Buck and ball

The load usually consisted of a .50 to .75 caliber round lead musket ball that was combined with three to six buckshot pellets.

By the 1840s, buck and ball was issued in prepared paper cartridges that combined the projectiles with the black powder propellant charge to facilitate rapid loading of the weapon.

At 200 yards (180 m), 37 of 50 Minié bullets struck the target, vs. 18 of 50 smoothbore balls and 31 of 50 buckshot, for a total of 49 hits in 50 shots.

The Union Irish Brigade retained their smoothbore muskets until late so they could fire buck and ball during the relatively close range battles.

[2] The 12th New Jersey Infantry Regiment also preferred to use buck and ball, which they did to deadly effect at Gettysburg, and so continued carrying smoothbore muskets.

X-ray of a Brown Bess musket recovered by LAMP archaeologists from an American Revolutionary War era shipwreck lost in December 1782. It is believed to be a 1769 Short Land Pattern, and is loaded with buck and ball.
Buckshot pellets from the American Civil War