US Civil War - Union Williams "Cleaner" Bullets 

During the Civil War, it was not allowed to merely fire your rifled-musket to unload it after guard (picket) duty. As a result, unloading was done with a bullet puller or worm, and thus the issue with the Williams bullet manifested. Firing a gun was used as alarm for the rest of the camp, doing so would absolutely give away location if that was an issue at the moment, as well as it would also mean having to go through the entire cleaning process which no one wants to do.

Ah, the use of a bayonnet as a pointer. True man of culture.

It's impressive that even in the 1860s they could make bullets and bores to the thousandth and maintain that tolerance over a massive production run.

Nine out of ten men avoid “premature expansion” unloading their rifle, with THIS easy trick! Buy Burton.

Karl: "We got Burton's 0.574" projectile here, and Williams which comes as 0.570". Of course, the bore on a 61 musket is 0.58", so you have a little bit of the idea with the clearance you have with a Burton ball vs a Williams ball." Me, a European: "Alright then, keep your secrets" Just kidding. Awesome content, as always!

Karl, you have surpassed yourself, this segment was fascinating, thank you so much.....more please,

Karl: Love the presentation, learned lots. My father gave me two Civil War-era projectiles, one a "cleaner bullet". He was told the fable about the "cleaner" projectile by a battle site docent. The explanation given to him was exactly what you stated. You just brought two old pieces of memorabilia to life for me and made me smart(er). Thank you so much. For me, this is a huge chunk of information, but it is important to me also for the emotional component. I had ancestors on both sides of the conflict. Kurt

We will never know for sure but I think it's possible the Williams bullet being used as a bore cleaning bullet may have been Introduced by the "Brass" as way to keep the common solider from disposabling of what he felt was an inferior bullet.

Thanks for teaching me about the cleaner bullets, but moreso, thanks for correcting incorrect common misconception between minie and minie bullets.

If the troops knew that the improved slug was a pain to extract after picket duty , why didn't the just use the standard minie ball whilst on picket , extract it after the watch and simply use the improved "cleaner" bullet when in combat ? . Aghhh the benefit of hindsight and excellent education from InRange and others Forgotten Weapons etc. Thanks Guys , Stay Safe & Stay Well .

That was fascinating; somehow I had never heard of "Cleaner" bullets before. Thank you for this!

As much as I love you guys talking more modern stuff, it's videos like this one that I absolutely love about this channel. Good solid history.

It's episodes like this that make me subscribe to InRange. Thank you Karl.

I've been curious about how long firefights actually lasted in the black powder days, since after just a few shots the battlefield is covered in smoke and everyone's musket is too fouled to keep shooting.

Love the channel Karl! "Politics and lore" makes me think of the M1 and M2 ball ammo for the 1903 and .30 cal M1 debate. The M1 was a hotter round, produced more recoil and has a longer range. Along comes the U.S. Rifle CAL .30 M1 and which was designed for the M1 ball. National Guard units training with the M1 didn't have the extended space for the longer range and didn't like the recoil of the M1 ball requested lighter loads from the Ordnance Department. This change included going from a 167 grain boat tail bullet to a 150 grain flat base. The lore is that the heavier M1 would damage the operating rod of the M1 rifle but it didn't. The M2 Armor Piercing ammo had to punch through stuff and needed greater power which is as powerful if not more than the M1 ball. The AP round became highly used as WWII continued. The Garand Collectors Association has a very informative article about using modern sporting ammo in the M1 rifle in their latest issue. (spring '2020)

One thing that struck me while watching this video - when viewing the Burton bullet up close and thinking about the expansion during firing it seems to me that the "grease" grooves might also help with the expansion of the bullet, i.e. they make some space so the bullet can expand easier. I bought my first Civil War bullets from the gift shop at Lee's Headquarters (Gettysburg) back in the early 70s (still got 'em) , shot several weapons live, and reenacted for many, many years and the idea of this just hit me. Great video.

These types of videos are one of the main reasons I toss you guys a few bucks every month. Interesting, unique and as unbiased as possible. Karl - When this whole 2020 thing is over you should take a trip up to Western and Northwestern Canada. It's said to be our wild West and is chalked full of good interesting history that you might be interested in.

I didn't know the original Minie ball had that iron plug/piston until this video. 90 seconds in and I'm already learning, think that's a record for an IRTV video. Really loving the black-powder content, Karl! Has me saving up for a starter kit, probably gonna be a Colt Navy replica.

Still hope to see a section on sharps / rolling blocks as ante litteram DMRs ....

