On May 17: "The results of the experiments made with the bullets for musket 1853, fitted with an iron cup, have been most satisfactory; the shooting made with them, although the iron cup was of an imperfect shape, was far superior to that made with the service ammunition as at present manufactured, and justifies my recommending that the iron cup be at once adopted for the bullets for the rifle musket 1853. Further experiments will be made with a view to improve the shape of the iron cup."

The Hythe Report of June 5, 1855, discusses (a) hemispherical iron cup as in the 1851, (b) conical iron cup with a hole in the apex as recommended by the School of Musketry, (c) conical wood plug. Results showed that the conical cup was better than the hemispherical and the wood plug best of all for accuracy and lack of fouling.

Iron cup bullets are readily identifiable even if the cup is missing. They are about 1.17 inches long with a deep cavity as opposed to the Pritchett bullets which are about 1.08.



Pistol Bullets - Two bullets for the Colt's M-1851 revolver in .36 caliber and three bullets for the Deane & Adams revolver in .44 were among the specimens located.

Spherical ball - Those found measure in the region of .660 but this cannot be taken as anything other than a rough guide due to wear and corrosion. It is sufficient to say that balls of this size may be Russian, French, Turkish or Sardinian. The weight of a specimen is 421 grains. The British balls will be .030 to .040 larger, a difference which can easily be seen with the naked eye.


Russian Nessler - The Nessler was a Belgian design taking the shape of a short cylinder, hollow-based, with a round nose. The Russian version is slightly longer and heavier than those of the French and Sardinians. A good example in this selection weighs 488 grains and has a diameter and a length of .670. They were intended to be greased and loaded in their cartridge paper in the same way as the Minie. Tests indicated that they had about twice the range of the spherical ball.

Luttich or Russian Brunswick rifle - This is an exact copy of the British Brunswick rifle with two grooves originally designed to use a belted spherical ball. The ammunition for this arm was quite inadequate and the pattern was abandoned by the British. However, the Russians, by adopting a new bullet based on the Lancaster design, which they called Kulikovskay, were able to use this rifle to ranges which were quite the equal of the Minies. The new bullet, an elongated cone with wings to take the rifling, officially weighed 772 grains but examples from the Crimea weigh around 760 grains.

Russian Minie or "7 Line" rifle - In common with many other countries, Russia rifled and added sights to existing stocks of smoothbore muskets. The name "7 line" refers to caliber. Inches were divided into tenths known as Lines. The bullet for the rifle is known today by the Russians as the "Peter's Ball." It is also called the "Timmerhans Ball." The bullet is a cannelured minie with a projecting teat inside the base. Timmerhans' original design called for an inner ring wad around the projection which, when forced up the cavity by the explosion of the gases, would expand the conical section of the bullet, forcing it into the rifling. Unnecessarily complicated, the bullet works as well without the wad. Two examples weigh 781 and 815 grains, indicative of casting.