Spent Ball Question

[Wallyfish]

There are many written records of CW soldiers being hit with a spent ball. Many times they claim the ball left nothing but a bad bruise.

I have always wondered how far a ball must have travelled before it is "spent". Was the rifled aimed at a high elevation and the ball lost speed and simply travelled in a downward arc. I am not a gun owner so I am not knowledgeable in how distance impacts bullet trajectory. Or could a spent ball resulted in a poor charge in the rifle resulting in poor initial velocity? Or could the ball have lost velocity by striking a tree limb or some other object.

Hopefully someone can explain this spent ball concept as I don't understand it. Thanks all.

 

[JOHN42768]

All or any of the above could be your answer. One has to consider the mass, weight and shape of the projectile along with distance traveled and amount of usable energy produced by the powder explosion. The mid range trajectory point is probable the peak performance . Energy is downhill from there. If it had been deflected in flight another loss.

 

[frankconrad]

All bullets start to lose energy the moment that they leave the muzzle. After that there is nothing there to propel them and friction with air starts to slow hem down.

 

[Fish]

When I had a blackpowder gun, an improperly "patched" ball would travel so slow you could see it. I don't know about the types used during the civil war, just from my playing around with my replica.
The gasses go around the projectile in the barrel more than they should.

 

[plymouthairrifle]

All bullets start to lose energy the moment that they leave the muzzle. After that there is nothing there to propel them and friction with air starts to slow hem down.

If the gun is shot straight up, yes the bullet is losing energy as soon as it leaves the muzzle. The bullet travels up until all energy is spent and the bullet stops, at this point mean old Mr. Gravity takes over and the bullet starts back to earth picking up speed and energy. Enough energy that people have been killed by this type of "spent" bullet.

 

[rpkennedy]

My guess is that most spent ball injuries were due to a round that was poorly packed (either improperly seated in the barrel or a faulty charge) or a round that ricocheted off something during its flight. I know of spent balls striking a person when the two sides were firing at less than 100 yards distance. While it's possible that the round could have come from much further away, I think my two explanations are a more likely explanation.

Ryan

 

[1867crete]

Yes the solider in the heat of battle, excited biting the cartridge incorrectly could lead to major powder loss. I was shooting my Enfield trying different powder charges. I put something like 35 grains in. My fried with a spotting scope could see the ball hitting the target at 100 yards!

 

[DixieRifles]

All bullets start to lose energy the moment that they leave the muzzle.

This is especially true for a round ball. Most guns used in Civil War used Minie bullets in rifled barrels. But there were still some ole smoothbore guns firing .69 caliber balls or Buck & Ball.

This link has plots showing the rapid drop of a round ball after it leaves the muzzle and a plot of the Energy.

Link: http://whitemuzzleloading.com/long-range-muzzleloading/

QUOTE:
The common round ball will lose more than half its initial velocity in the first 100 yards and nearly a third again in the second hundred.

I think most bullets will loose velocity due to stricking something, such as a tree branch as you stated. The can also deflect off of a surface, maybe even the ground. However, from my experience, I dont think the larger and slower bullets will ricochet as often as light, faster modern jacketed bullets. One complaint of the .223 cal M-16 in Viet Nam was that a small twig would deflect it.
But I have to relate my hunting story---when I shot a doe and the .50 cal ball passed thru the deer and bounced off the ground to pass over another hunter's tree stand.
Another thing I consider is whether the soldier's clothes and equipment helped deflect a bullet that had slowed down. Heavy wool coat, a leather strap or boot or a combination of them could absorb and deflect the bullet, especially when struck at a shallow angle.

I recently read of someone being hit with a spent bullet. Wish I could recall where I read that.

 

[Jobe Holiday]

I would like to relate an incident regarding a "spent bullet" that happened to a friend in Viet Nam, if I may. He was on patrol and suddenly his chest felt as if he had been hit with a brick, which knocked him over backwards. Although he said that being startled by being struck may have added to his falling over! Upon examination he found a .45ACP bullet lodged in the chest area of his Flak Jacket. Nobody had even heard a shot, or had any idea where it had come from! He called it a "spent round". I apologize for the departure from the ACW, but I thought it was an interesting first hand account with enough similarities to the topic that you might find it interesting.
J.

