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Legacy Member
I thought it was named after "ball powder".
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04-29-2010 07:55 PM
# ADS
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Originally Posted by
Stumedic
I thought it was named after "ball powder".
No, the term is MUCH older than that- ball powder is a roughly 1940's vintage development. (in military ammo- .30 M1 Carbine is the first common usage that I can think of, offhand.)
In the early days of rifles Minie dervived projectiles were commonly refered to as Minie-balls, and Whitworth, et al. target rifle/sniper bullets were commonly called "picket balls" due to their similar profile to a picket fence slat. As above, they also used "buck and ball" loads in muskets (although buck shot are "ball" projectiles also...)
I don't know the earliest recorded usage of the term, but I suspect it's been around a LONG time- why use two or three syllables when one will do?
"Pardon me, George, might you have any spare projectiles?"
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Thank You to jmoore For This Useful Post:
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