Question: describe the impact the minnie ball had on the battlefield during the civil war

title: Minié ball
text: The Minié ball , or Minni ball , is a type of muzzle - loading spin - stabilized rifle bullet named after its co-developer , Claude - Étienne Minié , inventor of the Minié rifle . It came to prominence in the Crimean War and American Civil War . The development of the Minié ball was significant because it was the first projectile which was small enough to be easily put down the barrel of a rifled long gun . Rifling -- the addition of spiral grooves inside the gun barrel , which imparted a spin to the bullet -- greatly increased the range and accuracy of the gun . Prior to the Minié ball , bullets had to be jammed down the rifle barrel , sometimes with a mallet , and after a relatively small number of shots , gunpowder residue built up in the spiral grooves , which then had to be cleaned out . Both the American Springfield and the British Enfield rifles -- the most common rifles used during the American Civil War -- used the Minié ball . 

Answer: answer: The development of the Minié ball was significant because it was the first projectile which was small enough to be easily put down the barrel of a rifled long gun . Prior to the Minié ball , bullets had to be jammed down the rifle barrel , sometimes with a mallet , and after a relatively small number of shots , gunpowder residue built up in the spiral grooves , which then had to be cleaned out .
answer: The development of the Minié ball was significant because it was the first projectile which was small enough to be easily put down the barrel of a rifled long gun.