[4V50 Gary]

While it was as fast to load as a musket, the reason why the Minie was adopted was its greater range. It made every soldier who was armed with a "rifled musket" a potential sharpshooter. The Minie not only loaded faster than the round ball rifle gun, it reached out farther. 500 yard shots on man sized targets could be accomplished with practice and, depending on the gun and the shooter, 800 yards was attainable. Oh, the British Enfield was about the best there iwas in the ACW before going into "small bore" guns (Henry, Metford, Whitworth, Kerr).

BTW, loading speed also depended on how clean the gun was and fouled rifled muskets could be tough to load. I've read of some accounts during the ACW where over 60 rounds were fired non-stop and others where some soldiers had to pour water down their bores to rinse the fouling out. I guess humidity had a lot to do with it. I use SPG on my minies and was able to fire non-stop for 60 rounds. It beats using beeswax and lard which I think is the historical lube (than ran in hot weather).