(1854–56), Russian troops armed with smoothbore muskets were no match for Britons shooting P/51 rifles. Massed formations were easy prey, as were cavalry andartilleryunits. A correspondent for theTimesof London wrote: “The Minié is king of weapons…the volleys of the Miniécleft[Russian ...
imparting a gyroscopic spin to the projectile, but reloadingrifledweapons was slowed because the lead ball had to be driven into the barrel’s rifling. Greased cloth or leather patches eased the problem somewhat, but the rate of fire of rifles was still much lower than that of smoothbore ...