For hundreds years rifles were in accurate. If soldiers hit something that they were aiming for spot on for over 30 feet, they were considered luck and probably couldn't produce the same shot twice. But that all changed in the late 1400's when rifling was created. Rifling is basically a series of spirals, going throughout the barrel of a gun, that make the projectile spin and make it stay on target. The concept was used little back then, as it was expensive and unnecessary, and it was abandoned until 1789 when Joseph Manton started experimenting with it. After countries caught word of what Manton was doing they started to do the same thing in 1821. Once they got the concept of rifling in adequate design, they had another problem. The projectiles, or bullets, would be distorted by the rifling, making them even more inaccurate. For years people were trying to create a bullet that would work for the rifling, but only one of them was successful. In 1836, a man named William Greener developed a bullet that was hollow on the inside, which would launch the projectile faster and more accurate. The concept was rejected though, due to the fact that it was too hard to make. But twelve years later, Captain Claude-Etienne Minié created a bullet that was basically the same as Greener's, but with a pointy tip(some say he did copy Greene). The projectile was actually actually accepted by the Board of Ordinance. Greener was outraged and took legal action against Miné. The Board of Ordinance (the part of the British government that supplied gave him only £1000 ($2000) in compensation. Britain began to start manufacturing the bullet, and the rifle that went with it, in 1851.