There was no .52-caliber muzzleloader rifle in the civil war... so this "Enfield-pattern" Minie-bullet was made for use in a .54-caliber muzzleloader rifle, such as a Mississippi Rifle or an Austrian .54 Rifle. In early 1864, the Confederate Ordnance Department's inspectors got tired of rejecting bullets which were manufactured too large in diameter. So, the CS Ordnance Department issued strict orders to bullet manufacturers that .54-caliber Minies be cast at .515-inch to .520-inches in diameter. (Previously, the rule was .525-to.530-inch.)
Technically, the "true" Enfield minie was a British-made bullet for use in their .577-caliber Enfield Rifle. There were no .54 Enfield Rifles, so the Brits didn't make any .54 Enfield bullets. To ensure the bullets were manufactured at exactly the correct diameter, the Brits made them in a bullet-making machine, which caused the bullet to have a wide flatbottomed base-cavity. The bullet found by Wlliedigit has a conical base-cavity, so it was not made by the British. It is a Confederate-made imitation, cast in a bulletmold which was manufactured in the Confederacy. We know this because Williedigit's Enfield-pattern bullet is "nose-cast"... it has a casting-mold sprue on the tip of its nose.
On that subject, I should mention that the British sold Enfield bulletmolds along with the Enfield rifles they sold to "foreign" purchasers... but those British-made molds were not "nose-cast" molds. And, they were all .577-caliber Enfield bulletmolds.
no markings in the bottom just funnel shape