As always with InRange, I learned a whole bunch of new stuff before I even finsished my first cup of Coffee. Great stuff. Cheers!

Thanks for another great and educational episode, Karl!

This video really makes you appreciate just how important smokeless powder and the self-contained cartridge were to firearms development.

This was the video I needed but couldn't find for months!

If 6 in 10 bullets were the piston type surely people would just save their regular button ball ones for outside of going into battle

Great explanations for the disdain of the Williams. After you do the Gardner, it would be great to have a field trial of all three types. Gives you an opportunity to weigh in on rumors that the "cleaners" shot to different points of aim from the Burtons.

@capandball would be proud!

Very interesting, I love learning about anything to do with the Civil War.

I love learning about firearms technology before metallic cartridges because of how obscure the information is. Another interesting bullet type was the Nessler bullet, which came about in the Crimean War and was an attempt at bringing minie expanding bullet technology to smoothbores to improve their accuracy.

Carl, this was extremely interesting! I'm digging this series!

The obturation effect better benefits with British powder of the era as British powder, good powder compliant with military standards was not graphite coated and met the particle size ratio requirements. The lack of graphite meant the powder was not reduced in its ignition time, giving it more pop and allowing it to burn more completely in the chamber before the ball begins to move. Finer particle size ratio of the milled composition and more milling time translates into a more thorough burn in a shorter time period. This translates to the ball expanding properly, quicker and keeping more of the fouling in the chamber and less into the barrel. That is why British powder was so desired among both Union and Confederate soldiers who had the chance to use it. The Cleaner bullet would seem to be an attempted fix for the blowby and dwell time issue. Mind you, the British powder wasn't a perfect fix either. Note I said it allows for faster and more effective obturation, not instant and absolute. Also the rush to get powder out into the field put a serious hurt on the quality of Union powder too. I seem to remember Gen James Ripley lamenting the poor quality of the rushed powder having significant detrimental effect on loading. It should be noted the man was a stickler for quality and perfection. Some would say a hindrance in some ways, Spencer and eventually Lincoln seemed to think so anyway.

this was a very interesting little segment, thanks for this dive into projectile history.

Really enjoyed this vid/ content. It's stuff you'd never hear about anywhere else!

I grew up next to the New Market Battlefield. Love the Civil War. My buddy just found a type 1 cleaner around Lake Accotink.

My sources say the Williams Clearer bullets were in packaged blue paper, not the usual white making for for easy identification. They were packed one each in every 10 round package of paper cartridges. Type 2 Cleaner Bullets had domed shaped Zinc discs between the bullets and the base . The base pin moved forward upon firing forcing the Zinc washer into the bullet flattening the dome, expanding it and scraping the bore of fouling, in theory. The Williams type One had the Zinc discs stacked on a nub projecting from the base of the bullets. The nub was then peened over holding the discs in place. Type 2 bullets are rarely found fired with the base pin in place having separated in flight or upon impact. I have dug many of these bullets, some with the Zinc ring intact. My house is in a battle area and I've metal detected for decades and shoot black powder CW arms.

I love details like this about wide spread historical engineering problems vs the common use boots on the ground. Great explanation. Thank you!

Wow! I had no idea there was so much that went into bullet design. Great content. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you for another excellent video, Karl. Always interesting content!

Great work. I enjoy these breakdown of firearm nuances.

We do enjoy this content, thanks Karl! What an interesting piece of history. I also always thought the name came from the fact that they cleaned the bore, but as more of a happy accident rather than design. Great information.

Karl: Great content. Love the black powder content.

That is really damn interesting, I love to learn obscure minutiae like this; and how it's proof that nothing changes. Reminds me a bit of the lore around the M-16.

Really good and informative video - thanks! I like the pointer that you were using!

Cudos to you Karl! Great, informative content. I always learn a great deal by watching your videos and share them with my fellow black powder shooters.

Thanks ! Great info! You’ve done your homework.

Very educational. Thank you for bringing this to us.

Extremely interesting, Karl. Many thanks!

might be interesting to see if there is a velocity as well as accuracy difference noticeable between both projectiles.

An excellent explanation of the bullets used.

What a fascinating exploration of these two ball designs. Thank you very much for the thoroughly detailed explanation of a most interesting subject.

great work sir. love history stuff like this.

I absolutely love this type of content Karl. And by "I" I mean we love this type of content. Once again I thank you for your fabulous work.

Fascinating video and great series

They actually make special cleaner slugs for 12 gauge right now. Like actual cleaning, it's like a barel punch in a shot shell

Plenty of potential here for an episode to compare the two bullet types over a string of shots, accuracy and ease of loading etc.

