Wound ballistics: Minié ball vs. full metal jacketed bullets--a comparison of Civil War and Spanish-American War firearms.

Objective: The advent of the full metal jacketed bullet in the late nineteenth century was thought to cause less severe battlefield wounds. This study compares the wounding characteristics of a reproduction rifle from the American Civil War to one of the Spanish-American War using the wound profile method.

Methods: A 0.58 caliber rifled musket using Minié balls and a 0.30 caliber Krag-Jorgenson rifle using full metal jacketed bullets were fired into calibrated 10% ordnance gelatin blocks at a distance of 3 meters. Measured parameters included maximum temporary cavity, muzzle velocity, and the permanent track.

Results: Maximum temporary cavities were significantly larger using the musket, averaging 121 mm (+/- 5.4) vs. 38.6 mm (+/- 8.8) (p < 0.001). Bullet weights were also significantly larger, totaling 29.7 grams (+/- 1.3) for the musket vs. 14.18 grams (+/- 0.01) for the rifle (p < 0.01). Using grains, bullet weights were 458.3 grains (+/- 20 grains; range 435.2-486.1) vs. 218.8 grains (+/- 0.15; range 218.7-219). Muzzle velocities of the musket were significantly less when compared with the rifle, averaging 944 fps (+/- 116) vs. 1852 fps (+/- 22.5), respectively (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: The rifled musket produced more severe wounds when compared to the Krag-Jorgenson rifle, as was clinically apparent to observers at the time of the Spanish-American War.