1 ring bullet ? how old and what gun ???

[silversurfer1111]

1 ring bullet ? how old and what gun I found a mantis with my whites md lol

 

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[TheCannonballGuy]

The large conical cavity in its base means it is for a muzzleloading rifle or carbine. In the United States, that type of firearm was primarily used in the 1850s and 60s. It was rapidly replaced in the latter-1860s by the advent of breechloaders which used a metal-cartridge bullet. That being said, "country folks" who could not afford the newfangled breechloaders and cartridges continued to use the old muzzleloaders for gamehunting into the early 20th-Century. (Supposedly, Sgt. Alvin York of World War One sharpshooting fame was still hunting with his grandfather's old muzzleloading rifle in the mountains of Tennessee in the years before he got drafted into the US Army in 1917.)

Muzzleloader rifle bullets with a large cavity in the base are generically known as "Minie balls" ...named for the inventor of that form, Captain Claude-Etienne Minie, of the French Army. Prior to his invention of this form of bullet, nearly all bullets were ball-shaped, so very nearly everybody called these new cylindro-conical bullets a "Minie ball," even though they obviously are not ball-shaped.

There are literally hundreds of variations of "Minie balls." Many of them have an individual name, based on factors such as which arsenal made them or what type of rifle they were intended to be used in (for example, an Enfield), or other inventors' alterations in their basic Minie design. (Examples of the latter are the Williams Regulation minie and the Gardner minie.)

Your ruler photos indicate it is a .54-caliber. I cannot tell you its specific name, because it is too mangled by firing and it still has too much crust on it to be sure there was never more than one body-groove on it. (I kinda-sorta see a bit of a second groove on one side of your bullet, but that might be an optical illusion.)

There were several versions of .54-caliber muzzleloading rifle. If rifling-grooves (from firing) were visible on your bullet and you could count the number of them, I could tell you what kinds of .54 rifle had that number of grooves. (For example, the 1850s/60s US Army .54 Rifled Carbine had 3-groove rifling.) But it looks like we'll never know specifically which kind of .54 rifle fired your Minie-ball.

 

[silversurfer1111]

Cannonballguy you are awesome !! thank you very much for your help .I am very interested in finds like this . it is tough to get info on this stuff when your new at it .it seems as though the old whites md I just picked up likes bullets relics and silver . how long have you bin at this stuff .you shire do know a lot .thanks again

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

I bought my first metal detector and dug my first Minie ball in 1974, so the answer to your question is, 38 years.

There are two reasons why I "know so much stuff":
First... like you, I wanted to know the CORRECT identification of the stuff I was finding. In particular, I did not want to "cherish" an object as a being a Confederate civil war relic when in actuality it was a 1916 Model-T Ford car part.

Second... when I became a dealer of civil war relics (1976), I wanted to be as certain as possible that the ID-labels I put on what I sold were correct. (I call that "Dealer Integrity.") So, I did a lot of research to make sure.

To do that, I bought a lot of civil war relic reference books (on bullets, buttons, buckles, etc). But just as important as the books, I frequently consulted a couple of "oldtimer" relic experts, who very generously gave me their time and their knowledge. I've never forgotten their generosity (and lengthy patience) with a full-of-questions young digger (me). Nowadays as an oldtimer myself, it's my duty to be the giver of the knowledge. THAT is why I post in the What-Is-It? forum here at TreasureNet. Someday it will be your turn, so keep on learning as much as you can. Contrary to popular belief, there is no such thing as a stupid question.

 

[tennessee digger]

Might add that Pete (Cannonball Guy) also co-authored a book on Artillery which is still THE standard for this field. I have known him for years and we are lucky to have him here to help with I.D.'s. Tennessee digger

 

[silversurfer1111]

what is the name of this book ? thank you

 

[A/CMan]

I bought my first metal detector and dug my first Minie ball in 1974, so the answer to your question is, 38 years.

There are two reasons why I "know so much stuff":
First... like you, I wanted to know the CORRECT identification of the stuff I was finding. In particular, I did not want to "cherish" an object as a being a Confederate civil war relic when in actuality it was a 1916 Model-T Ford car part.

Second... when I became a dealer of civil war relics (1976), I wanted to be as certain as possible that the ID-labels I put on what I sold were correct. (I call that "Dealer Integrity.") So, I did a lot of research to make sure.

To do that, I bought a lot of civil war relic reference books (on bullets, buttons, buckles, etc). But just as important as the books, I frequently consulted a couple of "oldtimer" relic experts, who very generously gave me their time and their knowledge. I've never forgotten their generosity (and lengthy patience) with a full-of-questions young digger (me). Nowadays as an oldtimer myself, it's my duty to be the giver of the knowledge. THAT is why I post in the What-Is-It? forum here at TreasureNet. Someday it will be your turn, so keep on learning as much as you can. Contrary to popular belief, there is no such thing as a stupid question.

Your best I've seen on not only civil war but in general items on here, my hat is off to ya! Much respect for sure, hope to learn more from you, AC

 

[tennessee digger]

Silversurfer 1111... The book is "Field Artillery Projectiles of the American Civil War" by Tom Dickey and Peter George. THE book to own on artillery, but hard to find these days. Tennessee digger

 

[berniemak]

I found a bullet that has 1 ring on it. it has a round bottom and hollow hole under it, but there is no continuous roundness. it goes out about a 1/4 inch then it looks like a cone sits on top of it. what could it possibly be. We were in an area that had a civil war campsite along with a store on other side of field(if memory serves me correctly)

 

[BosnMate]

Muzzleloader rifle bullets with a large cavity in the base are generically known as "Minie balls" ...named for the inventor of that form, Captain Claude-Etienne Minie, of the French Army. Prior to his invention of this form of bullet, nearly all bullets were ball-shaped, so very nearly everybody called these new cylindro-conical bullets a "Minie ball," even though they obviously are not ball-shaped.

Cannonballguy, the military still uses the term ball. In identifying ammunition there are: tracer, incendiary, explosive, armor piercing, and ball. The bullets have different colored tips that identify what they are, red = tracer, black = armor piercing, and no paint on the tip is called "ball ammunition." Before Minie's invention, all bullets were round balls, when a person said bullet, it was automatic that he was talking about a ball, then after Minie, bullets were no longer round balls, but round balls were still bullets, hence there needed to be a way to identify what ball/bullet you were talking about. Modern ball ammo? well in the military traditions die hard.