Military Power

I was watching a show on snipers on the History Channel last weekend and they mentioned that in the Civil War, the Confederates had rifles with hexagonal barrels and hexagonal bullets. They mentioned that they were more accurate than the Union Rifles with rifled barrels and miniballs. I don't see how. Anyone know anything about this?

Yes, the Confederates did use hexagonal barrels with hexagonal bullets. They were more accurate...but only for a very short distance. The hexagonal design of the bullet only allowed it to travel a certain distance, with good accuracy. But the Union designs still kicked butt because of the Minie ball's way to form to the barrel. Claude Etienne Minié (a Frenchman) was the one who came up with the design. There are a series of grooves on the Minie ball which allowed it to get the spin it needed, plus the end the tiny bit of smooth lead which did not have taper allowed it to grip the barrel and fly out smooth, straight as possible and have range with killing power.

If anything, the Confederates were bluffing to try and unease the Yankees.