'The views and opinions of Brigadier General John Jacob, CB. Aide-decamp to the Queen; Aide-de-camp to the Governor General of India, &c. &c. &c.; late commanding in chief the British forces in Persia; at present commanding the Sind Irregular Horse, and Political Superintendent of the North-West frontier of Sind.' [‎218] (249/481)

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218
and excellent practice was made with it at 600 and even
800 yards.
The experiments had reached this point long before the
Minie ball appeared ; but immediately that invention was
known, great things were expected of it, and it was tried in
the fairest manner, and on a large scale.
The original Minie ball with iron cup is shown in figure
No. 3.
After long and patient trials, for months together, it was
found to fail completely.
Under the most favourable circumstances, it never equal
led, or even approached to, the excellence of the conical
ball (No. 2) ; and it was liable to the enormous defect of
having the iron cup blown through the ball, the resulting
tube of lead not unfrequently remaining firmly and most
immoveably fixed in the barrel.
The ball had another great defect: it was cast from the
foremost end, so that the roughness left by the ingate of
the mould, defects of air-holes, &c. must occur where the
form of the hall was required to he most perfect.
The Minie ball, to our great disappointment, was then
condemned ; but others, with modification of the expansion
principle, were then largely tried, of all manner of shapes.
That shown by Figure No. 4 was the most promising; it
was made with projections to fit the grooves, so that its hold
on the rifles was not dependent on the expansion only ; it
was cast at the hinder end ; the conical forepart gave it
great advantages in getting through the air; while the
hole in the hinder part was reduced in depth, so as to
avoid, as it was hoped, the chance of its being blown into
a tube.
Still this "improved" Minie ball proved on trial no way
superior to the ball No. 2; while, though no iron cups