View source for Cylindro-conoidal bullet

{{Short description|Type of muzzleloading projectile}}
[[File:Civil War Cylindro-Conoidal Bullets.jpg|thumb|Two [[American Civil War|Civil War]] cylindro-conoidal [[Minié ball]]s]]
{{Notability|date=February 2023}} 
The '''cylindro-conoidal bullet''' is a type of [[muzzleloading]] [[firearm]] [[projectile]] with a [[tangent ogive|convexly cone-like]] front end ("[[nose cone|nose]]") and a [[cylindrical]] rear body, invented by Captain John Norton of the British [[34th (Cumberland) Regiment of Foot|34th Regiment]] in 1832.  It had a [[hollow-base bullet|cavitied base]], so when fired, the thin concavity wall ("skirt") would expand outwards and seal up the [[gauge (bore diameter)|bore diameter]]. The origin of his idea is an interesting one: when in southern [[British India]], he examined the [[blowgun|blow pipe]] [[dart (missile)|dart]]s used by the natives and found that their base was formed of [[Elasticity (physics)|elastic]] lotus [[pith]], which by its expansion against the inner surface of the blow pipe prevented the [[leak]]age of air past it.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=6Y8CNoQqSywC&pg=RA1-PA191&dq=Captain+Norton+Minie+1832#PRA1-PA191,M1 ''Of Arms and Men'' By Robert L. O'Connell p.191]</ref>

In 1836, Mr. W. Greener, a [[London]]-based [[gunsmith]], improved on Norton's bullet design by inserting a conoidal wooden plug into its base. Although both inventions were rejected by the [[Board of Ordnance|British Ordnance Department]], the idea was taken up in [[France]], and in 1849 [[Claude-Étienne Minié]] adopted Greener's design and produced the "[[Minié ball]]".

==See also==
*[[Glossary of firearms terminology]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
* {{cite book|title=The Conduct of War: A Study of The Impact of The French, Industrial and Russian Revolutions on war and its conduct|author=Major General J.F.C. Fuller.|year=1961|page=88}}

[[Category:Ammunition]]


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