of Uniformity in 1863…
It is an eye opener what the Ordnance leaders (Gorgas, and Mallet) were going thru trying to establish any uniformity of ammo production between the various Arsenals. A sample list of a few things wrong with ammo upon inspections…
Ammo too big in diameter
Ammo too small in diameter
Enfield style ammo without the stiff powder cylinder in the cartridge case
Enfield style ammo with too much, or too little paper wrapped around the bullet
Ammo shipped with no powder in the case
Enfield type ammo produced with rotting paper
Loosely wrapped cartridges or cartridge wrappers
Flimsy cartridges made so that they are easily damaged in shipping, or jostled around in cartridge boxes
Powder charges in cartridges that were too small, or too much
Bullets not sized or swaged properly
Enfield style ammo production halted due to lack of good paper
Smooth-sided (no grooves) Enfield bullets lubed and wrapped just like US style ammo
Cartridge box designs not compatible with various sizes of ammo produced or imported
It would be enough to drive anyone crazy! A lot of letters going back and forth, (between Mallet and Gorgas) detailing the problems, and how to deal with them. A lot of testing of ammo to specific rifles in the pursuit of finding the right design to work. A detailed chapter on actual specimens, with a lot of pictures of surviving examples of bullets and cartridges.
This is a great book to have in your library.
Kevin Dally