"Buck n ball" Topic

I was wondering when buck and ball started being used. I believe it was used in the Mexican war but was it just the Americans that used it. Also, was it used in the South American wars of liberation? I've never noticed any reference to it being used in Europe.
Dave

Great minds run in small circles…I mean, think alike. We were just exploring this subject on a couple of other boards:

TMP link

Briefly, AWI use by both sides is the earliest we can really demonstrate, but some think it was used in the F&IW. Mostly seems to have been used in America, there's one 'Napoleonic' reference cited which may be European.

Certainly gunners everywhere dropped odd bits of metal, stones and broken glass into their musket loads from an early date. But when militaries first issued made-up paper buck-and-ball cartridges to the troops is hard to establish.

American frontiersmen had to do a lot of hunting and you could run into anything from a duck to a bear. I wonder if the Buck 'n Ball was a frontier invention so that you would have the buckshot dispersion to have a chance to hit a bird and the stopping power of a round ball if you ran into something bigger?

Just a thought.

What if you hit the bird with the ball? Wouldn't be much left to eat!

But you could show off the remains to your friends and boast of your marksmanship! :)

Firing 125 grains of 2F out of a Charleville at 75 yards just tends to slow down the .65 caliber ball. Now it may severely wound your enemy, but it will only off the bear.