Editing Muzzleloader (section)

==Projectile types and history==
[[File:French cased duelling pistols, Nicolas Noel Boutet, single shot, flintlock, rifled, .58 caliber, blued steel, Versailles, 1794-1797 - Royal Ontario Museum - DSC09477.jpg|thumb|A pair of French rifled, flintlock, duelling pistols by [[Nicolas Noël Boutet]] 1794–1797. [[Royal Ontario Museum]], Toronto, Canada. The set of accessories includes a small hammer as rifled pistols used slightly oversized bullets; a hammer was needed to drive the bullet down the barrel when loading.<ref name="Kinard2003">{{cite book|author=Jeff Kinard|title=Pistols: An Illustrated History of Their Impact|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZVnuHX_6bG0C&pg=PA29|year=2003|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-470-7|pages=33–34}}</ref>]]
Muzzleloading firearms generally use round balls, cylindrical conical projectiles, and shot charges.

In some types of rifles firing round ball, a lubricated patch (see [[Kentucky rifle]]) of fabric is wrapped around a ball which is slightly smaller than the barrel diameter.  In other types of round ball firing rifles, a ramrod and hammer is used to force the round ball down through the rifling.  When fired, either the lead ball or the wrapping grips the rifling and imparts spin to the ball which usually gives improved accuracy. In rifles firing [[Minié ball]]s, the patch, often the paper wrapping from the cartridge, is used as an initial seal and to hold powder in place during loading.

The [[Minié ball]] replaced the round ball in most firearms, especially for military use, in the 1840s and 1850s{{citation needed|date=August 2013}}.  It has a hollow base which expands to grip the rifling.  The combination of the spinning Minié ball and the consistent velocity provided by the improved seal gave far better accuracy than the smoothbore muzzleloaders that it replaced.