 

[Fish]

Found this link online.....
Kind of related...

https://www.livescience.com/13672-photos-civil-war-anniversary-injuries.html

 

[JOHN42768]

Many years ago, while small game hunting. I felt something hitting my shoulder in several places. Back them good old thick woolen hunting coat were the norm. I saw something fall on the ground and low and behold it was bird shot. No harm done except for the curses I proclaimed on the idiot over the hill

 

[DixieRifles]

The bullet travels up until all energy is spent and the bullet stops, at this point mean old Mr. Gravity takes over and the bullet starts back to earth picking

Gravity "takes over" as soon as the bullet leaves the barrell. A bullet fired out of a perfectly level gun barrel will fall to the ground at the same time as it takes to drop one---taking into account wind.

In college we had a simple lab experment. We fired a ball off the table and measured the distance it traveled. For the Vertical drop: the ball starts at zero velocity and accelerates at 32 feet/sec/sec and we know the distance (height) it traveled. The time of flight is calculated using the polynomial accelation curve. Knowing this time of flight, this can be applied to Horizontal Flight. Velocity(horizontal) = Distance traveled / Time (cakculated).
In summary: we calculated the muzzle Velocity by knowing the vertical drop, ignoring decelaration due to air resistance (aka drag).

 

[AUG]

I would imagine any if not a combination of all the above. I've read that muskets would become quite fouled after sustained firing, so I would assume that could also be an issue.

Often read of soldiers being hit with spent shell fragments or canister shot as well.

 

[rpkennedy]

Colonel Chapman Biddle, commander of the 121st Pennsylvania, took command of the First Brigade, Third Division, First Corps on July 1st when Brigadier General Thomas Rowley took over for Major General Abner Doubleday (who took command of the corps when Major General John Reynolds was killed). After the brigade's initial stand against Brigadier General J. Johnston Pettigrew's North Carolina brigade, they retreated to Seminary Ridge, taking position with their right just to the west of the seminary and extending a few hundred yards to the south.

Colonel Abner Perrin's South Carolina brigade attacked this position and, after some difficulty, managed to push back Biddle's left flank which began to unravel the line along the ridge. Colonel Biddle, watching this, rode to Colonel Theodore Gates of the 80th New York in order to organize a withdrawal. As he leaned over the neck of his horse in order to be heard over the heavy firing of the infantry and the artillery, Biddle was struck in the head by a spent ball which made a "thunk" sound that could be discerned about a dozen yards away. Biddle turned command over to Gates and told him to get the men out. He rode his horse to the rear where his head was wrapped with a bandage and joined his men as they retreated from Seminary Ridge.

Ryan

 

[rpkennedy]

I would imagine any if not a combination of all the above. I've read that muskets would become quite fouled after sustained firing, so I would assume that could also be an issue.

Often read of soldiers being hit with spent shell fragments or canister shot as well.

To continue about Biddle's brigade at Gettysburg, a number of men from this unit commented that the firing was so intense and their rifles so fouled, that they had to pound their ramrods against the ground in order to seat the rounds. One has to wonder how effective their fire became when they had to resort to these methods.

Ryan

 

[DixieRifles]

Here is one example.

CS General James R. Chalmers had to turn over the command of his cavalry division to Col. R. V. Richardson during the battle of Collierville on 11 October 1863. Shortly after 12:00 noon, Col. Richardson receives information on the field that Gen. Chalmers has been wounded. Quote from Richardson.

"The battle commenced at about 10 a.m., on the 11th instant, and about 12 o'clock Captain Goodman notified me that you, general, had been struck by a spent ball, and although not seriously hurt, yet temporarily disabled, desiring me to assume command."

After their retreat back across the Coldwater River that evening, General Chalmers took leave of his command and returned home, which I believe, was in Holly Springs.

 

[AUG]

In the battle of Glendale/Frayser's Farm Micah Jenkins was said to have been "struck on the shoulder with grape shot (which bruised it severely) and was also struck on the breast & leg with fragments of spent shell." in the words of Longstreet's aide, T. J. Goree.

Another instance that comes to mind is Lt. Col. Edward McCrady of the 1st South Carolina Infantry, who was struck by a spent bullet at Second Manassas, knocking him unconscious and breaking his skull. He recovered and returned to his command by that winter. I posted his hat here a while ago, which bears the bullet hole: https://civilwartalk.com/threads/hat-of-lt-col-edward-mccrady-1st-south-carolina-infantry.140741/

 

[AUG]

To continue about Biddle's brigade at Gettysburg, a number of men from this unit commented that the firing was so intense and their rifles so fouled, that they had to pound their ramrods against the ground in order to seat the rounds. One has to wonder how effective their fire became when they had to resort to these methods.

Ryan

The Liberty Rifles have a good article on fouled muskets here: https://www.libertyrifles.org/research/uniforms-equipment/fouled-muskets-revisited

A few accounts there of soldiers having to pound their ramrods against a tree or fence rail to seat the ball.