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Old 03-09-2004, 07:10 PM
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colmurph colmurph is offline
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Join Date: Dec 1969
Location: New Jersey
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There were never any "Metal Jacketed" bullets during the Civil War. The metal in the barrles of that time were made of malleable iron and not steel....they would not stand up to a copper jacket. Modern steel was not used in rifle barrels until 1894 with the Whichester Mod. 94 being the first weapon made of good steel.
I have a buddy who had an 1878 Mod. Springfield Trapdoor in 45-70 that had a fairly decent bore. He proceeded to shoot modern copper jacketed factory loads in it. After about 150 shots he had a smooth bore. Now he can fire .410 shotgun loads in it. They also never used the equivalent of a "Hollow Point". Soldiers found by the enemy with crosses cut in their bullets would be shot out of hand. They were considered "Dum Dum" rounds which were named after Dum-Dum Arsenal in India where such bullets were made for the .577 Enfield Rifle and used with devastating results on Indians. The .58 Cal Minnie Ball was very effective without any modifications. If it hit bone the limb would be lost. If it hit in the torso it was almost certain death unless it was a hit at extremely long range. The only reason the minnie ball had the hollow base was so that the bullet would expand on firing and fill the lands and grooves of the rifling. You get the same effect when firing .38 SP hollow base wadcutter in a Colt Lightning Revolver. The bore of the old .38 Long Colt is .375 and the modern .38 bullet is smaller at .357 but if you fire the hollow base wadcutters they expand to fill the bore. The only other alternitave is to cast bullets using a .36 cal Colt Navy mold and using those to reload .38 Long Colt brass.
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