Loved this video. More please!

Great content. This cleared up a lot of misconceptions I once believed.

Fantastic and informative video, 'nuff said.

Excellent video!! I have ALWAYS loved black powder since I was a kid. I wish more people were into it.

Verrrry cool Karl. Like this a lot.

¡A very technical video! and about a topic that I every body talks but no one ever explain. Thanks.

Interesting video Karl

Ah. Swaging versus casting.

Very well explained and educational.

Thanks for the video. I do enjoy watching these type, and the western vignette, videos more than the AR15 type videos.

Really liked this story! I grew up going to Civil War battlefields. When my son's were growing up I took them. In all that time I had never heard the real story behind the Burton Ball's, etc.

You might find the bore profile of the 1861 or 1863 colt special contract musket of interest. It had a relived bore so as fouling developed the bullet could still be loaded easily but would still develop a gas seal after the bore tapered down after maybe the first 12" of travel. From memory I think the bore opened up maybe .006-.008" after about 16" from the muzzle end. I have a modern copy and it does indeed really help to fire for longer periods. Also would be interesting if the exploding bullets used could be re created to test effectiveness of the actual exploding fragments at range. These were used a couple times but off memory can't remember what engagements they were. Naturally the predefined distance of exploding would limit engagement potential.

I am thoroughly enjoying all this black powder/civil war content. I appreciate your work on this.

That was super interesting. Thank you! Political decisions are rarely made on well vetted facts. That lesson is continually revisited.

More videos like this please. Love the old firearms tech

Thanks for this video, I have heard numerous times from park and reenactment personnel over the years about "cleaner bullets" but only in the misguided ways you mentioned. Thanks for setting it straight!

excellent! love these videos, super interesting!

Great content. Thank you.

great presentation, learned a lot

Very nice. Congrats!

You'd think if you were on guard duty that you'd use only Burton balls for easier removal and then if you were going into combat use Williams bullets for better accuracy (which should have been easy to do as they came in different colored packages).

Good stuff Karl!

Welcome back

Wishing I Seen This 3 years Ago Thanks Belatedly!

3:00 .580" - .576" is .004" diameter difference, but isn't that .002" clearance in the bore?

I love these vids, thx.

Great info!

Very interesting! Thank you.

Great video

great video bro

Thank you for a helpful and informative video :-) It would be great if you could do actual accuracy comparison tests for the Burton Minié, the Williams Improved Type 2, and patched round ball fired from the P53 and Springfield rifled muskets at 50 and 100 yards on a target rather than a gong. It would also be wonderful if you could do a similar accuracy test (firing appropriate projectiles) to compare the Lorenz Model 1854 and Vereinsgewehr 1857.

I love this. Please explore more black powder!

Cool info! Thanks Karl :)

That was awesome, thank you!

More of this type of content.

This was fascinating.

Fantastic history. Thanks

Excellent 👌 video learn from it keep up the great content 👍 stay safe stay well all the best from Scotland 😁😁😁

Very interesting Karl. I thought the Burton bullet was the be-all and end-all but now I know better. I didn't consider the pressure curve of BP or what that would mean. Thanks. Love the hat by the way.

Great video! Leave it to the common solder to break any equipment he is given. Even if only by rumors spread by word of mouth.

Yea, great content, I had no idea. Mind blown 🤯

I had one of Parker Hales 1861 Enfield Artillery carbine (or "Musketoon") reproductions back in the 80's... a 24" barreled .577 rifled carbine. The "companion" mold I purchased with it was a 560 gr Minie.... but the cavity was nowhere near as deep as on the Burton type pictured.... and it was a square bottomed cavity too...only about 6mm in. The skirt however was MUCH thinner than the Burton.... and those projectiles worked wonderfully. They were more difficult to cast than a "normal" lead projectile, because the mold had a "third" piece...the plug that produced the cavity. I have no idea whether that bullet design was at all "authentic".

Ooh I love black powder info like this!

Fantastic debunking Carl, hats off to you!

Footnote here as to why civil war bullets were not cast and why most modern shooters do cast their bullets. Bullets made in a press are swagged. Works well for very soft lead. Most modern cast bullets are made of harder lead alloys or mixtures and are not as readily swagged. In principle the soft bullets used by hobbyists could be swagged, but it would require an expensive die to swagged the needed grooves and so out side of factory settings it is casting. Shot was produced in the old days by dropping molten lead in a shot tower.

good vid, thanks.